A&E doctor reveals people in their THIRTIES are in intensive care with coronavirus in UK hospitals


An A&E doctor in London has warned that even people in their 30s are fighting for their lives in intensive care because of the coronavirus crisis.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, an emergency doctor and the Labour MP for Tooting, south London, revealed that doctors will soon have to start rationing life support machines.

After working at shift at St George’s Hospital in capital at the weekend Dr Allin-Khan said the number of people being hospitalised is increasing ‘very, very quickly’.

She said patients with other health problems were having to be shipped out to children’s wards so there was enough room to treat the people with COVID-19.  

Almost 5,700 people in the UK have been officially diagnosed with the disease but the true number is thought to be dozens of times higher. 281 people have died.

Dr Allin-Khan said the UK is ‘heading for disaster’ and pleaded with people to obey social distancing rules and stop going to busy areas after thousands of people were pictured defiantly visiting tourist destinations at the weekend.

The MP added that doctors will soon have to choose who does and doesn’t get ‘the last ventilator’ in intensive care. At the weekend a doctor working in Italy revealed that in some places over-65s were being knocked down medics’ priority list.  

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, an A&E doctor and Labour MP for Tooting, south London, revealed her experience of working on the coronavirus frontlines over the weekend

Dr Allin-Khan worked a shift at St George's Hospital, London, over the weekend and told BBC's Radio 4 what she saw there

Dr Allin-Khan worked a shift at St George’s Hospital, London, over the weekend and told BBC’s Radio 4 what she saw there

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Dr Allin-Khan gave a glimpse of life on the frontline in the UK’s coronavirus fight. 

In a worrying account she said: ‘There is a very real sense that the number of cases are growing and now growing very, very quickly. 

‘Some of the most startling news seems to be that some of the sickest patients that we have had in this department recently have been young. 

‘We have patients who are in their 30s and early 40s who are previously fit and well who are now in the intensive care and fighting for their lives. This is a virus which is very very difficult to predict.’

Fears of hospitals becoming overwhelmed is one of the driving factors of the UK’s coronavirus response.

Officials are working to try and spread out the number of cases of the disease so that fewer people will need intensive care at any one time and, instead, there will be a longer and less sudden outbreak.

Hospitals in Italy are totally overloaded with patients and video emerged last week of people in beds in the corridors.

Shortages of medical staff and intensive care beds pushes the death rate higher because fewer people are able to get the medical help they need.  

Although severe infections are thought to largely be restricted to older patients and those with long-term health conditions, younger people are becoming critically ill, too.

Dr Allin-Khan said ‘fit and healthy’ young people are ending up needing intensive care to save their lives.

One of those is 36-year-old health worker and mother-of-three, Areema Nasreen, who is in intensive care in Walsall, West Midlands.

Ms Nasreen, who is a healthcare assistant at the same hospital where she’s now fighting for her life – Walsall Manor Hospital – became ill while on annual leave.

Her sister, Kazeema, 22, said her sister is currently in a critical condition and on a ventilator, but ‘making tiny little progress’.

Areema Nasreen, 36, is in intensive care in the hospital where she works in Walsall after catching the coronavirus

Areema Nasreen, 36, is in intensive care in the hospital where she works in Walsall after catching the coronavirus

Speaking to BirminghamLive on Sunday, Kazeema urged people to ‘take coronavirus seriously’.

She said: ‘My sister who is an amazing nurse on the front line and who always helps so many has now caught this virus.

‘She is critically ill in ICU (intensive care unit), on a ventilator and fighting for her life.

‘I want everyone to know how dangerous this is. My sister is only 36 and is normally fit and healthy.

‘People are not taking this seriously enough. She is young – it is not just the elderly who are at risk.’ 

Dr Allin-Khan said that doctors in the UK will soon start having to make the devastating decisions about who they give intensive care to and who will not be able to get it.

She told Radio 4: ‘This is only going to get worse and there’s a real sense that it’s going to get harder and harder in the coming weeks…

‘In a matter of days or a couple of weeks we will be having to make life and death decisions. 

‘Making impossible choices between who gets what may be the last remaining ventilator. The public have to make this easier for us.’ 

Dr Allin-Khan criticised the Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his ‘relaxed-style mixed messaging’ after thousands of people ventured out to busy places at the weekend. 

In a plea to the public to stay at home she added: ‘We are headed for a disaster if people do not heed the social distancing measures.’

Mr Johnson now faces the threat of a Tory revolt unless he imposes Italy-style movement restrictions after the weekend made clear people weren’t listening to his pleas for them to stay at home.

Crowds flocked to parks and landmarks to take advantage of sunshine and the PM effectively put the nation on its final warning last night, saying there should be ‘no doubt’ he would take draconian action. 

He made clear a full lockdown would be ‘actively’ considered ‘in the next 24 hours’/

He highlighted measures in Italy and France, where all municipal spaces have been closed and police have been on patrol fining people who leave the house without a valid reason. 

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Visitors continued to flock to seaside resorts today including this one in West Bay, Dorset

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Visitors continued to flock to seaside resorts today including this one in West Bay, Dorset

People packed Bournemouth esplanade this morning (Sunday). Paddle boarders and swimmers braved the cold temperatures despite fears over the global coronavirus outbreak

People packed Bournemouth esplanade this morning (Sunday). Paddle boarders and swimmers braved the cold temperatures despite fears over the global coronavirus outbreak

The infamous Columbia Road Flower Market in London showed no signs of slowing down today as many flocked there to purchase flowers

The infamous Columbia Road Flower Market in London showed no signs of slowing down today as many flocked there to purchase flowers 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock underlined this morning that a decision is expected ‘very soon’, hitting out at the ‘selfish’ behaviour of people who were still travelling and saying ‘nothing is off the table’.

Pressure has been mounting on Mr Johnson to go further to avert a coronavirus catastrophe, with warnings of a ‘full-scale mutiny’ among his own Cabinet.

Traffic monitoring has suggested that London – regarded by experts as the engine of the UK’s outbreak – is still running at a third of its normal rate, far higher than other European capitals.