The Doctor’s Association UK (DAUK) has called for more protection for NHS staff,  saying it is “alarmed” by the rise of the Omicron variant.

It says: “We have requested an urgent amendment to the outdated PPE guidance, to ensure all NHS staff are protected from this virulent strain, by being provided with FFP3 masks.

“Protecting NHS staff is of the utmost importance as we enter this new wave of the pandemic, which again threatens to overwhelm our capacity.”

Dr Jenny Vaughan, chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, said: “The only surety we have in this pandemic is that waiting until you’re sure is certain to be too late.

“The prime minister has the best advisors to make the hardest decisions but if that counsel is to act swiftly now to stop many tragedies and avoidable suffering later will he?

“We sincerely hope that courage of conviction prevails, because the NHS cannot be allowed to buckle and patient safety has to be the top priority. 

“Our frontline healthcare workers must be protected. They are telling us in increasing numbers of the hugely challenging and extreme conditions they are working under. 

“The priority must remain for them to be allowed to save as many lives as possible and to have the necessary protection to enable this to happen.”

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DAUK’s Chair Dr Jenny Vaughan interviewed on Sky News in March regarding the government’s handling of the pandemic. She highlights that the government should have acted sooner during the first wave and gives her summary of where we’ve been and where we’re possibly heading.

“I’m very worried that there’s a lot of blame shifting going on here and political posturing and point scoring, bottom line is that colleagues of mine have, across the country have given their lives on the front line to save as many lives as possible.”

“And what we should be doing now is to try and actually fix the issues that led to the avoidable deaths. “

Dr Jenny Vaughan

Dr Rosie Shire from DAUK spoke to Sky News about concerns regarding the government’s decision to delay the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 weeks.

She explained that “three quarters of over 80 year-olds have had their first dose but ARE NOT fully vaccinated until they receive their second dose”

She added that “we don’t know if they will be fully vaccinated when they receive the second dose because that schedule was not studied and was not licensed”.

Dr Katie Sanderson, part of the DAUK committee, talks to Sky News about her concerns about the next few weeks as a frontline hospital doctor.

“We’ve all got to think really carefully about what we do over the next couple of weeks, otherwise we are not going to be able to offer good quality medical care to everybody who needs. It’s not just about looking after patients who have coronavirus. We want to be able to do our best by everybody, but we can’t control how you behave.”

Batches of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine have started arriving at UK hospitals ahead of the jab’s nationwide roll-out.

Some 530,000 doses of the treatment will be available for roll-out across the UK from Monday, with vulnerable groups already identified as the priority for immunisation.

The vaccine has been developed in the UK by Oxford University and the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The roll-out will begin after England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned vaccine shortages are likely to cause problems for “several months”.Advertisement

He said the UK urgently needs to maximise the number of people who are vaccinated, but added a lack of global supplies will likely hamper efforts to protect the nation in the first part of 2021.

Public Health England (PHE) has said it does not recommend mixing coronavirus vaccines from different suppliers amid fears over the possible shortages.

Both the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has been rolled out from December, require two doses.

The UK government had issued guidance telling NHS medics that if a person who has received their first coronavirus jab goes back for their second but the same type is not available, or the first vaccine type is unknown, then it is “reasonable” to offer a dose of another vaccine.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at PHE, has since told Sky News that mixing is not recommended and should only happen on “rare occasions”.

The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, which is part of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, was one of the first hospitals to take delivery of a batch of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Saturday morning.

First doses of the vaccine will be administered next week after the UK recorded another 57,725 coronavirus cases on Saturday – its highest ever daily total. Another 445 deaths were reported.

Dr George Findlay, chief medical officer and deputy chief executive at the trust, said the vaccination programme gives NHS staff “more confidence” coming into work.

He added hundreds of people are expected to be vaccinated per day at the Princess Royal Hospital site, with efficiency expected to increase after the first few days of the programme.

Dr Findlay said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be kept at normal fridge temperature, is “much easier” to administer when compared with the jab from Pfizer and BioNTech, which needs cold storage of around minus 70C.

More than a million people have already received the first of two jabs of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Second doses of either vaccine will now take place within 12 weeks rather than the 21 days that was initially planned with the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, following a change in guidance which aims to accelerate immunisation.

Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has raised concerns over the spacing of the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and what it calls “the lack of a coherent strategy for the current crisis”.

Dr Natalie Ashburner, vice-chair of DAUK, said: “Poor communication and lack of engagement with frontline clinicians who are implementing this vaccine programme and dealing with the NHS pressures has led us to this point.

“Moving forward we urge a rapid reassessment of the strategy as a whole with a clear plan that has had frontline clinician input, so that even if we are deviating from certain guidelines, we are doing so together and with the backing of the science.”

Dr Vinesh Patel, from the GP committee of DAUK, said: “There are a great many concerns that the change in vaccine strategy and dosing regimen has been communicated poorly and represents an attempt to stem public health failings.

“There appears to have been little to no involvement with frontline clinicians in making this decision, and subsequently chaos is ensuing…. (the change in strategy) is a huge gamble, and one made without the data to back this strategy.”

The full article can be accessed here: https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-batches-of-oxford-astrazeneca-coronavirus-vaccine-arrive-at-uk-hospitals-ahead-of-roll-out-12177510

“I am not in the process of blame. That is not what I am about. There are many members of the public who are doing their absolute best. Their livelihoods are at risk. They have not had enough support from the government. There are homeless people on the streets, where there were clear efforts made in the first wave to get them off the streets. And there are many people who depend – we have over 10 million key workers in this country. Many of them have been told by their employers that actually they can’t work from home. It is not their fault. I am not blaming them. What I am saying is there is not enough government support to actually support people when they have to socially isolate when they have to. And so many of them feel they have to go out because their lives and livelihoods depend on it.”

“[Healthcare workers] are under such strain. They are scared, they are fearful, and their jobs at the moment are almost unbearable. But they are stepping up and doing the best they can. We do think that they should be more protected…. We are calling for a full review of the personal protective equipment guidelines because so many of them are getting sick“

Dr Jenny Vaughan, DAUK Vice-Chair

DAUK’s Dr Katie Sanderson spoke to Sky News about the current crisis threatening to overwhelm hospitals, and commented on the disconnect NHS staff are seeing between public perception and the daily realities on the frontline:

“People feel it’s worse than the first time round. I think it’s really frightening, because I think things are better organised and less chaotic [but] it’s clear that just the volume of patients is becoming unmanageable and it’s not possible to look after them safely.”

“I think there’s a disconnect between public understanding and what is actually happening in hospitals. There’s just real concern that people are working in these really extreme conditions already, and actually that you come out of the hospital and people have very little idea how bad it is. I think it’s really important that we’re open and honest and transparent, and let people know what is happening.”

Dr Katie Sanderson, DAUK

DAUK’s Dr Vinesh Patel spoke to Sky News about the current situation within primary care, which is facing the complex task of delivering the mass vaccination programme against Covid-19, on top of maintaining vital, routine care over the winter.

“I would say it’s a success in the fact that we’ve been able to mobilise so quickly, but we know we need to ramp up the number of vaccines being delivered. And this is a stretch on the workforce currently, with the normal work that winter pressures bring, the flu vaccination programme and everything else.”

“I know that our colleagues are working around the clock and putting in extra shifts to continue business as usual during the winter and deliver the vaccine. The question comes really on how long this goodwill and dedication can survive, over the next ten, twelve months on a stretched workforce who have already suffered both physically and mentally during this time.”

Dr Vinesh Patel, DAUK

Today we learnt that we have more patients with COVID in hospital than ever before in England. This is not a drill. Please believe us.

The country is “back in the eye of the storm”, according to the head of the NHS, with the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in England’s hospitals overtaking the peak back in April.

Figures from NHS England have revealed that there were 20,426 patients being treated in hospitals as of 8am on Monday, compared with the 18,974 patients recorded on 12 April.

Also on Monday, the UK recorded its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the pandemic began with 41,385 positive tests.

During a visit to an NHS vaccination centre, the chief executive of the NHS, Sir Simon Stevens, praised staff but said: “Now again we are back in the eye of the storm with a second wave of coronavirus sweeping Europe and, indeed, this country.

“Many of us have lost family, friends, colleagues and – at a time of year when we would normally be celebrating – a lot of people are understandably feeling anxious, frustrated and tired.”

But sounding a note of hope, Sir Simon added: “We think that by late spring with vaccine supplies continuing to come on stream we will have been able to offer all vulnerable people across this country COVID vaccination.

“That perhaps provides the biggest chink of hope for the year ahead.”

His comments come on the day that the patients who received the first vaccinations three weeks ago will receive their booster jab.

They also come as the pressure continues to grow on the NHS at a time of year that is already difficult.

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, president of the Doctors’ Association UK, said in a widely shared Twitter thread that she and her colleagues are “at breaking point”.

The senior intensive care registrar wrote:

Today we learnt that we have more patients with COVID in hospital than ever before in England. This is not a drill. Please believe us.

We are incredibly thin on the ground. NHS staff have not been prioritised for the vaccine and are going off sick in droves with the new strain.

Trusts are so desperate they are tweeting out for medical students to help in ICU. This was confirmed by a consultant on the ground.

When staff have spoken up on Twitter they have been told this is all a hoax. It’s not.

Try holding an iPad for a patient to say goodbye to their family. Or having to ventilate a colleague. This is real and happening right now. Staff are broken and need support now more than ever.

Read the rest of the article here.

Read the Twitter Thread by clicking on the highlighted date below: