Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
Blue Sky Offices Shoreham, 25 Cecil Pashley Way, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 5FF, UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0)1273 434 943
Email: [email protected]
The NHS Confederation has accused the government of ‘abandoning’ all interest in Covid, in the face of very high levels of infection, rising demand for urgent and emergency care, and backlog pressures.
With more than 20,000 people currently in hospital with Covid and high staff absences, NHS leaders say there continues to be huge operational challenges for the health service, which is harming efforts to reduce waiting times in other areas.
In the past week, around 20 A&E departments have issued diverts, with numerous providers declaring critical incidents.
For this reason, the NHS Confederation is calling on the government to reconsider its ‘Living with Covid’ plan, and introduce mitigating action that will help to reduce waiting lists and ensure patients receive timely care.
A ‘living without restrictions’ ideology
NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said there is a “clear disconnect” between the government’s Living with Covid plan and the realities healthcare staff are facing on the frontline.
He said that this Easter, the NHS is facing a crisis “as bad as any winter”, yet instead of providing support, the government “seems to want to wash its hands of responsibility for what is occurring in plain sight in local services up and down the country.”
“No. 10 has seemingly abandoned any interest in Covid whatsoever. The Treasury has taken bites out of the already very tight NHS budget, while soaring inflation means the NHS settlement is now worth less. It is now unclear that anyone in the centre of government feels the unfolding NHS crisis is their responsibility.
“NHS leaders and their teams feel abandoned by the Government and they deserve better. We have been promised a ‘living with Covid’ plan yet all we have is a ‘living without restrictions’ ideology’,” he said.
Stronger measures and proper funding needed until virus is “genuinely under control”
The NHS Confederation is now calling for stronger measures to prevent the virus from spreading even further, as well as proper funding to continue until the virus is “genuinely under control”.
They are asking for the government to:
- Be honest with the public about the scale of impact of Covid-19 on the health service
- Encourage the public to take precautions to reduce the transmission, including mask-wearing and opting to meet outdoors where possible
- Review infection prevention control measures in hospitals and empower hospitals to free up more capacity for non-Covid patients
- Review key NHS targets, such as waiting times, which were set when the expectation was that the threat from Covid would largely be over
- Provide additional funding to cover the direct costs of Covid, such as lateral flow tests, which the NHS is now expected to cover.
The government says there will be “no change” to the guidance
However, the government appears to have rejected the calls from the Confederation, saying there will be “no change” to the guidance and the Living with Covid plan “still stands”.
A Number 10 spokeswoman said: “Thanks to a combination of vaccination and treatment and our better understanding of the virus we are now able to manage it as we do with other respiratory infections, so that remains the case with our approach. But obviously we continue to monitor any changes in the behaviour of the virus.”
She added that while the NHS is “clearly under pressure” the health and care levy alongside £10 billion of funding will provide enough funding to “recover services and relieve Covid pressures”.