there are more people being treated for
covid in hospitals throughout the uk
than at any point in the pandemic the
national medical director for nhs
england professor stephen powers
reported today that more than 15 000
people have been admitted
since christmas eve he said there was
extreme pressure on the service
more than we've ever seen in his words
and the numbers continue to rise as 10
hospital trusts across england reported
a lack of capacity
in intensive care to illustrate the
distressing reality of what is happening
on the front line
clive myrie visited the royal london
hospital to see how staff
and families of patients are coping
there
there are those who must look into the
abyss to spare
all of us how many floors are taken up
by covert patients here
we've got patients on the third floor
fourth floor
sixth floor seventh floor eighth floor
of 548 beds at the royal london hospital
420 have covered patients
for ten days we joined staff in one of
the uk's biggest intensive care units
still coming go go go at the peak of the
second wave
he could die from this by the way i'm
sorry to have to say that
as a new variant of covet 19 forces a
reckoning
for our health service sorry
so we're now going to run into a problem
because we haven't got any beds
and a reckoning for us nobody wants to
go through this
i won't wish this on anybody this this
really is
horrible
as london sleeps the night shift begins
at the royal london hospital
nursing sister carlene kelly makes her
way to a job that's crushing her
in the middle of the covered nightmare
sleep
isn't what it used to be
there's anxiety when you wake up and you
you remember what
you have to go into we're fragile and
um angry
in the emergency department consultant
nick bunker is up to his neck
in problems so he's got he's got covered
and he's had a stroke
a new covert patient has been admitted
for every hour he's been on shift
by 3 a.m eight so we're now going to run
into a problem because we haven't got
any beds
no beds so i had five beds to start the
night
got two patients next door who need to
come in
[Music]
and here's another where will he go
just bring the back of the bed let's see
if that helps and is he on 100
now in pressurized rooms the patients
receive
oxygen through masks their condition
monitored
but who may need more sustained help
from a ventilator
one man's breathing badly falters just
do it just do it just do it
he must be intubated fast
and we watch as medics put him to sleep
and push a long
plastic tube down his throat hooking him
up to his new breathing machine
when he'll wake up no one knows
he'll join so many others here oblivious
to night and day
cared for by strangers like carlene whom
we spoke to in the first wave of the
virus
back in may i've felt broken on many
occasions
and i think a lot of my colleagues have
now the intensity of the second wave
is even more frightening i use the
how i feel about this time like i'm
trapped in a cave and the water is
slowly rising and i'm barely keeping my
head above water
it's scarier it's bigger i was so naive
the first time
i wasn't convinced we were going to have
a second wave
at all and the huge numbers that have
just
absolutely slammed us um it's just
we i i never thought it would be
possible to have this many
intensive care patients not at all
nick bunker checks on carlene and all
the staff as he helps monitor around 130
icu covert patients
spread all over the hospital there were
little more than
40 intensive care beds before the
pandeling
if if yeah let me know if i need to know
and he still needs
more tonight
a few minutes later we find a porter
with a priceless possession
we soon find out how he sadly came upon
it
martin freeborn said he wanted to speak
to us
my wife lost a fight for life um
it was a mixture of covid and an
infection
that finally finished her off
and this is literally in the last few
minutes yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah in the last half hour i've
lost
her her name was helen
and she was 64.
what's your message to people watching
this who perhaps feel that
there is no cover there is there is no
battle that everybody makes me really
angry
nobody wants to go through this i won't
wish this on anybody
this this really is horrible it's real
and people really do need to look
after themselves and take care because
you don't want this to happen i won't
wish this on anybody
um yeah please
wake up and please be over careful you
can't do enough
to keep yourself safe don't end up like
us please
that's the three grandchildren and my
three daughters
and my wife in the in the background
looking on
she loved being a grandmother
it was letters from my daughter and
but unfortunately she she went on the
ventilator before she could see it
dearest mum helen grandma we love you so
much
we miss you more than we can say you are
so
strong and have been through so much you
are a hero
our inspiration i like this darkness
until we see you again and we will you
stay strong as always
all our love and forever
that'd be laura lindsay and megan
it's a sad story in it
just one of the families suffering there
in this pandemic talking to clive myrie
and we'll have more reports from clive
cameraman david mcelveen and
producer sam perranti at the royal
london hospital over the course
of this week