I have several relatives and friends who work in primary and secondary care in the NHS, and although it might
seem to the casual observer that the hospitals are empty, they are not. The wards are at capacity without the normal 8-10% slack in the system. You can't see the wards from the ground floor entrance!
Outpatient clinics are taking place at about half the normal face-to-face rate with some of the rest being by telephone or at other satellite medical facilities (eg dialysis clinics after-hours, community hospitals and some GP surgeries). The time needed to clean surfaces and change PPE between appointments eats up a lot of the time.
ICUs are generally 'full' on any given date, let alone at the moment, they have a high in-out flow of patients as they juggle people with emergency illnesses, serious surgery both elective and emergency, and trauma. As soon as either a patient stabilises enough for them to return to a regular ward to recover or (sadly) there is nothing more to do for them and letting them go, peacefully and with palliative care then that ICU bed space has a number of candidates. The time and equipment needed to set up an ICU bay for a single patient stay is staggering. Add in extra cleaning and PPE protocols at the moment and I'd estimate that up to half a shift might be needed.
I would suggest that A&E
seeming to be quiet from viewing the waiting room merely means that the normal numbers of walking wounded, alcohol-related attendance, people who couldn't get a GP appointment etc., has dropped off a lot. I have heard my relatives working in the NHS comment that A&E really is now just functioning as it should be - serious accidents and emergencies only.
A lot of staff have been deployed at smaller hospitals to man minor injuries and out of hours GP clinics (the local out of hours service give you a times appointment within the next 4-12 hours) to avoid going to A&E. This system has been running in my local area for about a decade and it works well (in my own experience).
If you're brought into A&E in an ambulance or other hospital transport then they don't pop you in the waiting room to wait! I've even been wheeled into the A&E waiting room due to a spinal surgical emergency by my husband in a hospital wheely chair thingy and I was called through within (literally) 3 minutes as I needed to be supine.
As with many situations, judging from exterior appearances is unwise. The NHS is still dealing with as many patients as 'normal' bar some minor electives (new knees, cataracts, bunion surgeries etc.,) and has to factor in the extra hours needed for Coronavirus cleaning and PPE changes.
It's busier than usual is what I'm hearing from them.
Edited to add: this news story from Leicestershire today is typical of what I'm hearing from them. The photo in this case is from a regular ward repurposed for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, not an ICU. The emotional toll on staff is becoming huge. One of my frontline NHS-employeed relatives is 4.5 months' pregnant with her first child and will not be offered the vaccines until a lot more research has been done on their effect on pregnant women, she is utterly torn between duty and self-preservation at the moment.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-55532469
"A woman who watched her mother die next to her in hospital after they both caught Covid-19 has pleaded with people to follow precautions.
Maria Rico, 76, from Leicestershire, removed her oxygen mask to speak to her two daughters one final time - despite knowing this would hasten her death.
Anabel Sharma described the moment as "heartbreaking" but said she was glad her mother did not die alone.
She has released their final photograph to raise awareness of the virus..."