Three Years To Return Normal: COVID-19 Hit Greater Manchester’s Hospitals

COVID-19 cases hit the system of the hospital in Greater Manchester. According to the latest data, almost 30,000 people are waiting more than a year for operations. It is expected that returning to normal can take as long as three years.

NHS England data showed that 55 people in the region had been waiting over 52 weeks for planned surgeries at the end of January 2020. Twelve months later, more people started to wait for the surgeries. According to the latest data,28,777 people have been waiting for the surgeries for weeks.

In a meeting of Greater Manchester’s joint health scrutiny committee, the region’s interim chief health officer, Sarah Price said returning to normal can take three years. She said: “It won’t be something that happens in a few months. It’s going to take two to three years, I would imagine, to get back to the sorts of levels that we were at before the pandemic.”

“Our priority now is moving onto recovery arrangements and prioritising those who are most clinically urgent for treatment that has been waiting longest and needs to be seen. So we’re starting to plan in earnest for that building back.”

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burham talked about the problem at his weekly press conference and said that: “We’re talking to NHS colleagues now about the resumption of planned elective care coming back in. It’s due to start in the next week or so…those arrangements are being made now.”