Our NHS colleagues from India have fought hard to save lives in the UK. The NHS would have buckled to its knees without them.

Dr Jenny Vaughan, Vice Chair of DAUK, interviewed on Newsnight showing support to the people of India in these tough times. 

‘As the government faces mounting criticism that well-connected people made millions out of Britain’s PPE crisis, Panorama investigates who won out.’

‘More than £12 billion was spent in the first six months of the pandemic on contracts to provide personal protective equipment.’

‘Reporter Richard Bilton meets one man who made £40 million on a deal and speaks to others who felt ignored in favour of less experienced suppliers. As the government refuses to reveal the full details of all its so-called VIP deals, the programme reveals the high-profile connections to one lucrative contract.’

Watch the full programme here

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 Samantha Batt-Rawden appeared on This Morning where she reacted to Conservative MP Desmond Swayne, who encouraged anti-vaxxers and said the NHS were “exaggerating”

Shaking her head, Dr Samantha replied: “I just can’t even, when you’re a member of the NHS and you are giving your all and spending 16 hours in PPE and working seven days a week, working yourself into the ground to keep patients safe.

“To hear that from somebody representing the government is really upsetting and it’s not acceptable, the pictures that you see of ambulances, queues down the road, they are real, and they have sick patients inside.

“And if the Tory MP wants to see that they are very welcome to volunteer in my ICU, where we are short-staffed, to help turn patients on to their fronts, so that they can fight for their lives.”

“And if the Tory MP wants to see that they are very welcome to volunteer in my ICU, where we are short-staffed, to help turn patients on to their fronts, so that they can fight for their lives.”

Read the report in The Mirror here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-begs-covid-sceptical-tory-23400306

The NHS is an international health service that relies on some 170,000 foreign born staff from more than 200 countries.

Many non-British members of NHS staff have visas to allow them to live and work in the UK which can be extended by a year – but that is nowhere near enough to plan a future around.

Now there are calls for frontline staff from overseas to have the right to stay in the UK indefinitely in recognition for their service during the most challenging of years.

Nurse Eva Omondi is one of those dedicated professionals who came to the UK to work for the NHS and joined the fight against coronavirus.

“Seeing how [patients] die, it’s been very emotionally draining,” she said. 

Added to the stress however, was the anxiety over her right to remain in the country she would like to make her permanent home.She said: “The risk and the stress of working in the pandemic is enough price to pay to just ask for indefinite leave to remain.”The government brought in visas to make it easier for health workers to come to the UK and – after pressure from Ms Omondi and other nurses – abolished the fees they used to pay to use the health service. 

But campaigners say none of that goes far enough to reward their sacrifice in our service.

Within months of starting work in the UK, Bangladeshi doctor Pushpo Hossein contracted Covid-19.

“I got high fevers, body ache,” she said. 

“I also developed shortness of breath and that was very scary.”

Dr Pushpo Hossain

If she had died, her husband would have been granted the right to stay in the UK. But she said that is hardly an incentive to continue working for the NHS. 

“So that make me think, so okay, I have to die to prove my loyalty,” she said. 

“I feel betrayed sometimes. I feel very heartbroken.”

Last month, a private members bill that would offer indefinite leave to remain to NHS workers was halted under Common’s Covid safety rules. But the campaign continues.Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, who brought the bill to Parliament, said: “We hear every-day about NHS staff who are contracting Covid-19. 

“People who are doing that shouldn’t’ have to live with any possibility that they might be deported. That’s just not good enough.”

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”.

“Vaccines are safe. And it’s really important that if people get a message to be vaccinated, go for it.”

DAUK’s Dr David Nicholl speaking to CNN about covid-19 vaccinations.

“Particularly because the BAME community have been hit so severely by covid, it’s really, really important there’s targeted messaging, particularly for at risk groups.”

Dr Rosie Shire discussing concerns with the vaccine rollout and changes to the second dose. 

‘This trial that we are all suddenly a part of’ by giving the second dose at 12 weeks. 

‘We are concerned that frontline workers are then going to be put at risk’