Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that, as of Sunday morning, three quarters of all people over 80 in the UK have been vaccinated.

“(This) is absolutely brilliant progress,” he said, speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

“Similar number of care homes, around three quarters and in fact we’ve vaccinated more people in just the last three days than France has in the entire history of this disease.”

Mr Hancock also defended the Government’s decision to delay the second doses of those receiving the Pfizer vaccine.

Mr Hancock said the responsible course of action was to get “as many people protected… as quickly as possible” he said.

Mr Hancock said that case numbers were “incredibly high” and the NHS remained under intense pressure.

“There is early evidence that the lockdown is starting to bring cases down but we are a long, long, long way from being low enough because the case rate was incredibly high,” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.

“You can see the pressure on the NHS – you can see it every day.”

It came in response to concerns over delaying the Pfizer vaccine by up to 12 weeks.

Dr Rosie Shire, a member of the Doctors’ Association UK, said studies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine show two doses three weeks apart gave 90% immunity.

“What really concerns us is we don’t know what happens if you don’t give that second dose of vaccination after three weeks.”

“The fact is that people are being vaccinated now and being put into what is effectively an unregulated unlicensed trial, whereby they’re receiving this vaccination on the understanding that they don’t know what’s going on.”

Dr Rosie Shire

Read the full article here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/hancock-reveals-75-over-80s-23375171

The Covid vaccine rollout could turn into a PPE-style fiasco, MPs, doctors and care chiefs warned last night.

Hundreds of GP surgeries and scores of hospitals are still waiting for Pfizer jabs.

Vaccine appointments for the most vulnerable are being cancelled at the last minute because of the delay, doctors say. 

And 12,000 of the country’s 15,000 care homes are not even being considered for jabs right now – with only seven areas of England getting them so far.

Health leaders have also raised concerns many frontline NHS staff are still not being sent for jabs.

On Christmas Eve the Government said 616,933 people in the UK had been given a first dose – 512,594 in England. 

But it’s understood half of England’s 135 trusts are still waiting, along with hundreds of surgeries.

Yesterday MPs warned ministers not to repeat the PPE and testing “shambles”. 

Meanwhile, Doctors Association UK said surgeries have reported failed deliveries of the Pfizer jab. 

Dr Vinesh Patel told of “practices booking in patients, and then cancelling because of promised vaccines not turning up”.

GPs in Warwickshire have 3,500 over-80s to vaccinate at a country club in Leek Wootton. But they received only 975 vaccines last week – with no idea when more will come.

Read the full article here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-vaccine-chaos-appointments-axed-23224793

Almost 100,000 angry people have signed an open letter to Boris Johnson demanding a public inquiry into NHS staff deaths and appalling shortages of personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 crisis.

At least 150 health and care workers have now died fighting the pandemic – and campaigners and charities want the Prime Minister to make a firm commitment for a probe once the battle is won.

The open letter, compiled by The Doctors’ Association UK, comes after polling showed one in five frontline medics have been given unusable PPE. And it follows the latest PPE disaster for the Government as surgical gowns in a promised shipment of 400,000 pieces of kit from Turkey failed safety tests.

The letter, signed by 96,000 as of tonight, states:

“Doctors are dying. Nurses are dying. This is unforgivable. We need a commitment to this now, with a full judge-led inquiry once the Covid-19 crisis is over.” “It is also crucial coroners open inquests into each healthcare worker death in addition to a public inquiry. This will ensure evidence is preserved and each death is properly investigated.”

And polling by DAUK raised fears faulty face masks and surgical gowns are still being delivered to hospitals.

Chair Dr Rinesh Parmar said: “It is vitally important these challenges are seen as an opportunity to learn. “We need to ensure no healthcare worker is put in harm’s way in this manner again and the families get answers. [We have] been lobbying to ensure coroner’s inquests are commenced in every healthcare worker death. This will facilitate the preservation of evidence for a full public inquiry or future legal action.”

As well as being criticised for neglecting stockpiles, the Government was slammed for being slow to use – or even ignoring – firms that offered to source or make PPE.

The investigation has uncovered harrowing stories of young medics being denied drinking water during gruelling shifts, working for 15 hours on their feet non-stop and of uncaring managers tearing into them for breaking down in tears over the deaths of patients. One was even accused of “stealing” surgical scrubs she took to wear after suffering a miscarriage at work. The distraught woman finished her shift wearing blood-soaked trousers, instead of going home to rest.

Doctors are now quitting in their droves, leaving those left ­struggling to cope with a growing ­workload. Our probe reveals the reality of working for an NHS which has been subject to a record funding squeeze and is 8,000 medics short.

Health chiefs vowed to ­investigate the Mirror’s evidence from 602 ­testimonials submitted to grass roots lobbying group The Doctors Association UK.

Heartbreaking examples of being denied access to water after the tragic loss of a patient reveals how ­heartless and inhumane conditions can be.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, DAUK Chair the Daily Mirror

Chairman Dr Rinesh Parmar said: “These heartbreaking stories from across the country show the extent of bullying and harassment that frontline doctors face whilst working to care for patients. Heartbreaking examples of being denied access to water after the tragic loss of a patient reveals how ­heartless and inhumane conditions can be.

“It is easy to see why the goodwill that the NHS relies upon has truly run dry. Doctors have spoken in their droves of being denied access to drinks, being accused of theft for eating a biscuit even though they’ve forgone breaks and this may be the only thing they eat or drink all day.

“A learned helplessness cannot be allowed to develop, it is vital that our doctors, the very backbone of our NHS are respected and looked after so that they’re at their very best when caring for patients.”

Doctors Association UK wellbeing lead Dr Natalie Ashburner added: “It is extremely disappointing that doctors are reporting a lack of access to basic resources such as water at hospitals. “The effect of these ­inconsiderate, short-sighted decisions on the physical and mental wellbeing of staff who work long, anti-social shifts under tremendous stress in a climate of unprecedented demand for already stretched resources should not be underestimated.

The NHS is already haemorrhaging doctors

Dr Natalie Ashburner, DAUK Wellbeing Lead the Daily Mirror

“The NHS is already haemorrhaging doctors. Trusts must urgently take measures to make the mental and ­physical wellbeing of doctors a priority, creating a compassionate culture and remembering doctors are human too.” A recent poll found almost a third of doctors may be suffering from burnout, stress and “compassion fatigue”.

The NHS has some of the fewest doctors in proportion to the population compared to other developed nations. NHS funding increases have been at a record low of 1%, compared to a 4% historical average.

The Department of Health and Social Care said of our investigation: “These accounts are deeply distressing. This type of behaviour has no place in our NHS and nobody should have to face bullying or harassment in the workplace. “We take these kinds of reports very ­seriously and we’re committed to making the NHS a better place to work.”

Excerpt from the Daily Mirror article by Martin Bagot, read the full article here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/harrowing-stories-burned-out-nhs-21487129

Speaking to the Daily Mirror DAUK Chair Dr Rinesh Parmar said:

”“The NHS must not be sidelined by this government who’s only priority during this election campaign seems to have been “Getting Brexit Done”. This government must take heed of repeated warnings from doctors which so far have been ignored. We are already in the midst of the worst winter crisis for the NHS yet. On the Conservative’s watch we have seen record waiting times, in A&E, for elective surgery or for a GP appointment as vacancies for frontline staff reach 100,000. Ultimately, it is our patients who suffer, and just this week DAUK were shocked to learn that 5,449 patients died as direct result of their long wait in the Emergency Department. This is absolutely unacceptable. The Conservative government must take some responsibility the damage they have inflicted on the NHS and work with frontline doctors who are saying loud and clear that without urgent action, the NHS will not recover from what is quickly becoming an all-year-round crisis.”

The letter in full reads:

Dear Mr Johnson,

The NHS is on its knees. This election has primarily focused on Brexit, and doctors have watched on with dismay as the crisis affecting the NHS has been sidelined. Just this morning we saw the worst ever performance data for A&E waiting times published, with just 81.4% of patients waiting less than 4 hours in NHS Emergency Departments. The publication of these figures, which also include a record low performance in cancer treatment and elective surgery waiting times, were delayed due to the general election. This comes as a report finds that 5,449 patients have died in the past three years as a direct result of long waits in A&E.

This is unacceptable. Whilst The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) must congratulate you on your re-election, the Conservative government must now urgently address the damage inflicted on the NHS by years of under-funding. Doctors are working themselves into the ground to keep the NHS afloat as we continue to haemorrhage frontline staff due to the conditions we are working in. This cannot continue. Without immediate change, the Conservative party will fail once again to deliver on its pledge to increase the number of doctors and nurses in the NHS, in particular the pledge to deliver 6000 more GPs.

We are therefore calling on the Conservative government to commit to the pledges made to the NHS during this general election, and to take urgent action to address a growing recruitment and retention crisis in the UK medical profession, before it is too late.

We urge you in the strongest terms to reaffirm commitments made in your manifesto and:

• Increase NHS funding-we do not believe your commitment goes far enough, and urge that the NHS budget must be increased by over 4% a year in order to repair the damage to our NHS. We are concerned that your pledge amounting to 3.1% a year will not be enough to maintain the status up and to stop the NHS deteriorating further.

• Increase social care funding by £4 billion a year. Without this you will not be able to prevent further cutbacks, protect the most vulnerable in our society or alleviate pressure on our NHS hospitals.

• Reintroduce the student nurse bursary in full recognising that the government’s decision to remove it resulted in a drop of 40% of applications to study nursing and contributed to record nursing vacancies of 43,000. This must also be accompanied by the reinstatement of the payment of nursing tuition fees by Health Education England which was abolished by the Conservative government alongside bursaries in 2016.

• Work with DAUK and other representative organisations to implement an NHS visa to help us recruit doctors and nurses from overseas into the NHS who are often prevented from doing so due to Home Office bureaucracy.

• End unfair hospital parking charges for patients and staff. We strongly believe that this should be extended to all staff, not just those working night shifts.

• Establish a cross-party consensus on the NHS.

To address the NHS staffing crisis we additionally urge you to:

• Give EU doctors, healthcare professionals and medical students working and studying in the UK permanent residence status post-Brexit. We desperately need them.

• Scrap the unfair immigration surcharge for those coming to the UK to work in the NHS. 1 in 4 doctors come from overseas, without them the NHS would collapse. NHS staff coming from abroad already contribute a huge amount to our NHS through their service and commitment to the NHS.

• Immediately address the pensions tax crisis which is leading to spiralling wait times as consultants and GPs are forced to drop their hours. Although you have committed to an urgent review on the taper within the first 30 days of Parliament, we believe that ship has sailed. Doctors have been abundantly clear time and time again that this can only be resolved by abolishing the punitive annual allowance and the taper.

• Commit to a series of above inflation pay rises to address the sustained real terms cuts to NHS staff pay after years of pay restraint.

• Support the DAUK’s call for mandatory national monitoring of physician suicides.

• Address the blame culture by removing the power of the GMC to take doctors to court to have them erased from the medical register, and commit to reviewing the law on gross negligence manslaughter to ensure healthcare professionals are not prosecuted for honest mistakes working in an under-resourced system.

As an Association representing both doctors and medical students, we feel it is vital that you hear the voices of frontline doctors and grassroots organisations. It is imperative you work with us on implementing the above policies. Doctors, as patient advocates, will be watching, and will ensure you are held to account.

The Conservative Party must now strive to regain the trust of NHS staff, and our patients, and repair our damaged relationship with this government. The NHS needs to be a key priority going forward from today. Without urgent change, the NHS will not recover from the worst winter crisis yet.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr Rinesh Parmar