?Turn them over faster?: the bleak reality inside NSW?s hospitals

Patients discharged early, cancer specialists diverted to Covid wards, non-Covid patients mixed in with infected ones: this is the bleak picture from inside New South Wales hospitals despite government officials stressing they would cope with the coming surge without need for another lockdown. The revelation comes as the share of double-vaccinated patients in intensive care units makes up the majority for the first time.

Doctors, paramedics and patients say Friday's decision to halt non-urgent elective surgery until February will only exacerbate health issues.

The premier, Dominic Perrottet, released government modelling on Friday that predicted Covid-related hospitalisations will peak between 3,000 and 6,000 patients by the third or fourth week of January. As of 8pm on Thursday, the tally stood at 1,738.

"The modelling today is encouraging," he told Friday's media conference. "Even on a worst-case scenario, [NSW] is in a strong position to deal with the challenges that we face."

That confidence, though, is not shared by many within the health system. An increasing reliance on a fatigued workforce to perform roles beyond their expertise and experience risks reduced care and the prospect of medical errors, staff say.

Even though Omicron is 50-70% less likely than the Delta strain to cause hospitalisations, its far higher infection rate means many more people will get it.

Worryingly, as of 2 January, the percentage of those in hospital who were fully vaccinated has risen to 67.4%, according to data compiled by the health department's critical intelligence unit. As of that date, fully vaccinated people made up 50.5% of the Covid patients in intensive care, becoming the majority for the first time.