20th December 2021

Vaccination rules: hospital units may close
Chris Hopson says entire hospital units could be forced to shut because of staff quitting in protest at the government’s order that they must all be vaccinated against Covid-19.

NHS Bill: how it’ll destroy the NHS
If you think the NHS is a comprehensive publicly-run health service dedicated to fulfilling patient need, then read what the government’s new Act will do, ration care and bring in more not less privatisation.

What is really happening in our hospitals
This winter it will be harder than last year. It isn’t just Covid, though Covid is a factor. The challenge is bigger because of the backlog of care, because of staffing problems and due to people’s difficulties accessing primary care. 

Steep rise in long stay hospital patients
A number of trusts are reporting a rise in the number of patients who could leave hospital but don’t have adequate social or domestic care. A number of trusts say more than one in 10 beds during the last week of November were occupied by patients who were medically fit to leave.

How did we end up in this Omicron mess?
Johnson and his cabinet have wasted their time, our money, expert science and the goodwill of both NHS workers and the public. For months we’ve known that vaccine immunity from two doses is unlikely to last very long and that new variants could well challenge that further.