Under the emergency plans, patients who are critically ill are being moved between areas that are ‘paired’ with others. It means patients in the east of England are being moved to the Midlands, while other areas are also seeing regional transfers.
The measures come as the UK grapples with daily coronavirus cases of over 50,000 regularly.
The most recent Government data, published Sunday, shows there were 54,990 cases yesterday and 454 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
There were also 366,435 new cases over the past seven days, up 47.6 percent from the seven days prior.
The NHS’ regional pairing system is the first of its kind to be put into place in the health service’s history, The Times reports. It adds the distance between some hospitals could be ‘hundreds’ of miles.
Doctors have been warning hospitals in hard-hit regions are struggling to cope with an influx of patients following the outbreak of a new coronavirus strain.
London’s Nightingale hospital is also set to open within the next two weeks to help alleviate pressure.
READ: UK lockdown: Keir Starmer demands Boris puts ENTIRE country under lockdown within 24 hours
The affected hospitals were allegedly North Middlesex University Hospital, Barnet Hospital, and Whittington Hospital.
They had patients waiting to be moved from their ICUs to others.
The NHS reportedly confirmed the email had been sent but said the information was likely to be out of date soon after.
Yesterday Labour leader Keir Starmer went so far as to urge the Government to enforce a national lockdown by today.
Addressing MPs and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sir Keir said delays in enforcing restrictions had been “the source of so many problems” before now.
He added: “There’s no good the Prime Minister hinting that further restrictions are coming into place in a week, or two, or three.
“I say bring in those restrictions now, national restrictions, within the next 24 hours. That has to be the first step towards controlling the virus.”
Stopping short of warning of a national lockdown, Mr Johnson told the BBC yesterday stronger measures could be enforced in parts of England in the coming weeks.
These tougher restrictions could involve the closing of schools, which the Government has been reluctant to do.
Mr Johnson said: “It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher inb may parts of the country. I’m fully, fully reconciled to that.”
