Surgeries delayed at 17 hospitals in Manchester as 999 callers told to make own way to A&E

Heart attack victims are among those who could be asked to make their own way amid growing ambulance delays

NHS staff shortages continue to heap pressure on services (AFP via Getty Images)

Seventeen hospitals in Greater Manchester have been forced to pause non-urgent surgeries amid a rise in coronavirus cases in the region.

Hospitals - including Manchester Royal Infirmary, Salford Royal and North Manchester General - have been affected.

The Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership called the move a “temporary measure” that would not affect cancer and urgent care treatment including cardiac surgery, vascular surgery and transplantation.

Some 15 per cent of staff in the Greater Manchester region are off sick with the virus or isolating, while one in five people in some hospitals have Covid-19.

Fiona Noden, lead for elective care in the region, said: “This has been a very difficult decision and not one that we have taken lightly, but we’ve done it so we can keep people safe, can maintain the very best infection control measures, can make sure we deploy staff to where they’re needed most and can keep looking after people who need urgent and emergency care, including cancer treatment.”

She urged people with health concerns to continue to seek treatment in the usual way and use their local emergency department only for serious illnesses or injuries.

It comes as suspected heart attack and stroke victims are being told to make their own way to hospital rather than wait for an ambulance amid staffing pressures.

Those working the emergency phone lines for the North East Ambulance Service Foundation Trust have been told to “consider asking the patient to be transported by friends or family” if an ambulance delay might cause harm, or to suggest calling a taxi.

The trust has seen a growing number Covid-related absences with 260 people off sick with the virus on Monday.

An internal note first reported by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), revealed the trust’s medical director Dr Mathew Beattie said that call handlers should consider all forms of alternative transport for patients.

Those who may be told to make their own way include category two patients, covering people with suspected strokes and heart attacks to protect them from hours-long ambulance waits, Dr Beattie said.

The message to staff said: “We need to weigh up the risk of delays for ambulances against alternative disposition or transport options. Where such risks are considered, I want you to be aware that the trust will fully support you in your decision-making under these circumstances.”

In response to the move, care minister Gillian Keegan said this morning: “That doesn’t sound to me like that’s an acceptable approach - people should be able to get an ambulance if they have a heart attack.”

The list of trusts declaring a critical incident continues to grow with Blackpool and Great Western Hospitals NHS Trusts becoming the latest to raise the alarm yesterday due to high demand for services and staff shortages.

Great Western Hospital chief executive Kevin McNamara said: “We always knew that Jan would be a tough month for everyone & our modelling shows that it is likely to get tougher in the next few weeks.

“Our Covid inpatient numbers are currently 67 pts confirmed or suspected - an 81% increase (from 37 on Christmas Eve).”

In a letter to Health Secretary Sajid Javid, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the NHS can not afford the current level of absences as it called for a “more cautious approach” to Covid restrictions in England "without further delay".

“It is confusing and concerning that the different UK governments have set out their own different rules and regulations in relation to the management of the pandemic,” the RCN said.

Boris Johnson warned last night that the days ahead would be difficult for the NHS with hospitals on a “war footing.”

The Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary Pat Cullen said that nurses watched his statement at a Downing Street press conference “in disbelief”.

“One described to me today that the NHS feels more broken than she’s ever known it,” said Ms Cullen. “This is not hysteria, this is blowing the whistle on falling standards as patient care comes under real threat.

It comes as daily infections topped 200,000 for the first time across the UK.