and social care, as i say, are under immense pressure now and that will get much worse if covid rights and hospitalisations as a result of that get much better and continue to rise. so the government has to be prepared to do what it needs to do to protect health and care services and in doing that protect the public of the uk. ., , , and in doing that protect the public of the uk. ., ., , , of the uk. how many nursing vacancies _ of the uk. how many nursing vacancies are _ of the uk. how many nursing vacancies are there _ of the uk. how many nursing vacancies are there at - of the uk. how many nursing vacancies are there at the - of the uk. how many nursing - vacancies are there at the moment across the country? it is vacancies are there at the moment across the country?— across the country? it is very difficult to — across the country? it is very difficult to judge. _ across the country? it is very difficult to judge. there - across the country? it is very difficult to judge. there are l across the country? it is very | difficult to judge. there are at least 40,000 in the nhs in england alone but across the uk the figure is higher and when you start to consider all the other areas that nurses working, it is much, much higher again. nurses working, it is much, much higheragain. so nurses working, it is much, much higher again. so it is really significant number of vacancies and of those nurses that we have in the system are in many cases exhausted by the last 18 months and we have seen very high sickness rates as a result of the mental health pressures that people have suffered