22 bomb attack victims on critical list

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, today said 22 people remained in a critical condition in hospitals across London following the terrorist attacks yesterday which killed at least 50 people and injured more than 700.

Sir Ian said 350 survivors were treated at the scene of the explosions, with the same number taken to hospital, one of whom had died. The commissioner added that the casualty bureau had already received 104,000 calls about the quadruple bombings of three trains and a bus in locations around central London.

Sir Ian paid tribute to the response of all the emergency services - hospitals, ambulances, councils and the police - to the atrocity. He told a press conference in central London: "This was a fantastic example of team London at work."

Casualties were taken to seven of the capital's hospitals, including University College hospital (UCH), the Royal London hospital, the Royal Free hospital and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust. The Queen and Prince Charles will visit casualties this afternoon.

London ambulance service's assistant chief officer, Russell Smith, said that ambulance teams had dealt with "very traumatic injuries" and "taken some particularly harrowing 999 calls".

Julie Dent, chief executive of South-west London strategic health authority, said hospitals across the capital had responded extremely well to the atrocity. She said health services across London would be "back to normal by the end of the day".

GP Stuart Drage told Sky News he expected casualties from the bus bombing outside the headquarters of the British Medical Association (BMA) in Tavistock Square to be "significantly higher" than the official figure of two.

Dr Drage, joint chief executive of the London local medical committees, said doctors from the BMA "dealt with a number of fatalities" and treated survivors with multiple serious injuries. He added that the association's HQ was rapidly turned into a makeshift field hospital, with a ward set up inside to treat casualties.

UCH, which is close to Tavistock Square, saw 58 people yesterday and still has 27 inpatients. A spokeswoman said one patient had been discharged this morning, but that the hospital had also received one patient from another hospital.

Four people remain in intensive care with "serious" injuries, she said, but the majority had been treated for head injuries and lacerations.

At the Royal London hospital, near Liverpool Street station, 183 patients were received yesterday from two of the incidents, and this morning the hospital was still treating 26 people in hospital. Of those, seven remained in intensive care and 19 were on wards. The hospital also operated on six people.

The Royal Free hospital in north London said it received 61 casualties altogether at two sites, and admitted 13. No patients have died at the hospital, and though some have suffered serious injuries, none are considered to be in danger, a hospital statement said.

Five people required surgery and two remain in intensive care, a spokeswoman said. One is in a critical but stable situation and the other is stable. The hospital has treated fractures, smoke inhalation, open wounds and burns, and has also treated a child with minor injuries.

Two of its patients were suffering ear injuries caused by the bus explosion and were treated at the Royal national throat, nose and ear hospital near King's Cross.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust received 21 patients, three of whom were critically injured. Seven had sustained major injuries and 11 of them had minor injuries. The hospital also saw one patient who was discharged quickly.

St Mary's hospital, Paddington, received 38 casualties, of whom seven were critically injured and 17 seriously injured. Of those, the hospital has discharged 14 people who had minor injuries. The serious wounds at St Mary's included lacerations and smoke inhalation.

The Great Ormond Street children's hospital - which does not have an A&E unit - treated 22 patients from the Russell Square blast during the day, of whom some were hospital staff caught up in the blasts on their way in to work.

Of the types of injuries treated, Professor Jim Ryan, senior A&E consultant who was leading the hospital's response to the tragedy, said: "They are what we would expect from a blast - facial, chest, abdominal and limb injuries. People have been penetrated by fragments of bomb blast debris. Some have been penetrated by pieces of the bus, others by pieces of nearby buildings such as glass."

He also said that a close watch would be kept on patients for injuries that are not yet apparent. "One of the features of an explosion, which we know from blasts in Northern Ireland and Israel, is a condition known as blast lung or shock lung, where people sustain a lung injury which leaks over time. They appear fine but they slowly deteriorate," he said.