Natalie Hudson

Some non-urgent surgery is being halted at Greater Manchester hospitals as the " rising impact" of Covid-19 and staffing shortages continues to affect NHS trusts across England .

, Meaning they are concerned they cannot provide priority services.

Health bosses in Greater Manchester said about 15% of their workforce were either ill with Covid or isolating.

They said the " challenges may get worse" in The Next fortnight.

Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership said the decision affecting 17 hospitals was " a temporary measure" and that cancer care, cardiac and vascular surgery and transplantation would not be affected.

But it said Covid admissions were also rising sharply, with More Than One in Five Patients in some of the region's hospitals testing positive.

Outbreaks " in an increasing number of care homes" are also affecting hospital discharges, the partnership said.

Fiona Noden, chief executive of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said the suspension of surgery had been " a very difficult decision" which was taken to ensure " we can keep people safe, maintain infection control, deploy staff where they are needed most [and] keep looking after people who need urgent and emergency care".

She urged people to " come forward for help and treatment in the usual way, using their local Emergency Department only for serious illnesses or injuries".

Elsewhere in England , several trusts have declared Critical Incidents , which are taken when health bosses are concerned they cannot provide priority services such as treatment for cancer or heart Disease .

The government's website showed There were no PCR test appointments available at any of the sites in Greater Manchester and Cheshire for a considerable amount of time on Tuesday.

Matthew Taylor , chief executive of the Nhs Confederation , said he would support relaxing rules around PCR follow-up tests if it was backed up by scientists.

He Said hospitals that had declared Critical Incidents were " essentially Reaching Out to staff who are on leave, on rest days or even recently retired and asking them to come back to wards, so The Situation is desperate".

Asked if he could support relaxing rules for those who are asymptomatic, Mr Taylor said: " We do need to try to get staff back to work as soon as possible [but] if staff come back into hospital and are infectious, that's completely counterproductive. "

Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South, Barbara Keeley , said: " If you work in the NHS you need to have a PCR test before you go back to work but actually you can't get One . . There 's no better definition of a shambles. "

On Tuesday, without further restrictions but acknowledged parts of the NHS would feel " temporarily overwhelmed".

Source of news: bbc.com