Responding to the prime minister’s five point plan for “living
with COVID-19” the deputy chief executive of NHS
Providers, Saffron Cordery, said:
“Trust leaders are keenly aware of the wider impact of COVID-19
restrictions alongside the importance of ensuring the NHS is able
to treat all patients, Covid and non-Covid.
“They see the way these rules have affected peoples’ lives and
livelihoods, their mental health, and the wider economy.
“However they do expect these decisions to be driven by data, not
a date.
“The prime minister acknowledged the inevitability of increased
COVID-19 infections, admissions to hospital and deaths in the
coming weeks.
“The vaccine programme has weakened, but not broken that link.
“We urge the government to keep a very close watch on the
evidence as it emerges in the coming days, and to be ready to
make the right call – whichever way it points – when the real
decision day comes round next week.”
Mike Clancy, Prospect General Secretary,
responding to the Prime Minister's statement on opening up and
returning to the workplace, said:
“The end of the work-from-home guidance must not lead to a
chaotic free for all with employers making decisions about their
workforce with no consultation, and little guidance from
government.
“Managing this transition well will require employers to work
with staff and trade unions to adjust to a new normal, whether
that is returning to offices or continued home working, and
government should be making it clear that employers should not be
acting unilaterally in either forcing employees back into offices
or keeping them at home.
“We also need far more detail about the role the Health and
Safety Executive will have in working with businesses to make
workplaces Covid secure, and the government must permanently
reverse a decade of damaging funding cuts to the HSE.”
