Dear Independent Press Standards Organisation,

We would like to raise a formal complaint following a recent article published in the Mail Online by Mr Connor Boyd, Deputy Health Editor.

On 8 June 2022, Mr Boyd wrote an article entitled, “Fury at video that lays bare huge A&E waits ‘being fueled by GPs’”.
 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10896287/The-shocking-video-lays-bare-dire-state-NHS.html)

The opening paragraph of Mr Boyd’s article states:

“A dire lack of access to GPs has been blamed for the country’s A&E crisis after video emerged of patients being told they faced waits of up to 13 hours in an emergency department.”


In reference to the Editors’ Code of Practice, we wish to report breaches of the following sections of Clause 1 (Accuracy):

i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.

iv) The Press, while free to editorialise and campaign, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.

There is no evidence whatsoever to demonstrate that long A&E waits result from, or are fuelled by GPs.

This headline is clearly inaccurate, misleading and not supported by text. Whilst quotations marks are used in the headline, these specific words are not attributed to anyone (anonymous or otherwise) in the article.

Our most recent appointment data from NHS Digital shows that 25.3 million GP appointments were held in April 2022, up from 16.6 million GP appointments in April 2020.

Appointments in General Practice, April 2022 – NHS Digital: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/april-2022

During this same time, there were 2,028,228 A&E attendances in April 2022 compared to 916,575 attendances in April 2020.

Statistics » A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2022-23: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2022-23/

It is therefore clear that all frontline health services are stretched at this time, yet Mr Boyd unreasonably and inaccurately chooses to blame GPs for delays within hospital settings and also bed shortages.

Throughout his article, Mr Boyd makes no attempt to distinguish between comment, conjecture and fact.

It is evident that this is not an opinion piece, and it appears that no GPs were interviewed and no professional medical bodies were approached for comment.

We respectfully seek your support to help correct this false narrative and restore the integrity of our GPs that continue to work above and beyond the call of duty.

Dr Ellen Welch, GP, Co-Chair DAUK
Dr Matt Kneale, Foundation doctor in A&E Co-Chair DAUK
Dr Elizabeth Toberty, GP Lead DAUK

Response from IPSO

DAUK will be appealing the above decision by IPSO. Our appeal:

Pulse have followed this story closely and you can read their coverage here

Read the Latest Response by IPSO on our appeal: 

Dear Dr Welch,

The Complaints Committee has considered your complaint, the email from IPSO’s Executive notifying you of its view that your complaint did not raise a possible breach of the Code, and your email requesting a review of the Executive’s decision. The Committee agreed the following decision: The Committee appreciated that this article was a source of frustration for you and that you considered it to be exacerbating low morale among GPs. However, while the Committee was sorry to hear of these concerns, IPSO can only address concerns linked to the Editors’ Code of Practice. You provided data which you considered demonstrated that the selection of data in the article was misleading. However, the Committee wished to highlight that newspapers are entitled to publish what they choose, provided the information is accurate. Where you did not dispute that the figures themselves selected for publication were accurate, there was no reason to investigate a possible breach of Clause 1 on this point. You expressed concerns that the article’s headline was based on opinions of people quoted in the article, rather than facts. The Committee firstly noted that the were no specific findings of inaccuracies in the article. Additionally, the Editors’ Code does not require that the headlines of news articles are not based on the opinions of individuals; the requirement is that headlines are supported by the text of the article. Where – as you pointed out – the headline is supported by opinions quoted in the article, there was no possible breach of the Code on this point. For this reason, and the reasons already provided by IPSO’s Executive, the Committee decided that your complaint did not raise a possible breach of the Code. As such, it declined to re-open your complaint. The Committee would like to thank you for giving it the opportunity to consider your concerns.

Best wishes,

Molly Richards

Complaints Officer

The UKFPO exam in December was being sat by students across the country using the Pearson Vue system – a secure online testing programme. 

The complaints include one student who claims they were disqualified for going to the toilet, despite trying to contact the exam invigilator multiple times without hearing back. While other students claim they were forced to ‘urinate’ in their seats in order to avoid being disqualified. 

On behalf of the DAUK, Medical Student Representatives Freya Rhodes and Anna Sigston have written a letter to the UKFPO and Pearson Vue outlining the concerns of many students, asking for both organisations to respond to the complaints. 

Dr Mike Masding, Co-Chair UKFPO & Lead HEE Foundation School Director responded that: ‘Out of 8000 UKFPO applicants a small number (less than 0.25% of the Cohort) were disqualified by the testing invigilator for prohibited actions. 

‘We are working with individual applicants whose tests were discontinued and where appropriate will offer the option to re-book. 

Read the full article here.

The Doctors’ Association UK said no studies had been done to prove a single dose of a vaccine, or two spaced very far apart, would reliably prevent cases of Covid.

It comes as Matt Hancock today boasted Britain has given more than 5million doses to 4.6million people across the UK – around one in every 14 people. 

Around 2million vaccines were dished out last week — and one in ten inoculated Brits have received their second dose.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which sets the ground-rules for the vaccine programme, has said the country should get first doses of the jabs to as many people as possible.

Although a single dose of the two-dose vaccine regimes will not offer as much protection, it may still prevent many people from getting Covid-19.

The JCVI claims that one dose of Pfizer’s vaccine could prevent as many as 89 per cent of illnesses.

But new data emerging in Israel suggest this initial dose’s protection could be as low as 33 per cent, meaning two thirds of people given the single vaccine dose could still catch Covid if they were exposed to the virus. 

This has not yet been verified in a publicly available scientific study, but raises concerns about Britain’s strategy.

When the UK made the decision to split the doses with a wider gap than Pfizer had intended, both the company and the World Health Organization refused to endorse the policy because they said there was no proof the jab would still work.

Doctors’ Association UK has warned the move risks patients’ health and there is no reliable science to prove the vaccines work when given in this way.

The organisation gave its warnings in a letter address to health bosses including Matt Hancock, Professor Chris Whitty, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, and Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, The Times reports.

It said: ‘We must be clear that it is completely unacceptable to ignore the need for a second vaccination. 

‘All studies confirm the need for this to provide reliable and lasting immunity. 

‘It must be noted that there is currently no data around the reliability of the immune response if vaccines are interchanged.’

They added: ‘We understand the rationale for the delay in scheduling the Pfizer-BioNTech second dosing from three to 12 weeks. 

‘The concerns arise from decisions being made without acknowledging the consequences of enacting them on the front line.

‘We are concerned that there are no clear plans to follow up and monitor the immunity of these patients, to ensure the 12-week booster will be adequate, given that this schedule goes against the advice of both the manufacturer and WHO.’

Read the full article here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9168549/Coronavirus-UK-NHS-hospitals-banned-Covid-vaccines-second-doses.html?fbclid=IwAR3v1d8H8_D4iWHquTUv1wUojY511ePU3ufc-sDKeOrKdHEWvOJMPxfb3iY

London‘s NHS Nightingale hospital will have just 300 beds for treating patients, a fraction of the 4,000 available in March, when it re-opens next week, MailOnline can reveal. 

The flagship hospital at the ExCeL centre will start admitting recovering emergency care patients who have tested negative for coronavirus in the coming days, but it will not have all its beds available for patients until next month. 

A spokesman for NHS England did not deny they had significantly cut the number of beds, and said the number would be determined ‘by the demand and availability of staff’.

The seven Nightingales were left largely unused during the first wave despite £220million of taxpayers’ money being pumped into them, as hospitals struggled to spare the needed doctors and nurses to man their wards. Just 57 Covid-19 patients were admitted to London’s Nightingale, Department of Health figures show.

The NHS also admitted the emergency facility would be used for non-Covid patients, despite millions being poured into equipping it with ventilators during the first wave for those suffering the worst effects of the virus. 

‘It will provide rehabilitation for people who are recovering after an emergency hospital stay and who are not Covid positive, freeing up other beds in hospital for Covid-19 patients,’ they said.

The Nightingale in the capital’s ExCeL Centre is currently ‘on standby’. 

The hospital was built to much fan-fare during the first wave of the pandemic, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock heralding it a ‘remarkable feat in these challenging times’.

But it was left idling for months after barely a month in use, before the order to start stripping the hospital was given – as clearly shown by shocking photos from inside it last month revealing empty wards.

Frantic efforts were then launched to re-construct a ‘scaled-down’ version of the mothballed hospital, sources said, at further expense to the public purse. 

It comes as London’s hospitals are treating more Covid-19 patients than they did during the first wave of the crisis, official figures reveal.

There was an average of 5,061 patients suffering from the disease in hospital beds on April 8, but this was exceeded on December 29, when as many as 5,130 were in the capital’s beds.

Britain has recorded more than 50,000 Covid-19 infections for the sixth day in a row, in an alarming sign the second wave of the pandemic is gathering speed. As many as 54,990 cases and 454 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the last 24 hours.

Boris Johnson warned this morning tougher restrictions were on the horizon for England after plunging four-fifths of the country into Tier 4 – forcing the closure of non-essential shops and gyms.

NHS London Nightingale was hurriedly put up in less than two weeks in March, amid fears the capital’s hospitals could be overwhelmed by spiralling Covid-19 admissions.

It was opened to patients on April 3 by Prince Charles, and welcomed its first patient four days later.

Professor Richard Schilling, a consultant cardiologist, tweeted a photo to mark the event as the first team came on duty.

But within six weeks the hospital had been moved to ‘standby’ and ordered to close its doors.

Department of Health figures reveal only 57 patients were admitted to the emergency hospital, with the final patients being received on April 27.

By May 6, shortly before it was due to close, the Government dashboard shows only five patients remained at the facility.

The emergency facility has been left dormant for months, before hospital chiefs decided the extra capacity would again be needed in the new year.

Shocking photos reveal that in this time the Nightingale – put up at huge expense to taxpayers – had been stripped of its beds and wards while it was officially mothballed.

They revealed it was virtually deserted, with empty conference rooms stripped of vital beds and ventilators, while the corridors lay eerily silent. Outside, signs directing ambulances to wards had also been removed.

Doctors had warned when they were first constructed there were not enough medics available to staff the London Nightingale, or others in the country.

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, an intensive care medic and president of Doctors’ Association UK, held ministers feet to the fire last week when she said they had failed to listen to warnings there were too few medics to keep the facilities open.

‘As a doctor who volunteered for the Nightingale I can’t tell you how much effort went into it,’ she said, ‘but (intensive care) staff are wafer thin on the ground’.

‘We had warned of a staffing crisis in (intensive care) before the pandemic. The Government didn’t listen.’

Read the full article here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9108133/Londons-Nightingale-hospital-just-300-4-000-beds-use-reopens-week.html

For months the Government has been boasting of its close relationship with Oxford and AstraZeneca, and how, when the time came, this would ensure a smooth vaccine roll-out. 

Yet this week, asked why our current stocks are so unexpectedly low, Government sources were advising journalists they should ‘ask AstraZeneca’. There had been rumours of problems with glass phials, which were denied. There were some limited admissions from sources close to the company about batch control.

Compare us with India, where the Oxford jab is being made under licence. There are already at least 50million doses stockpiled at a giant factory in Pune, ready to go. Britain has less than 1 per cent of that to roll-out on Monday.

Last night one senior medical source, a viral vaccines expert who has been advising the Government, suggested the reason is the ‘messy data’ from Oxford’s clinical trials. 

These suggested that giving an initial half-dose, followed by a full one four weeks later, was more effective than two full doses – a finding that emerged when trial participants were given the low dose by mistake.

‘They didn’t go all-out to get in supplies for the start of the year because getting approval was taking longer than it did for Pfizer,’ the source said.

Another reason for the delay is that the Oxford vaccine needs to spend 20 days in sterilisation before it can be used, while each new batch has to be checked by regulators.

But Professor Adam Finn of Bristol University, a member of the Government’s official Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI), insisted the picture was less gloomy than it might seem.

There was, he said, ‘an overwhelming argument’ in favour of widening the dosage gap to protect more people sooner, even though this was a result of shortages.

He added: ‘The UK is actually doing alright compared to other places. There are difficulties in rolling the vaccines out – but something as complicated as this has never been done before.

‘I’m personally impressed we’ve already managed to vaccinate 900,000 people – and now the use of the Oxford vaccine is going to make it much easier to target the elderly.’

Some experts believe that lengthening the gap between first and second dose from three to 12 weeks may actually improve protection, at least in the case of the Oxford vaccine.

But Pfizer has signalled it is unhappy its vaccine will be used in Britain in a way never envisaged when it passed its clinical trials. 

Professor Whitty explained the controversial change in his letter to doctors: ‘For every 1,000 people boosted with a second dose of Covid-19 vaccine in January, 1,000 people can’t have substantial initial protection, which is in most cases likely to raise them from 0 per cent protected to at least 70 per cent protected.’

He continued: ‘These unvaccinated people are far more likely to end up severely ill, hospitalised and in some cases dying without the vaccine.’ In other words, in a cost-benefit analysis, opting for the new approach means more people are protected.

Professor Finn said with the Pfizer vaccine, people who got their first jab would soon have 91 per cent protection. That figure would rise only marginally to 95 per cent after their second.

‘Vaccines going into more arms will save more lives’, he said.

According to the official committee on which he sits, data shows that the American Moderna vaccine – approved for use in the US, but not yet in Britain – is very similar to the Pfizer jab. It seems to grant protection from a single dose for at least 15 weeks – and it is this that the JCVI have used in coming to the decision about the Pfizer jab.

Yet Deenan Pillay, professor of virology at University College London, and a leading member of the UK Virologists’ Network, said there was a ‘theoretical possibility’ that delays in giving a second dose might encourage new mutations. He said: ‘Of course, I see there the argument that if you maximise the numbers who get an initial dose, that will be beneficial. But there is a theoretical risk.’

Professor Finn dismissed this. ‘This kind of speculation is not helpful. But we need to be astute about the mutations that do occur and whether they mean we need to alter the vaccine.’

The British Medical Association says it believes that ‘existing commitments’ to give a second jab to patients who have already had their first ‘should be respected, and if GPs decide to honour these booked appointments in January, the BMA will support them’.

Richard Vautrey, head of the BMA’s GP committee, said not meeting this would be ‘grossly unfair to tens of thousands of our most at risk patients.’

Vinesh Patel, of the Doctors’ Association UK, urged the Government to think again: ‘A patient can’t consent for a treatment then have it changed without their permission, especially when the evidence for change is lacking.’

The full article can be accessed here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9105249/Vaccine-freedom-fiasco-making-asks-DAVID-ROSE.html

A leading family doctor has warned there is a ‘real risk’ that doses of the Pfizervaccine could go to waste this week because of the Government’s last-minute change on the second jab.

Dame Clare Gerada, a former chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a practising GP, said the timing of the decision to delay the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for the elderly from 21 days to 12 weeks was ‘wrong.’

She added that because of the difficulties in contacting about one million elderly people to cancel their second jab and arrange new appointments for others, many doses could be lost – spelling a ‘disaster.’

Her comments came as members of the Doctors’ Association described the decision to delay the dose as a ‘gamble’, which could dent public confidence in the entire vaccination programme.

Almost one million Britons, mostly in their 80s and older, were due to receive the booster dose over coming days. 

However on December 30, the Government’s Join Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said that the second dose of the joint Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would now be given 12 weeks after the first.

After a backlash from doctors, the British Medical Association has vowed to support GPs who decide to honour their January appointments. 

The change in policy is designed to ensure as many people as possible are offered some protection against Covid-19.

But Dame Clare told the Daily Mail: ‘There is a big possibility that vaccines could go to waste. It would be a disaster. 

Imagine if you have had 1,000 delivered and you are in a rural area and you are suddenly having to find a new 600 people to be vaccinated.’ 

She added that she agreed with the science behind the decision to postpone the second vaccine, but not the execution.

‘It’s a mess,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it’s wrong to try to give as many people the first vaccine as possible, but I do think announcing it late on the 30th …They could have delayed it a week. It would have been better to get the elderly back and done and dusted so we know they are safe.’

Read the article here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9109315/Top-GP-warns-Boriss-U-turn-Covid-19-second-jab-cause-disastrous-waste-vaccine.html

As a doctor who volunteered for the Nightingale I can’t tell you how much effort went into it. But ICU staff are wafer thin on the ground.

We had warned of a staffing crisis in ICU before the pandemic. The Government’s didn’t listen.

Boris Johnson will delay the opening of all England’s secondary schools for at least another week after pressure from SAGE scientists, ministers, teachers and unions to keep all students at home throughout January, it emerged today.

The Prime Minister is expected to announce the new extended schools lockdown after being accused of ‘dithering’ on the eve of the new term – but primary schools will be told to open as usual on Monday.

Pupils studying for GCSEs and A-levels in Years 11 and 13 will now not go back to school on January 4 as agreed, and will have to wait until at least January 11 – and can only return after receiving a negative Covid test, according to the TES. 

The remaining students would then be due back from January 18 at the earliest – but with no mass testing in schools yet and plans to use 1,500 Army personnel to support up to 32,000 UK schools branded ‘ludicrous’ by headteachers there are growing concerns that millions of children will be condemned to ‘sub-standard’ online classes until well into February.  

It came as a senior Tory today demanded Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance publish the data being used to pressure Boris Johnson into shutting schools until February amid warnings a third national lockdown would spark an ‘epidemic of educational poverty’ in Britain.

The Government is ‘still planning for a staggered opening of schools’ after Christmas but is keeping the plan under constant review, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: ‘We’re still planning for a staggered opening of schools and we are working to ensure testing is in place.

NHS England data shows 20,426 beds were occupied by patients who had tested positive for coronavirus as of 8am on Monday, up from 17,700 a week ago and above the 18,974 recorded on April 12.

Intensive care doctors today accused ministers of ignoring warnings they were already ‘wafer thin’ on the ground before splurging hundreds of millions on the units that have stood empty for months.

Nightingales were hailed as a ‘solution’ to the Covid-19 crisis when they were opened to much fan-fare during the first months of the pandemic to ‘buffer’ over-whelmed hospitals. But many have stood empty for months. 

Only 57 Covid-19 patients were admitted to NHS Nightingale London after it was opened by Prince Charles in April, Department of Health figures reveal.

At the peak it had 33 patients on ventilators on April 19, before it was shuttered on May 15.

NHS Nightingale Birmingham opened by Prince William has treated 11 Covid-19 patients since it opened, despite having capacity for 500.

And Sunderland’s – which was opened by the Countess of Wessex and TV stars Ant and Deck – is yet to treat any Covid-19 patients. It has 460 beds with ventilators.

The hospitals have also taken non-Covid patients, to help take the strain off critical care services.

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, an intensive care medic president of the Doctors’ Association UK, has accused ministers of failing to listen to NHS staff who said there were not enough of them available to run the hospitals.

‘As a doctor who volunteered for the Nightingale I can’t tell you how much effort went into it,’ she tweeted. ‘But ICU staff are wafer thin on the ground.’

‘We had warned of a staffing crisis in ICU before the pandemic. The Government’s didn’t listen.’

Read the rest of the article here.