The Royal London, where ambulances wait to deliver patients, is one of 29 out of 39 hospitals around the capital that have paused or reduced elective surgery as the NHS faces Covid-19 and winter crisesThe majority of London hospitals have had to cancel the bulk of planned operations to handle the surge in Covid-19 patients. Of 39 NHS hospital trusts in the capital, 29 have said that they are pausing almost all forms of operations and procedures, except for cancer treatment and emergencies. Other NHS trusts outside London have had to postpone non-urgent procedures owing to their toll of coronavirus patients. Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said that the growing strain on hospitals since the end of the last lockdown had been “like watching a car crash in slow motion”. He said: “At the same time as people returned to work, to restaurants and shops, the new more contagious variant insidiously took hold

Source: The Times January 01, 2021 18:01 UTC