COVID-19 is causing people with other serious illnesses to avoid hospital

The threat of COVID-19 is causing some patients not to seek help for health emergencies, putting lives at risk, experts report.

The number of people in England attending hospital with suspected heart attacks has halved since early March, falling to 150 per day from a daily average of 300, according to the British Heart Foundation.

Failing to seek help for heart seizure symptoms could result in long-term damage, greater likelihood of needing intensive care treatment or even death, the organization says.

Other places, including Northern Ireland, Spain and the US, have also seen significant drops in cardiac patients and other people seeking medical assistance.

Critical moments

An online community of cardiologists in the US reports a fall of at least 50% in people receiving emergency hospital treatment for heart attacks.

The trend is supported by Harlan Krumholz, professor of medicine at Yale. Writing in The New York Times, he poses the question: “Where are all the patients with heart attacks and strokes?

“In more normal times, we never have so many empty beds," he writes about Yale New Haven Hospital.

"Our hospital is usually so full that patients wait in gurneys along the walls of the emergency department for a bed to become available on the general wards, or even in the intensive care unit," he says.

Professor Krumholz points to colleagues on Twitter who echo his concerns, highlighting a decline in patient numbers for emergencies such as acute appendicitis and acute gall bladder conditions.

Daily number of recorded attendances in England’s hospital emergency departments

In the UK, Public Health England’s Emergency Syndromic Surveillance System (EDSSS) shows a steep decline in people seeking hospital emergency treatment.

Daily patient numbers fell by around a third to fewer than 8,000 in March, compared with the previous month. The decrease represents fewer patients turning to emergency medical services across a range of conditions, including heart disease, asthma and acute gastrointestinal problems.

In many countries, the pandemic has changed demand for medical services. While fears of exposure to COVID-19 are causing fewer people to seek hospital help, lockdowns and social distancing measures have led to some procedures being cancelled, and the increased use of telemedicine to treat patients remotely.

Patient screenings and test referrals for cancer have been paused across most of the UK, for example. Figures from Cancer Research UK show around 200,000 weekly screenings for bowel, breast and cervical cancer have been put on hold.

While the UK’s coronavirus restrictions continue, some other European nations are lifting measures. In a phased approach, countries including France, Italy and Spain have allowed some parts of their economies to reopen.

In Switzerland, the Federal Council has authorized parts of the economy to go back to work. Hospitals can resume non-emergency procedures and accept outpatients for treatment, although social distancing measures remain in place.