Government ‘burying head in sand’ over Covid threat

The British Medical Association has said that the government is failing to grasp how serious a threat the current levels of Covid-19 illness pose to the NHS and to wider society.

Refuting a comment from the Prime Minister’s office that Covid-19 should be ‘managed like any other respiratory illness’, the BMA says that there is evidence that it is impacting people’s health and the NHS far more than normal, seasonal respiratory infections.

The association has stated that the government should put in place measures to bring down infection rates, pressures on the NHS will escalate further, staff absence rates will continue to rise and millions of patients, already suffering waits of up to more than two years, will wait even longer.

A survey of BMA members found that 87 per cent of doctors said the government’s aims to reduce the waiting lists for elective care, investigations, and procedures using the existing workforce, were either mostly or entirely unachievable. Similarly, 87 per cent of respondents said they were not confident that people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, long-term physical and mental health issues, and those who are waiting for medical specialist care, will get the treatment they need before they get even more unwell.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA chair of council, said: “It beggars belief that the government thinks we can treat Covid-19 ‘like any other respiratory virus’, when its impact on people’s health and the NHS is manifestly far more damaging. The reality is that more than four million people were infected with Covid-19 last week, 1.7 million people are suffering long Covid, 20,000 patients are in hospital with the virus and over 1,000 people are dying each week. Health services are struggling with almost 200,000 NHS staff absent due to Covid-19 in just one week, resulting in patients facing last minute hospital and GP appointment cancellations.

“And now we have our members on the frontline telling us unequivocally they have little or no faith in the government’s recovery plans. The government is burying its head in the sand to the immediate threat of the virus to our healthcare services. NHS trusts - like the Royal Stoke – are reintroducing measures to protect urgent cancer care, and NHS leaders in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are pleading with families to take home relatives in hospital. Ambulance services are also faltering, with waits of up to 22 hours, as emergency care plunges into crisis while politicians turn their backs. Doctors and healthcare professionals are unable to treat millions of patients stuck on waiting lists, some forced to suffer waits of longer than two years.

“Unless this government acts now to bring down infection rates and address the staffing crisis with realistic proposals, the risk of harm to patients will only increase.”