Class and race are the biggest factors in determining those that have died or been taken ill by Covid-19, Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, said today (Tuesday 2 June). Unite called for a raft of policies to tackle the ‘systemic failures’ that has led to the disproportionate death toll amongst the Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and also the poorest groups in society The union was commenting on Public Health England’s report Disparities in the risk and outcomes of Covid-19 which highlighted those groups that had been hardest hit in terms of mortality due to coronavirus. Unite […]
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This is the twelfth week of the SHA COVID-19 blog in which we have responded to emerging issues in the pandemic response, from a politics and health perspective. As it stands the UK has performed “like lions led by donkeys”. The NHS and care home staff, plus all the other essential workers in shops, delivering mail and answering phones have been heroic, risking their lives, working long hours and generally going well above and beyond the call of duty, supported by armies of volunteers, delivering food to neighbours, sewing protective clothing, organising suitably distanced entertainment, and generally rising to the […]
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We are sad to report the recent death of Ron Singer, retired GP and tireless and effective campaigner for a vibrant, humane, safe NHS, free and publicly provided. I have known him for many years – he was always incisive, funny and passionate, despite his fading health. He will be sadly missed. The NHS has lost a powerful supporter. We can do no better than direct you to this moving tribute from Doctors in Unite who have given us permission to reproduce here: https://doctorsinunite.com/2020/05/29/dr-ron-singer-the-very-best-of-us/”
This is a collective statement on behalf of SHA bringing together public health evidence and other opinions on a key Covid policy issue. The Westminster Government announced on May 10th that: “As a result of the huge efforts everyone has made to adhere to strict social distancing measures, the transmission rate of coronavirus has decreased. We therefore anticipate, with further progress, that we may be able, from the week commencing 1 June, to welcome back more children to early years, school, and further education settings. We will only do this provided that the five key tests set by the government […]
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This is a collective statement on behalf of SHA bringing together public health evidence and other opinions on a key Covid policy issue. The government ‘s centralised programme in England for testing and tracing – and the use of outsourcing Key messages: The Government has not yet passed the five tests it set itself for easing lockdown The government said that it would only consider easing lockdown once the country has passed five tests. One of these tests [TEST 5] is “confidence that we can avoid a second peak of infection that overwhelms the NHS” The Devolved Administrations and many […]
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The Battle of the Surcharge – won Finally, last Friday, the Government announced it was going to remove the surcharge that overseas NHS staff have to pay for using the service they themselves work for. This follows two years of campaigning by unions such as Unison and Unite, which between them represent over 600,000 nurses, student nurses, midwives, doctors, health visitors, healthcare assistants, paramedics, cleaners, porters, catering staff, medical secretaries, clerical and admin staff and scientific and technical staff, who are either employed by the NHS or by other organisations which provide NHS services. Only last Wednesday at Prime Minister’s […]
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This is a collective statement on behalf of SHA bringing together public health evidence and other opinions on a key Covid policy issue. The impact of the pandemic on inequalities more generally and the implications for policy and plans going forward Key messages The pandemic has hit us when we have already seen health inequities widen 10 years of austerity have disproportionately affected the least affluent and the most vulnerable Life expectancy has plateaued and inequalities in mortality have widened in recent years. The gap in healthy life expectancy at birth is about 19 years for both males and females. […]
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Public meeting Wednesday June 3 – Get your ticket! We would like to invite you to our first virtual Zoom public meeting Internationalism in the Post Covid-19 World Wednesday 3rd June, 6pm to 8.30pm Speakers are: Harsev Bains, Baroness Christine Blower, Dr Kailash Chand, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jacqui McKenzie, Murad Qureshi AM. Please register for this event at liberation.org.uk/event And pass it on to friends and colleagues! Joint event by The Socialist Health Association and Liberation. Please contact Jean Hardiman Smith at admin@sochealth.co.uk for more information.
This is a collective statement on behalf of SHA bringing together public health evidence and other opinions on a key Covid policy issue. The impact of the pandemic on BAME populations and the implications for policy and plans going forward Key messages: Data collection, transparency and presentation are not good enough: o There is concern about inaccurate, incomplete and selective data. All official bodies should adhere to the Code of Practice for Statistics o Ethnicity data is not collected in many countries: in the UK for many years there has been a call for greater ethnic monitoring in routine health […]
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The SHA has been publishing its COVID-19 Blogs weekly since the 15th March. A number of themes have cropped up consistently throughout as actual events have occurred. Too slow to act The slow and dithering response by the government has been one such theme. This has been exposed with embarrassing clarity by media investigative teams which this weekend include the Insight team. Their detailed report on the dither and delay leading up to lockdown showed that when Italy and Spain locked down on the 10th and 13th March respectively each had over a million estimated infections in their countries. In […]
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BASHH (The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV) reports significantly reduced service capacity during the coronavirus pandemic. They are monitoring this with an ongoing survey. Here is the most recent set of results dated 21 April 2020. You can click through to read the full results on the link below or on the BASHH site. The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) are running an ongoing survey during the coronavirus pandemic to understand how sexual health services are being impacted and where pressures are emerging. The most recent set of results found that service capacity has been significantly […]
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Latest national agreement will see firefighters train care staff in infection, prevention and control Request for help came from senior health officials in England Firefighters have been called in to deliver special infection, prevention and control (IPC) training packages to care home staff in a move that is hoped will help to halt the spread of coronavirus in the sector. Under the new measure, firefighter volunteers will train care home staff directly on IPC procedures, the “donning and doffing” of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hygiene measures, hand cleaning, and how to safely carry out COVID-19 tests. Designated care home staff […]
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