Corona waves put a strain on the healthcare system and thus harm not only those infected, but also those who depend on medical help for other complaints.

This is common knowledge.

The magnitude of this effect has so far been difficult to quantify.

A study by economists Thiemo Fetzer and Christopher Rauh from the Universities of Warwick and Cambridge now provides initial estimates from the United Kingdom.

Their findings point to serious consequences that will haunt the UK healthcare system long after the pandemic is over.

Alexander Wulfers

Editor in the business department.

  • Follow I follow

Fetzer and Rauh took advantage of the fact that there is very detailed and publicly available data in Great Britain from which the burden on hospitals can be derived.

Among other things, the economists calculated that around 4,000 people died in the first year of the pandemic alone, their deaths being a result of the enormous pressure on the healthcare system from the many corona patients.

This means: For every 30 corona deaths, there was one additional death without a Covid infection.

Estimated very conservatively, according to Fetzer.

The outbreak of Covid-19 led to a drastic reduction in emergency room visits and significantly longer waiting times for specialist visits.

While before the pandemic 97 percent of all transfers led to an appointment within six weeks, it was only 56 percent in the first corona wave.

Millions of patients were affected.

Waiting times can be fatal

There was also a significant decline and long delays in treatments that were not absolutely necessary. What sounds relatively harmless can have serious consequences. Because this includes not only cosmetic surgery, but also gastroscopy and colonoscopy, which could have identified more serious diseases. In fact, Fetzer and Rauh also found a drastic decline in cancer patients: 32,000 fewer of them were in treatment during the pandemic than before. Since it can be assumed that many fewer people will suddenly develop cancer, this means that many do not yet know anything about their disease and will only find out about it later. This is particularly fatal in the case of cancer, because just four weeks of additional waiting time can significantly reduce the chances of survival. "It's like a snowballwhich is getting bigger and bigger,” says Rauh. "This can have gigantic effects in the long run."

Fetzer and Rauh identify several mechanisms that worsen the supply. A corona outbreak not only leads to a higher number of patients and a greater burden on the clinic staff. At the same time, it also increases the risk of the employees themselves being infected. If nurses and doctors are absent, the situation becomes even more tense. In addition, there is a decrease in the quality of care, which is difficult to measure: due to the extreme circumstances of a Covid wave, the staff is physically and mentally exhausted at some point - and makes more mistakes.

Hospitals in which the vaccination rate among employees was higher had significantly lower excess mortality from other diseases. Nevertheless, Fetzer believes that an industry-specific vaccination requirement can only solve part of the problem: “A vaccination requirement for medical staff shifts the responsibility for acting in solidarity to this group. But the real problem is that so many unvaccinated patients are still ending up in the hospital, which means there are not enough resources to care for everyone.”

The study by Fetzer and Rauh is made possible by the detailed health data in the United Kingdom. In Germany, on the other hand, very little is known about what happens in which hospital. This annoys the two economists, who assume that they will come to similar conclusions in Germany. However, this type of research is impossible in Germany due to a lack of transparency. Data protection is not a valid argument for this, says Fetzer, because the rules of the European General Data Protection Regulation also apply in the United Kingdom. Conflicts of interest are more important, he believes. In the UK, rigorous data collection is also used for control. If something goes wrong in a hospital, it is noticed more quickly."Britain spends a third less on health care than Germany and thus achieves very similar results," says Fetzer. Germany tolerates a lot of inefficiency in the health sector.