Cardiff and Vale University Health Board put out a call for help on Boxing Day
Clinicians in Scotland warn we could be facing a perfect storm of problems
NHS is faced with a staffing crisis as one in ten workers are off sick or isolating
Covid advisor to the BMA said the staffing crisis poses threat to derail the NHS
The sickness figure also includes staff who are self-isolating following contact
LEADING public-health bodies are demanding that the government provides greater financial support to people on low incomes who are self-isolating to ensure that infection-control measures are effective.
Today the British Medical Association, Scottish Academy of Royal Colleges, Doctors Association UK and other public-health bodies wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson raising concerns that too many people in precarious and low-wage employment cannot afford to miss work and self-isolate with the financial support currently offered.
They warned that unless people are given more financial support, infection control will continue to be undermined.
The signatories welcomed steps made during the pandemic to remove qualifying periods for statutory sick pay (SSP) and provide £500 for eligible low-income households to self-isolate but said that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s winter spending review in November was a missed opportunity to build on these provisions.
HEALTH experts are calling for political parties to commit to ending all forms of health inequality, ahead of next year’s Holyrood election. The Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Facilities (the Scottish Academy) represents the views of different medical professions throughout Scotland. It is warning that the lasting health impact of Covid-19 on Scotland’s poorest households – as well as on other vulnerable groups including the elderly and those living with disabilities – could be devastating unless action is taken by policy-makers. Research by the National Records of Scotland revealed that people from the most deprived parts of the country are more than twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as those from more affluent communities.