Stop these denials over ‘life or death’ NHS staffing crisis – Jayne Dowle

Yes, that’s right. Your elderly relative could be sent home to become reliant on the attention of medical professionals who will administer aftercare through “virtual interaction” online.

NHS staffing crisis now ‘dangerous’, former Health Secretary claims, as pressure grows on Boris Johnson over Omicron surge – The Yorkshire Post says

We know this only because, Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, asked the Leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans, to explain exactly what virtual aftercare would involve.

“The virtual wards involve people who are able to return home to have treatment through virtual interaction with medical professionals,” she replied. “They are different things done in different ways for different patients in different situations so that they can be properly treated in an appropriate manner.”

I understand that with both Covid-related hospital admissions and NHS staff absence rising, pragmatic solutions have to be found. Virtual wards however? That’s a new one for us all to grapple with. I’m sorry, but do these people live in the real world? The world where not everyone has a smartphone or laptop, or even a wi-fi connection.

If all this doesn’t add up to a crisis, I don’t know what does. Even Britain’s longest-serving Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warned Mr Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions last week that there are now “permanent and dangerous” staffing shortfalls in virtually every medical speciality.

Even though Mr Hunt must accept his own share of responsibility for this perilous situation, the fact that he used the words ‘permanent’ and ‘dangerous’ should not be under-estimated.

And still current ministers – such as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Care Minister Gillian Keegan – continue to insist that the perilous task the NHS faces this winter, which is already seeing at least one million people estimated to be self-isolating because of the Omicron variant, is nothing unusual.

This is quite a state of denial we’re dealing with. “It’s not entirely unusual for hospitals to go critical over the winter,” Mr Shapps told Sky News, conveniently glossing over the fact that successive governments have neglected the issue of NHS staff recruitment and retention.

And it wouldn’t need soldiers and sailors to man the A&E departments. As Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s director for England, said: “Once the military has been brought in, where does the Government turn next in a bid to ‘ride out’ the wave rather than deal with it?”

Ms Keegan, meanwhile, is so blasé about the fact that at least one million people have been forced into self-isolation, putting vital services and schools at risk, you’d think she was shrugging off a slightly taxing toenail removal.

Talking to a radio show about plans to drop PCR tests for asymptomatic people testing positive on lateral flow tests, she said that the Government was “looking at what makes sense”. None of this makes sense, not when the three official Covid-19 symptoms – a new continuous cough, loss of taste and/or smell and a high temperature – so often don’t appear with Omicron.

Every single person I know who has tested positive recently, on both lateral flow tests and PCRs, has reported a sore throat, aching limbs and a runny nose as the main indicators of their illness. I’m speaking to people on Facetime and the telephone and they’re telling me they’re suffering from Covid. Yet, according to the Government’s criteria of symptoms, they technically are not.

I know we’re faced with a massive race against time, but can I make a suggestion? Could the Prime Minister take a step back, stop uttering the word ‘booster’ every time a television camera swivels into view and nail down urgent priorities with Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary?

Yes, we all know by know that taking up vaccinations and boosters is vital, but dare I say, by clinging to the mantra of “get boosted’, he’s now achieving nothing more than preaching to the converted. Especially when so many people, double-vaccinated and yes, boosted, are still contracting Omicron, albeit in a mild form.

The point is that so many booster clinics are standing half-empty, with vital NHS staff diverted to administer them, when their skills and expertise could be surely better employed in emergency and clinical care.

And, please, establish exactly what we are dealing with. If Omicron presents with particular symptoms, give us new guidelines. The truth won’t hurt half as much as the constant stream of denials, contradictions and evasion we’re being subjected to, whilst ambulances fail to arrive, soldiers dispense medicines and patients are sent home to recover on 
so-called virtual wards.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app, receive exclusive members-only offers and access to all premium content and columns. Click here to subscribe.