UK Health Service Hits Breaking Point with Staff Shortages and Patient Surge

  • Excess deaths surge as hospitals struggle to find empty beds
  • ‘Twindemic’ of Covid and flu exacerbated by staffing shortages
Ambulances outside The Royal London Hospital, Jan. 2.Photographer: Hollie Adams/Getty Images
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When Dr. Simon Walsh finished a recent 10-hour shift in the pediatric emergency department at a London hospital, he felt guilty.

“I was leaving a department that had a waiting room full of people,” he said. “I didn’t have any hope that it was going to be any better the next day, because I knew it wouldn’t be.”