Dr Nicholl was speaking after an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) held to debate issues related to PAs.

The debate was on five motions covering scope of practice, accountability, evaluation, the impact on training opportunities, and the pace and scale of the roll-out of PAs.

Dr Nicholl, RCP fellow and consultant neurologist, spoke in the debate and pointed out governance issues relating to the motions and what will be done if they pass.

“We’re pushing for all five motions to be passed and I don’t think the officers were reading the room,” he said.

“Everyone agreed with the first four motions, which is precisely why we need all five motions to pass.

“It’s illogical for the college to support motions one to four, but oppose motion five to limit the pace and scale of the roll-out until the issues of regulation, standards, and scope of practice are addressed.

“It really is time to take the foot off the accelerator.”

Dr Nicholl added: “I pointed out governance issue after governance issue with regard to what’s happening now in relation to motions one to four, that they agree with.

“But no-one said what we’re going to do about it, and what’s going to happen if motion five passes. Is anyone actually going to do anything?

“It’s a challenge.”

Dr Nicholl thanked DAUK members for completing a survey about PAs last year, which has formed the basis for a lot of campaigning and media work.

And he thanked RCP fellows who contributed to his talk during the EGM.

He said: “I’m immensely proud of what we’ve done but equally I’m extremely anxious about what happens next.

“I was neutral on this until last summer and it was only when DAUK did a survey of our members across the country alerted me that, Houston, we have a problem.

“So a huge thank you to every DAUK member that completed that survey.

“I’ve had nearly 50 FRCPs who inputted into my slides.

“I only had a 12 minute talk to cover five motions and there was a real breadth of expertise in that.”

The vote closes at 7.30pm on Wednesday 20 March and results of the fellows’ vote will be announced on 25 March.

The RCP said: “They will then be discussed by RCP Council at an additional meeting in April and the Board of Trustees in June, where any necessary action plans will be developed. We will update RCP fellows and members on the next steps as soon as we can.”

Dr David Nicholl appeared on ITV news, warning of the pressure the NHS is currently under:

“When Simon Stevens says we’re in the “eye of the storm”, I would say that we are in the eye of a hurricane. This is a winter like no other, and this is the biggest health crisis this country has faced in 100 years.”

Dr David Nicholl, DAUK

It was when Claire* was walking around central London before Christmas that it hit home how bad the situation would be in her hospital over the festive period. As hordes of shoppers gathered, the “penny dropped”, bringing into sharp focus the enormity of what the NHS would be facing this winter.

Her fears have become reality. The intensive care doctor says she and her colleagues have returned to the “fire fighting” they did at the start of the pandemic. It is a case of NHS staff not eating or being able to go to the toilet for a whole shift, with the number of people requiring her help growing by the day.

News that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK is welcomed by Claire, who has just had the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. But, she says, it will do little to ease demand over the next few weeks.

“It does not make a difference this month,” she says. “I don’t know what lies ahead. I think that largely depends on what people do today [in terms of social distancing and following the rules].”

The situation she faces right now is trying to find more beds for those who need urgent help, and doing so without enough nurses. In normal times, intensive care nurses would deal with one patient at a time, now there are two to three patients per nurse.

“This means they cannot be as meticulous as they normally would be,” she says. “I worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday last week and it was long days, just patient after patient coming in.”

Will Broughton, from the College of Paramedics, echoes Claire’s words when he describes the unrelenting pressure on NHS services, saying he was “exceptionally busy” on Tuesday evening.

He talks of delays at hospitals across London, saying he had to wait for two hours to get one patient inside from his ambulance. “One of my colleagues was waiting at one hospital for three hours after their 12-hour shift finished. There is no let-up, it’s just constant.”

He says he is encouraged by the vaccine news but that there needs to be “consistency” in how vaccines are rolled out to frontline healthcare staff, with many NHS workers worried about getting the virus and becoming unwell or even dying. He says he is aware of 25 ambulance staff deaths across the UK this year.

The Oxford vaccination programme will start on 4 January and will aim to reach millions of people in at-risk categories as quickly as possible. The emergence of a new variant of the virus causing high rates of infection has made vaccination even more urgent.

“I have not yet had a vaccine,” says Broughton. “The reality is that we are offered very short-notice appointments. I think yesterday there were appointments at one hospital but there was no way I or others could get there to have it on time,” he says, adding that they need to have a day off to get immunised.

“NHS staff must be prioritised as we are still seeing high levels of sickness and high numbers of people who are having to isolate or testing positive for the virus,” he says.

“It’s all very well to look forward to the spring and the supposed end of this phase of the pandemic, but the reality is that we still have a very busy winter to deal with and the next two, three or even four weeks will be incredibly busy.”

Dr David Nicholl, from Doctors’ Association UK, which represents frontline medics, works in the Midlands and says a recent tweet from a fellow doctor, showing a rise in cases in the Black Country and Birmingham, made him realise that the scenes playing out in London could soon be at his door.

“It’s key that frontline staff get vaccinated,” he says without hesitation, adding that his trust had started immunising workers but the whole country needs to “upscale massively”.

“We have not yet seen the train wreck of Covid in London and it is inevitable that train is coming towards me right now,” he says.

Dr David Nicholl, DAUK

*Not her real name

The article can be found in full here.

People will die because of this misinformation, this rubbish being written and shared by people. I can tell you, this pandemic is killing people round the corner from you. It is real.

A doctor working in hospitals in Sandwell and Birmingham today broke down as he spoke of the desperate pressures facing frontline staff across the region – and hit out at the ‘dangerous rubbish’ spouted by those still playing down the pandemic. 

Dr David Nicholl, a consultant neurologist at hospitals in the city, also spoke of his anger that people were still failing to follow basic guidance around masks and social distancing – all while NHS staff were fighting to save lives, putting in desperately long shifts and ‘running on empty’.

“People will die because of this misinformation, this rubbish being written and shared by people. I can tell you, this pandemic is killing people round the corner from you. It is real,” said Dr Nicholl.

Dr Nicholl, who has worked in Sandwell and Birmingham for nearly 20 years, spoke out in his capacity as a doctors’ representative for Doctors’ Association UK.

He said it was “more than frustrating” that he was continuing to see people ‘relaxed’ about following the guidance or downplaying its severity, while celebrity commentators spread misinformation.

I see someone highly paid like Julia Hartley-Brewer, sharing misinformed posts from her beach in Antigua, making dangerous comments – it is more than galling. These people are killing people – people will die because they believe this misinformation.

I personally find it very upsetting.

I see the impact, on our Covid wards and non Covid wards, every shift – I see how it affects people first hand; a colleague of mine is on a ventilator right now. I get really angry to read this kind of rubbish, and to see it persisting and getting traction.

The silence is leaving a vacuum – people are entitled to know what is happening. People need to know people are dying round the corner from them, and that they must follow the guidance. We are in a very difficult situation.

The new variant (of coronavirus) is a game changer – it is more transmissable and will soon overtake us. The vaccine is a fantastic development but the programme is going to take months to roll out and we need to do all we can to save lives in the meantime.”

We will get through this, we always do, but the NHS is under huge pressure. I worry so much about my colleagues – their own safety and well being is being tested to the limit.”

Dr David Nicholl, DAUK

Read the full article here.

In calling for protections to be strengthened Dr Parmar cited the countless emails and messages that the Doctors’ Association UK have received from frontline doctors with concerns. The meeting had a keytone address from whistleblower and Consultant Cardiologist Dr Raj Mattu. Speaking at the meeting, Dr Rinesh Parmar Chair of the Doctors’ Association UK said:

“COVID-19 has exposed and really shone a light on the current void in whistleblowing protection for healthcare workers.

Colleagues have raised concerns about the availability of PPE and testing and have faced detriment and disciplinary action.

A true freedom to speak up is vital for patient and staff safety, there is still a long way to go to achieve a just culture in the NHS.”

He spoke about how the Doctors’ Association UK during the first wave of the pandemic became the voice of frontline doctors, providing a platform for them to share their concerns safely. The creation of the NHSPPE App facilitated the raising of concerns anonymously.

“There is a perverse system at play which targets the whistleblower and their credibility, shifting focus away from the serious patient safety concern that has been raised. The reality is that patients are not safer and the issue is just brushed under the carpet.”

He spoke of the work being done by DAUK on the Learn Not Blame campaign as well as our support for the reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) and the calls for an independent Office for the Whistleblower.

Dr Jenny Vaughan spoke about her role with Learn Not Blame as well as some of the work being done by the Royal College of Physicians. Dr David Nicholl spoke about his own personal experiences of being a whistleblower about concerns over drug shortages and operation yellowhammer.

Despite the request coming from the grassroots, disappointingly no doctors or organisations representing doctors have been invited to give evidence. However, the Health Select Committee will be hearing from Charlie Massey.

We have written to the HSC to urgently clarify, and ask them to include representatives from the medical profession, in what is a very important, at the moment incredibly unbalanced, inquiry for us all.

The HSC has given assurances that doctors can attend and observe. Dr Jenny Vaughan will be attending representing DAUK.

DAUK would like to see as many doctors as possible attend. For those who can’t attend the inquiry will be streamed live on Parliament TV and DAUK will keep our members updated.

let us know you can attend