NHS Hospital Capacity during COVID-19 Overstretched Staff Space Systems and Stuff

The authors offer lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about how intensive care units in the United Kingdom managed patient surge. They note that while ICUs were able to expand their space, they lacked the staffing and supplies to use it effectively; patient surge occurred unevenly throughout the country but there was strain throughout the health care system; redeployment of staff to ICUs led to surgical backlogs; and health care workers became infected disproportionately and faced significant psychological harm. The authors encourage future responses to assess surge capacity and strain in other than numerical counts and to protect the well-being of staff.