Hospitals are again being forced to cancel operations as a result of increasing numbers of patients with coronavirus needing treatment.

Coupled with rising numbers of staff who are having to isolate, NHS staff now believe that the NHS is facing an unfolding third wave of the virus, which they fear will get worse in the next few weeks.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has had to call off some planned non-urgent operations this week to help it cope with an influx of patients who have been left seriously ill with coronavirus, with Dr Phil Wood, the trust’s chief medical officer, saying in a statement that the organisation has been forced to postpone some planned elective operations to ensure patients who require urgent treatment are prioritised.

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham has also had to postpone some scheduled surgeries because a large number of its staff are off work because they are in quarantine after being identified as a contact of someone with symptoms of  coronavirus.

It is also reported that the regional NHS ambulance services covering the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the north-west are struggling to cope.

Hospital bosses want NHS staff to no longer have to isolate from 19 July, four weeks before quarantine is lifted for the double jabbed and children on 16 August. According to the Guardian, approximately 1,000 staff at University Hospitals Birmingham are isolating this week either because they have been identified as a contact, or have had to take time off to look after a child whose ‘bubble’ has been sent home from school or because they are ill themselves.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of hospital body NHS Providers, said: “Trust leaders are already asking whether, if double-vaccinated members of the public won’t be required to self-isolate after 16 August, this date can be brought forward for NHS staff, who were one of the first groups to be vaccinated.”