January 2021

January 19, 2021

Hospitals left short-staffed with half of sickness absence now  linked to Covid 19 

The Independent reports that according to the latest NHS England data, there are 33,285 nurses absent from work, 16,805 of these absences linked to Covid-19. There are also 4,348 doctors away from work with 2,812 due to the virus. The British Medical Association has called for all health and care staff to be vaccinated by the end of January 2020  to protect workers and prevent the NHS being overwhelmed. An NHS England spokesperson said: “In line with government guidance, NHS staff are required to isolate following community contact with a confirmed Covid case and it is a priority to keep staff safe and well, physically and mentally – with a number of support offers, including a health and wellbeing support package that has now been accessed over 600,000 times. The NHS is also rapidly accelerating rollout of the Covid vaccine, which will allow staff to continue to care for patients.”

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