Category Archives: NHS

People Are Pointing Out The 2 Obvious Problems With The New Nightingale Surge Hubs

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NHS England will be setting up Nightingale surge hubs to cope with high numbers of Covid hospitalisations – but people have spotted a particular problem with this new strategy.

These “surge hubs” will be set up in eight hospitals across England in preparation for the expected rise in Omicron admissions in the coming months.

Each temporary unit will house around 100 patients and construction is set to begin this week.

Additional sites for 4,000 more beds may also be on the cards as hospitalisations in England have risen above 10,000 for the first time since March this year.

NHS medical director Professor Stephen Powis said the new hubs are part of the health service’s response to Omicron and that the UK is now on a “war footing”, while health secretary Sajid Javid said the hubs might not need to be used but it’s good to prepare.

The hubs will be placed at the Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire, in St James’ University Hospital in Leeds, in Stevenage’s Lister Hospital, Tooting’s St George’s Hospital, North Bristol Hospital, Solihull Hospital, William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, and University Hospitals Leicester.

But there are two clear flaws with this new strategy.

Firstly, many have noticed that introducing Nightingale surge hubs to cope with increasing infections and hospital admissions seems at odds at the government’s refusal to introduce new restrictions before Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Restrictions are likely to be introduced in January when the government has access to more data about how severe Omicron symptoms can be, but the festive season is expected to have accelerated the variant’s transmission across the country.

The other major pressing is the shortage of employees to look after Covid patients.

NHS staff absences in London increased by 150% week-on-week in the seven days leading up to December 19, according to the health service’s data.

Critics have asked why the government is focusing on providing hospital beds rather than prioritising the NHS staff shortages.

Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing general secretary, also asked how these units would work with so many members of staff self-isolating.

She told Sky News this week: “You can set up all the hubs that you wish to set up but if you don’t have the nursing staff to actually care for the patients that are going to be placed in those hubs, that places more challenges on the nursing workforce.”

The NHS was already being squeezed after the health secretary made Covid vaccinations mandatory for all staff.

A shortage of rapid lateral flow tests is causing further concern as it means people will be unable to test themselves before socialising.

However, the government has promised to make eight million Covid tests available before Friday, December 31, which could help stop some transmission on New Year’s Eve.

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How To Prove You’re Vaccinated With The NHS Covid Pass

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You might have got a “I’ve had my Covid vaccination” sticker after getting your jab – or a small card with your name and the date – but there’s a more official way to prove you’ve been double jabbed.

Foreign secretary, Grant Schapps, has announced those who have been double jabbed will be able to travel home from amber list countries without quarantining from later this summer. So how can you prove it?

How to prove you’ve had two Covid vaccinations in England

For travel, if there’s a requirement to have had two Covid vaccinations to the country you’re going to, or coming back from, you’ll be asked to show your vaccination status by officials.

You can request an NHS Covid Pass to prove this on the NHS website or on the NHS app. This app is different to the NHS Covid-19 app, which you use to check into venues. To use the NHS app, you’ll need to be registered with a GP surgery and create a login. You’ll need your NHS number to do this, which is pretty easy to access online.

Once logged in to the app, choose the ‘Get your NHS Covid Pass’ button. You can then press ‘travel’. It will take you to a screen that has details of your Covid-19 records. Press ‘show details’ and you’ll be shown a QR code, that will expire 30 days from the date of issue. To get a new one, you just log back in.

You can also request an NHS Covid Pass letter on the NHS website. You’ll be asked some questions, so they can find your vaccine record, and then they’ll send a letter to to the address you have registered with your GP surgery. You should get this letter within five working days.

And finally, people who have had both their jabs can also request an NHS Covid Pass letter by calling 119. This won’t show test results, and has no expiry date.

What about in the rest of the UK?

Those in Scotland aged 16 and over can request a paper copy of their vaccine status via the NHS inform website. You can also call 0808 196 8565.

In Wales, there isn’t yet a digital pass to show vaccine status. There is a paper one, though and you can request one of these by calling 0300 303 5667. You need to have had at least five days since your second dose.

In Northern Ireland, they are working on a paper-based Covid pass. It’s hoped it will be available by July, with digital passes available by summer.

How to bring forward your second jab

Many people initially had their second jab booked for 12 weeks after their first. However, it’s now possible to move your second jab earlier – to eight weeks after your first. This is to ensure maximum protection against the Delta variant.

It’s best to do this by going on the NHS website and filling out your details. Some people have had to cancel their existing second jab appointment to be able to view earlier appointments and rebook. Other people have been able to view available earlier appointments, and rebook, without having to cancel their first. If you’re worried about rebooking an appointment, call 119 free of charge.

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Matt Hancock Broke Ministerial Code Over Shares In Sister’s Firm, Ethics Adviser Says

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Health secretary Matt Hancock broke the ministerial code by failing to declare a significant stake in his sister’s company when it won an NHS framework contract, the government’s ethics adviser has said.

Hancock holds a 20% stake in Topwood Limited, which is owned and run by the health secretary’s older sister Emily Gilruth and brother-in-law.

The firm was awarded a framework contract with NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) in February 2019, when Hancock was health secretary and had a stake in the company.

But he failed to declare an interest in the firm at the time and therefore breached the ministerial code, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests found.

Lord Geidt however said that the failure to declare the interest was “was as a result of [Hancock’s] lack of knowledge [of the contract] and in no way deliberate, and therefore, in technical terms, a minor breach of the ministerial code.”

The adviser went on: “In coming to this finding, I recognise that Hancock has acted with integrity throughout and that this event should in no way impugn his good character or ministerial record.”

But the revelation will only add to the pressure on Hancock following accusations that he wrongly told Dominic Cummings and others in government that people would be tested before being transferred into care homes during the early stages of the Covid pandemic.

WPA Pool via Getty Images

Hancock at a Downing Street Covid press conference on Thursday

Lord Geidt’s finding comes after Health Service Journal found Topwood secured a place on the NHS SBS framework for “confidential waste destruction and disposal” in 2019, just months after Hancock became secretary of state.

The framework is effectively a shortlist of providers available to the local NHS.

In March, Topwood also won two NHS Wales contracts worth £150,000 each to carry out waste disposal services, including the shredding of confidential documents. 

In his first speech as health secretary, Hancock spoke about how the NHS saved his sister’s life after a horse riding accident and how that informed his love for the NHS. 

“I have never had a moment where somebody so close has been at a risk of dying,” he said.

He added: “I love my sister and the NHS saved her life, so when I say I love the NHS, I really mean it. My commitment to the health service and the fundamental principles that underpin it is not just professional, it is deeply personal.”

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Two Thirds Of Agency Nursing Staff Still Waiting For Second Covid Jab

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GEOFF CADDICK via AFP via Getty Images

A nurse fills a syringe with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Llanelli, South Wales.

Nursing staff working outside the NHS are half as likely to have received a full coronavirus vaccine dose as their NHS colleagues, a new study reveals.

Just under a third of agency staff have been given both of their jabs, compared with two-thirds of permanent staff, according to the survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) of 20,000 members.

It also found that 5.6% of agency nursing professionals (one in 18) have not been offered a single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, compared with only 1.3% of permanent staff (one in 77).

Frontline health and social care workers, who are second on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list alongside people aged 80 and over, should have all received an invitation to receive a second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by now.

Vaccinations for people in the top two priority groups began in December. People next on the list, those aged over 75, were invited from early January. On February 14, the government said it had offered all 15m people in the top four priority groups their first dose.

Latest figures published by the government show more than 7.4m people have received their second dose and more than 32m people have received a first dose. More than 32m doses should be enough to cover everyone in the UK over the age of 50, all health and care workers and those with pre-existing conditions.

But the survey revealed that as of April 6, only 94% of nursing staff have actually received at least one dose of a vaccine and 62% had received both doses.

Nearly half (46%) of nursing staff outside of the NHS, including permanent employees in non-NHS settings such as care homes, were still waiting for their second jab, compared to just under 24% of those working in the NHS.

The most worrying finding was that about one in 50 members reported having not been offered a vaccine at all. Those included nursing staff who work in hospitals, care homes and in the community, the RCN said. 

The results were an improvement from a previous survey conducted in February, which found “a concerning disparity” between vaccination rates among NHS and non-NHS staff, with non-NHS staff accounting for 70% of the nursing staff who had yet to be vaccinated.

JACOB KING via POOL/AFP via Getty Images

A nurse is given the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Coventry on January 7.

Nursing staff not working directly for the NHS include professionals who are employed by agencies, or who work in local communities, in care homes and people’s own homes with some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Tthe RCN said more still needed to be done to ensure all nursing staff are given their jabs. “The gap has narrowed significantly yet those outside the NHS are still behind their NHS colleagues when it comes to receiving their second jab,” it warned.

The union has called on the government to ensure vaccines are offered to all nursing staff to stop them from “slipping through the net”.

Jude Diggins, RCN director of nursing, policy and public affairs, said: “The gap between NHS and non-NHS staff having their first dose has closed but there remains more work to be done to ensure all nursing staff, whatever setting they work in, are given the protection they need.

“Every effort must be made to prevent nursing staff from slipping through the net. Their safety has to be the government’s top concern and that cannot be compromised.”

The government must make sure people who should have already received their vaccinations do so “without delay”, Labour said following the RCN survey.

Shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “As restrictions begin to ease ministers must do all they can to ensure that those who should have received the vaccination already are given this without delay. 

“This should include targeted work to drive up vaccinations in all who work in the NHS, including agency and bank staff.” 

In response to HuffPost UK’s request to explain why some nursing staff have yet to be invited for vaccination, a DHSC spokesperson claimed: “We have visited every eligible care home in England, offered vaccines to all staff, and continue to work closely with the care sector, independent healthcare providers and local leaders, to maximise vaccination numbers and save thousands of lives.

“The vaccines are safe and effective and we want everyone to take up the offer of a jab when they’re called forward.”

They added: “Our vaccination programme is the biggest in NHS history, and so far our heroic health and care staff have helped administer more than 39m vaccines.”

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Boris Johnson Lies About Labour Voting Against Nurses’ Pay Rise

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Press Association

Prime minister Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has refused to apologise after falsely claiming Labour voted against a pay rise for nurses. 

The prime minister, who is under fire for his offer to give hard-pressed NHS staff a 1% pay rise, had claimed that Keir Starmer’s party had opposed earlier government plans to give health workers a 2.1% hike. 

The move, part of the NHS funding bill, was never put to a vote but Johnson’s aides have rejected calls for the PM to say sorry or even correct his mistake. 

During prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Johnson told MPs: “The last time we put it to a vote, he (Starmer) voted against it.” 

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth raised a point of order with Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle after the session. 

He said: “The prime minister twice from that despatch box said that the Labour opposition voted against the NHS Funding Bill and the 2.1% increase for NHS staff – this is not the case.

“Indeed, in the debate, as Hansard will show, I was explicit that we would not be dividing the House.” 

Hoyle ruled that it was “certainly a point of clarification” but by that point Johnson had left the chamber. 

Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton, who later faced questions from journalists, refused to offer any apology from the PM. 

She said: “The speaker addressed it in the House immediately after the shadow health secretary and the speaker regarded it as a point of clarification, and he regarded it as having been dealt with.” 

Pressed more than 10 times on whether Johnson would accept he was wrong about claiming there was a vote, Stratton repeated the line and said simply said it was “appropriate” for the speaker to clarify the point. 

She insisted that Johnson was “concerned about the truth of these matters”, she added “it would be difficult if the speaker had not addressed it”. 

Asked about the ministerial code, which says government ministers should correct any error “at the earliest opportunity”, Stratton insisted that “the system worked”, suggesting the speaker corrected the mistake. 

During PMQs, Johnson hinted nurses may be in line for a bigger rise than the 1% proposed by the government. 

Labour has called for a larger rise for all NHS staff and has demanded the government put plans to a vote. 

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Boris Johnson Defends 1% NHS Pay Rise By Saying Times ‘Tough’

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Press Association

Prime minister Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has claimed ministers gave NHS workers “as much as we can” as the angry backlash over the government’s proposed 1% pay rise offer continues. 

Speaking on a visit to a vaccination centre in Brent in north London, the prime minister would not be drawn on whether he would perform a U-turn over the proposed hike in pay for healthcare staff, who have been on the frontline during the Covid pandemic. 

Nurses and other staff who could be affected by the “insulting” rise were preparing to protest outside Downing Street, in London, and in Manchester, on Sunday afternoon. 

Pressed on the issue, Johnson said: “I’m massively grateful to all NHS staff and indeed to social care workers who have been heroic throughout the pandemic.

“What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time.

“The independent pay review body will obviously look at what we’ve proposed and come back.” 

Asked if ministers could be forced into a U-turn over the pay offer, which is being looked at by an independent pay review board, Johnson said: “Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we’re in pretty tough times.

“We’ve tried to give the NHS as much as we possibly can and that means, in addition to the £140 billion of annual money, we’ve got another £62 billion we’ve found to help support the NHS throughout the crisis.

“My gratitude is overwhelming and I’m so grateful particularly to the nurses, and thankfully we are seeing more nurses now in our amazing NHS – there are 10,000 more nurses this year than there were last year.”

Speaking earlier on Sunday, education secretary Gavin Williamson said the offer was “part of a process”, suggesting the government could rethink the rise. 

Shown a video of prime minister Boris Johnson and Sunak clapping for carers during the pandemic, as hospitals and care homes were struggling to cope with the pandemic, BBC One presenter Andrew Marr put it to Williamson that the minuscule hike was “frankly an insult” to staff. 

“What we are having to deal with is incredibly challenging economic circumstances,” the education secretary said. 

Press Association

Ministers have offered NHS staff a 1% pay rise

“We have put forward a proposal. We have put forward what we believe that we can afford and it’s part of a process and that will sort of be looked at.

“But really, our focus is on making sure we recover from this pandemic.”

Pressed on a possible U-turn, he added: “We’ve stated that this is very much part of the process – what the government has put forward has been passed to an independent review.”

The “insulting” pay rise, reportedly insisted on by chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Treasury department, has provoked widespread anger. 

The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing and Unison have said in a letter to ministers that the pay deal “fails the test of honesty and fails to provide staff who have been on the very frontline of the pandemic the fair pay deal they need”.

The letter adds: “Our members are the doctors, nurses, midwives, porters, healthcare assistants and more, already exhausted and distressed, who are also expected to go on caring for the millions of patients on waiting lists, coping with a huge backlog of treatment as well as caring for those with Covid-19.”

Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said it was “reprehensible” for ministers not to recommend putting NHS pay up by more than 1%.

The senior Labour politician told Sky News” “The government, to be clear, is not planning a pay rise.

“That is a real-terms pay cut because it doesn’t keep up with inflation and for nurses to be offered a pay cut is just reprehensible in our view.

“In the NHS long-term plan, the government budgeted for a 2.1% pay rise – that is what nurses were promised and last year they legislated for that in order to give nurses a cast-iron guarantee that after years of seeing their real-terms pay fall, that the Government would finally reverse that decision and start to see their pay increase.

“We think they ought to go into these negotiations at a bare minimum of honouring that promise of a 2.1% (increase) and then consider what more they can offer to our NHS staff who have done so much to put their families and themselves at risk every day going into work – some of them have died.”

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People Aged 56 And Over Can Now Book A Covid-19 Vaccine

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People aged between 56 and 59 years old can now book their Covid-19 jab online. 

While the rollout to a new age bracket has not yet been formally announced by the government, the NHS booking site now allows people over 56 to pick an appointment for their first and second doses of the vaccine. 

https://www.nhs.uk

A screenshot of the NHS Covid-19 vaccine booking page.

Over 56′s fall into category eight of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI’s) vaccine priority groups though this category also includes those aged 55, who are not currently eligible to book a jab according to the site. 

Those age 56-and-over can now book alongside people who are deemed both  extremely clinically vulnerable and clinically vulnerable to Covid-19, frontline health and social care workers, people with a learning disability and people who act as a main carer to someone at high risk from Covid-19.

While the expansion of the roll out hasn’t been formally announced, it appears that a number of newly-eligible people have already booked online after seeing the change reported on social media sites such as Twitter. 

It emerged on Friday that more than a million people in England had now had their second dose of the Covid-19 jab, completing the course of immunisation. 

A total of 1,034,068 second doses had been given by March 4, according to the latest figures from health agencies in the four nations.

Of those, 729,265 were given to people in England, along with 154,819 in Wales, 108,197 in Scotland and 41,787 in Northern Ireland.

Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world outside of a clinical trial to be vaccinated at Coventry Hospital on December 8. 

Public Health England said on Friday that 21,358,815 people have now received at least one dose.

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NHS Medics Slam 1% Pay Rise: ‘It’s A Real Insult, I’m Absolutely Fuming’

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A staff nurse who held a phone to the ear of a dying patient on a Covid ward so he could say goodbye to his family has blasted the government for its “pitiful” 1% pay increase.

Alex Oldham told HuffPost UK that the NHS has had the “year from hell” and that he backed proposals for strike action in response to the gesture.

Oldham, who works in Bristol, said: “We’ve been working through a year-long pandemic where at times we’ve had nurses wearing binbags for PPE, there’s been 850 NHS workers who have died of Covid.

“Yes, we’ve had nice things like Clap for Carers on Thursdays, and when ministers have given praise and kind words, but we now know those words are hollow and not worth anything.”

The main nurses’ union is to set up a £35m industrial action fund in response to the government’s recommendation.

The council of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) made the decision amid growing anger over the pay of health staff who have been under unprecedented pressure during the coronavirus crisis.

Dozens of healthcare workers have also been tweeting their disgust at the proposal.

Unite, which represents tens of thousands of NHS workers, is also warning of industrial action. Some of the hardships endured by NHS workers have seen using foodbanks, moving out of family homes to live closer to the hospitals and cover staff sick leave and living in complete isolation in order to protect their families.

A survey of RCN members last year revealed that more than one in three were thinking of leaving the profession, with many citing pay as the main reason.

Oldham said: “Strike action, in whatever form that may be might have to be the only option, obviously with patient safety carefully considered.”

When asked if he was tempted to leave, Oldham replied: “It does make me consider. There are other avenues to earning more money – like being an agency nurse, but that just doesn’t sing with my values. I like the ethos of the NHS, I like how it all works and the goodwill of it. But we can’t keep running on empty.”

Downing Street has defended the figure, saying it was what was “affordable” and Health Minister Nadine Dorries has said she was “pleasantly surprised” at the proposal.

Oldham said he was reminded of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vow to lead a government of substance, not gestures, adding: “Here we are, really not seeing any substance. Even as a gesture it’s pretty pitiful.

“The government also have a pledge for wanting to put an extra 50,000 nurses on the wards by the end of their term in government, but how are they going to achieve that when they are offering, in terms of retention and appealing to people, a £3.50 a week pay rise?

“That’s an extra cup of coffee. That’s what that equates to, that’s the reality. And we also have to think about the human cost of the nurses on the frontline. I’ve held a phone to the ear of a dying patient, to their relatives who are crying on the phone because they can’t come in and see them.

“This pandemic will ripple for years to come because of the PTSD that nurses and many other NHS workers will suffer. It’s a real insult, I’m absolutely fuming.

 “This request for a pay rise is not driven by greed. This is driven by the fact we are exhausted. We are on our knees and we are fed up of being treated like this. We want a substantial pay rise to put food on the table, pay the mortgage and pay for childcare.”

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People Are Being Offered Jabs Because The NHS Has Got Their Heights Extremely Wrong

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Photo by Karwai Tang/Getty Images

A care worker receives the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Borehamwood.

A man was offered a Covid jab because the NHS had recorded his height as 6cm, meaning he was classified as morbidly obese.

A similar mix-up saw a woman wrongly offered a flu vaccine because she was thought to be 57cm tall instead of 5ft 7ins, while others have also had heights of less than a metre entered in their official records. 

It came to light when journalist Liam Thorp tweeted last week that he had been offered his first coronavirus vaccine ahead of schedule, and couldn’t work out why.

“I am really confused why I would be offered at this stage when many more vulnerable or at risk groups haven’t been,” the political editor of the Liverpool Echo wrote. 

The confusion cleared up when he rang his GP and discovered his height had been entered as 6.2cm rather than 6ft 2ins, “giving me a BMI of 28,000”. 

“I’ve put on a few pounds in lockdown but not that many,” he posted in an update on Wednesday morning. 

“When I told my mum I had been classed in the clinically obese category, she said: ‘Well perhaps this is the wake-up call you need.’”

Cue hilarity, with some people claiming it had them “crying” with laughter and that it was “the single best tweet of the entire pandemic”.

Others chimed in with similar experiences, including one person who said she had been invited for the seasonal flu jab a few weeks ago because her height had been recorded as 57cm rather than 5ft 7ins. 

Writer and performer Natasha Hodgson only realised the mix-up when she turned up to receive the jab. “The nurse was brilliant and hilarious about it – she got up my records immediately when it was clear I was not, as was recorded on my records, currently morbidly obese,” she told HuffPost UK.

″[She] scanned my file and then burst out laughing: ‘According to this, you are 57cm tall. You’re a bowling ball!’”

The mistake was corrected immediately and Hodgson was not given the flu jab. “Obviously it’s good that they’re trying to push people in high-risk groups to get seasonal jabs, but yes, it looks like it’s not quite a perfect system,” she continued. 

“To be honest, if I’m 57cm tall and 9 and a half stone, I’m amazed they only want to talk to me about my flu potential.” 

Another person told HuffPost UK she had received an invitation to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on Monday because her BMI had been put down as 77 – three times what doctors consider a healthy weight.

“[My GP] was completely unsure how that happened, he says it was an error and that someone just entered it wrong. It makes sense now though as the NHS have been chasing me a lot to get my flu jab!” said town planner Lois-May Chapman.

“The doctor also despite everything being cleared up now with my BMI and myself falling in a healthy weight really encouraged me to get the jab and just count myself and very lucky.”

She added she was “a bit on the fence” about whether to take up the offer. “I’m tempted to,” she admitted.

“I feel bad if I do but my nan is quite unwell so anything I can do to prevent that from getting worse would be good.”

On Sunday the government confirmed more than 15m of the most vulnerable people in the UK have now had a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Those next in line to receive the jab include all those aged between 50 and 70, as well as those aged between 16 and 64 with underlying health conditions which puts them at higher risk of serious disease and death.

Boris Johnson has set a target of May to give the first jabs to these people, who are in the remaining priority groups five to nine, as set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

But given the rapid pace of the vaccine rollout so far, this seems somewhat pessimistic. Here’s why the statistics suggest that the UK could in fact vaccinate all those aged over 50 and all the most vulnerable by early April – well ahead of target. 

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Almost One Third Of All Covid Hospital Patients In England Were Admitted In January Alone

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