Hospitals have reached full capacity (Picture: EPA/ANDY RAIN)
Makeshift morgues are being opened across the UK to deal with a backlog of deaths over the winter months as the NHS struggles to cope and hospitals reach full capacity.
Temporary sites have been opened to cope with an estimated extra 4,000 deaths – with a combination of flu, Covid and A&E delays blamed.
They include a council gritting yard in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and a former landfill site in Wollaston, Northamptonshire that was used in the pandemic. The Royal Liverpool Hospital has opened two temporary sites.
The Wollaston site manager, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: ‘The mortuary can hold up to 200 bodies and we will stay open as long as we are required to do so which will probably be about another six weeks.’
Meanwhile, one in ten people waited more than three-and-a-half hours for an ambulance last month as NHS England response times fell to a record low. The average for the most serious life-threatening incidents was ten minutes and 57 seconds – well above the target of seven minutes.
For category two calls, such as suspected strokes, heart attacks, burns and epilepsy, ambulances took an average of one hour, 32 minutes and 54 seconds to respond.
One in ten people waited more than three-and-a-half hours for an ambulance last month (Picture: PA)
It was the longest on record and well above the 18-minute target.
In the south-west, one in ten people were waiting for at least six hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds for an ambulance. The proportion of patients seen within four hours in England’s A&Es also fell to a record low of 65 per cent in December.
Siva Anandaciva, of the King’s Fund health think tank, said there was ‘no shying away from the reality that the NHS is deep in crisis’. Downing Street said the figures were ‘obviously unacceptable’ but the government was ‘very focused’ on improving performance.
More: NHS
Elsewhere, the waiting list for routine treatment such as cataract operations and hip replacements fell from a record 7.21million to 7.19million.
A record 264,391 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in November.
The figures came a day after up to 25,000 ambulance workers went on strike over pay.
Nurses are due to walk out next Wednesday and Thursday, with another ambulance strike set for January 23.
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They’re being opened across the UK.
