The colder months are officially here. Over the last week or so there’s been a serious drop in temperature which can only mean one thing. A serious rise in illness. Due to the media we’re all too aware of how much pressure the NHS is under. But what is this cold weather going to do to make it worse? Well there has also been talk of a flu epidemic that is imminent for Britain. A superbug heading over from Australia is about to create chaos for the NHS, but are the equipped to deal with it? The simple answer is no. There’s simply not enough space as it is, and not enough time to prepare, especially now the temperature has dropped. But here’s a little insight into what the NHS could do to try and work things out.

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Drug Developments

This is a big one. If the NHS want to handle the winter crisis that’s going to hit them, they’re going to need to develop new, stronger drugs to try and combat some of the illnesses. The major one being the flu that’s going to hit the country. Pharmaceutical companies in Australia rapidly tried to find a vaccine, but couldn’t find anything strong enough to combat the superbug. Britain faces exactly the same problem, but with a few extra weeks to prepare. A lot of work is going on in the labs to try and prepare. Scientists are working around the clock attempting different techniques. One of the main things they need to focus on is keeping the area sterile. They’ll be using different hose manufacturers to do so. They’ll also be trying to find the main strain of the big. It is easy to cure the different strains that have formed from the main strain, but the main one itself is what needs to be cured for the vaccine to be successful.

The Hospitals

As we already know, pretty much every hospital is under pressure in the NHS. There simply isn’t enough beds to go around, especially not enough to deal with the winter spike. It isn’t just people getting ill that brings them into the hospital, The weather conditions cause a spike in injuries through either falls or car crashes. The NHS has had to free up around 3000 beds just to deal with the impending flu crisis, that doesn’t account for the spike in cases of other illness or injuries. There’s also the staffing crisis ahead of us. There’s been around a 50% drop in the number of applicants who have registered the the RCN this year. Meaning around 50% less have successfully qualified as nurses. There’s then the issue of already registered nurses leaving due to pay caps, and foreign aid from nurses abroad being scarce due to the brexit issues. So will it be a staffing issue that bring the NHS to its knees this winter? It will it be the lack of space to treat anyone? Squeezing so many people into the ward also increases the risk of infection and disease. A truly worrying time for a lot of people.