European health systems deemed 'inflexible' as Omicron overwhelms continent's hospitals
A World Health Organisation official warned last week of a “closing window of opportunity” for European countries to prevent their health care systems from being overwhelmed as the Omicron variant produces near-vertical growth in COVID-19 infections.
In France, Britain, and Spain — nations with comparatively strong national health programs — that window may already be closed.
Turning patients away from intensive care units, delaying people’s life-threatening diagnoses, and preventing a full-on system collapse are just some of the consequences of the latest wave of infections across the continent.
“There are a lot of patients we can’t admit, and it’s the non-COVID patients who are the collateral victims of all this,” said Dr Julie Helms, who runs the ICU at Strasbourg University Hospital.
Two years into the pandemic, with the exceptionally contagious Omicron impacting public services of various kinds, the variant’s effect on medical facilities has many reevaluating the resilience of public health systems that are considered essential to providing equal care.
The problem, experts say, is that few health systems built up enough flexibility to handle a crisis like COVID-19 before it emerged, while repeated infection spikes have kept the rest too preoccupied to implement changes during the long emergency.
Hospital admissions per capita right now are as high in France, Italy, and Spain as they were last spring when the three countries had lockdowns or other restrictive measures in place.
England's hospitalisation rate of people with COVID-19 for the week ending on 9 January was slightly higher than it was in early February 2021, before most residents were vaccinated. Also, this time, there are no lockdowns.
The Institute for Health
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