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North West GP warns pressure on NHS is ‘unsustainable’ as Omicron cases continue to rise
‘The anxiety for a lot of us in the health service is that this is likely to get more difficult and challenging over coming weeks and months’
A GP in Liverpool has warned that staff at his practice are under ‘unsustainable’ pressure as Omicron cases continue to rise.
Staff at Princes Park Health centre say they are exhausted as the centre has ‘never been so busy’ as a result of the Omicron variant, other winter illnesses and a two-year backlog due to the pandemic.
GP Ian Pawson at the centre told ITV News: “I think it’s definitely creaking, the system. I think the worrying thing is we’re in the middle of December and we’re already under massive pressure.
ITV News
“So, the anxiety for a lot of us in the health service is that is likely to get more difficult and challenging over coming weeks and months.
“The worrying thing is there doesn’t feel like there’s much flex.”
Telephone consultations at the practice have quadrupled since the start of the pandemic, email consultations have risen even more and they say they’re now reviewing 10-15% more patients every week than pre-Covid levels.
The new Omicron variant has been found to be more transmittable than previous variants Delta and Alpha, though data from South Africa – where the variant was discovered – is suggesting that people are suffering from milder symptoms.
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Professor Tim Spector, one of the founders of the Covid Zoe app which tracks cases and symptoms in communities, is now producing data on Omicron cases in England and has said that the ‘majority of symptoms’ are alike to the common cold.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the key symptoms to look out for are headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and sneezing. Unlike previous variants, a cough isn’t associated with Omicron.
He said: “We’re seeing doubling in the numbers equivalent to what’s being seen elsewhere, every two-and-a-half days, and that really means numbers are going up.”
The government has brought forward their goal to fully vaccinate every adult in England forward by one month in response to the new variant.