COVID chaos at hospitals is causing patients awaiting treatment to watch Netflix in ambulances, reports claim.
Britain’s paramedic leader says hospital staff struggling to keep up with demand are taking extraordinary measures to deal with delays.
Tracy Nicholls, chief executive of the College of Paramedics, revealed that the innovative tactics are being implemented to keep up with overwhelming demand.
She told The Telegraph: “I’ve heard that some crews have streamed Netflix onto their trust iPads and strapped it to the stretcher so that those patients who are able can watch shows while they wait.”
Covid cases are putting immense pressure on hospitals despite a string of hugely positive studies show Omicron IS milder than other strains, with the first official UK report revealing the risk of hospitalisation is 50 to 70 per cent lower than with Delta.
Covid booster jabs protect against Omicron and offer the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.
Trending In The News’s Jabs Army campaign is helping get the vital extra vaccines in Brits’ arms to ward off the need for any new restrictions.
Speaking to The Telegraph Ms Nicholls revealed desperate patients are facing deteriorating in car parks prompting ambulance staff to operate in full-time “conflict resolution” mode.
She said: “I never thought we would be in a situation where patients have died waiting in ambulances out the back of hospitals.
“It’s almost like we have become desensitised, that it’s not big news now.
“But actually it’s awful and something needs to change.”
As hospitals juggle their own staff unable to work due to Covid, some patients are being forced to wait more than seven hours to be seen.
In some cases, patients have been waiting “for more than 24 hours for an ambulance to arrive”, the Telegraph reported.
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It comes as 24 hospital trusts have declared critical incidents as pressure mounts on Boris Johnson to slash the length of Covid isolation.
With the mild Omicron variant spreading, the seven-day isolation period is causing a staff shortage at hospitals – amid demands for it to be cut to five days.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News defended the Government’s decision to not go further than Plan B restrictions for England despite the pressure on the NHS.
He told Sky News on Thursday: “We are always trying to find the right compromise on going too tight on restrictions – lockdowns, let’s face it, they have a lot of costs connected.
“Then again, not wanting our hospitals to be overrun. This is where I think Plan B has been shown to be the right approach so far.”
Data shows 90 per cent of Covid patients in ICU still haven’t had their life-saving booster jab, despite the shots protecting against Omicron and offering the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.
