Over the past few days I’ve been speaking to several frontl…

One doctor in a London hospital tells me that following a huge spike in cases their hospital is struggling to cope and they now have no choice but to ration Oxygen: “No beds, no space, minimal Oxygen supplies. We’re having to ration Oxygen.”

A senior doctor at one of the biggest London hospitals tells me that all elective surgery has now been cancelled and that roughly 80-85% of beds are currently being used for COVID patients.

At one hospital in London a specific team has been set purely to aid with the patient discharge process. Why? Simply to free up as much bed space as possible because demand is higher than it has ever been.

One medic tells me that the number ITU beds has increased at their hospital as they try and deal with extra demand but they only have staff to cover half of them: “Yes we have extra beds but what is the point if we don’t have any staff to actually work on them?”

Another tells me that so many members of staff are off because they are isolating: “The hospital has no idea what to do with deployment or staffing we’ve all been asked to cancel annual leave and any days off we had because there are so many people who can't come to work”.

I’ve also been told by several members of staff across multiple hospitals that many of their colleagues have signed off due to stress or mental health issues after working flat out this year. Many are saying that they are being drastically overworked and need extra support.

One tells me they have already been working flat out to cover surgeries that had been cancelled “some of us stay after our shifts, we work extra weekends, there’s a huge backlog, so we haven't stopped working.”

Now the latest spike means there will be more to deal with.

Another healthcare professional tells me the different departments at their hospital are being turned into a critical care overflow units and those who have no intensive care training are being asked to help to try and make up the numbers.

If you're a frontline healthcare professional working in hospitals in the UK at the moment, my DMs are open and I really want to hear from you.

Anything you tell me will be dealt with with the strictest of confidence.