upon the number of beds available in hospitals and also that staff have been off with covid, and one of the things that we ve pushed at the royal college of surgeons of england is the establishment of surgical hubs which are centres which are dedicated to routine surgery and ring fenced so that surgery can continue even when the service is under enormous pressure from emergency cases. i m joined now by the ceo of the patient champion group healthwatch stoke 0n trent, simon fogell. simon, it is good to talk to you. let me ask you first of all, this is an option, private health care, but it is an option for the very few people with the money to do it. yes. people with the money to do it. yes, it s alwa s people with the money to do it. yes, it s always going people with the money to do it. yes, it s always going to people with the money to do it. yes, it s always going to be people with the money to do it. yes it s always going to be an option, but when you think, do i have a spare
do you have plans in place if covid hits these french border patrol people again? hits these french border patrol people again? there is little that we can do- people again? there is little that we can do- all people again? there is little that we can do. all we people again? there is little that we can do. all we can people again? there is little that we can do. all we can do - people again? there is little that we can do. all we can do is i people again? there is little thatj we can do. all we can do is make sure we share the right information with the right people our demands. 0nce with the right people our demands. once you are through the border controls you don t stop at the other side, you canjust get controls you don t stop at the other side, you can just get off the ferry and get on your way, but it is this critical bottleneck that we have come of this pinch point that we need to make sure it is resourced appropriately. after this point we have been receiving word that
notice. you should see that easing up notice. you should see that easing up because the airlines are under pressure to give much more notice before they cancel a flight. having said that, many cancellations we have been seen have actually been due to covid sickness, cabin crew, ground staff, pilots calling in sick because they have been struck down by covid, so that is likely to carry on for at least 2 3 weeks or longer, and that of course is all happening during the peak summer period. band during the peak summer period. and civen during the peak summer period. and given that in 70 people facing flight cancellations is there enough capacity to rebook elsewhere or will their holidays just disappear in front of their eyes? their holidaysjust disappear in front of their eyes? their holidaysjust disappear in front of their eyes? sadly, a lot of us will be frustrated front of their eyes? sadly, a lot of us will be frustrated and us will be frustrated and disappointed, and that is caus
something like this. british airways has already said that it is offering new crew a £1000 bonus if they start before july. the new crew a £1000 bonus if they start beforejuly. the contents of this is that airlines and airports are racing to get enough staff onto their books so that they can operate their books so that they can operate the busy summer programmes that they want them to. we know that already there have been some problems and struggles. easyjet and british airways have had to make cancellations, hundreds of cancellations, hundreds of cancellations over the past couple of months, with covid sickness making the problem worse. this does reflect an industry problem, that lots ofjobs reflect an industry problem, that lots of jobs were reflect an industry problem, that lots ofjobs were lost and, as i say, these businesses have now been trying to recruit quickly to try to get enough staff back to cope with the resurgence of demand. some other measures that we have seen include
across the region our numbers of covid inpatients are almost as high as they were in previous waves. now, we re also dealing with our usual winter pressures and the need to catch up with all that elective work that we wanted to do in previous years, so we ve never felt the pressure so much. keep an eye on it, press on it. the latest data shows more than 40,000 nhs hospital staff in england around 5% were absent because of covid sickness or isolation last week. four patients waiting. and as more staff fall sick, it s needed everyone to get involved. we ve got support from across the organisation of admin staff coming to help is in the mornings, to support with comfort with the patients. so it s a real team effort. absolutely, it s been like that from day one. to ease the pressure on understaffed hospital departments, the government has just changed the rules so isolation can end on day six. uk hsa data shows that around two thirds of positive cases are no