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There’s a reason you’ve not seen your GP recently – and frankly it’s a scandal – The Telegraph

Back in November, Nick Stokes emailed the Planet Normal podcast to protest that the NHS was being turned into the “National Covid Service”, and misinformation was being spread about hospitals being overwhelmed. “If there is a shortage of beds, that happens every single year – it is not due to Covid! I can remember several years of black alerts, ambulances unable to unload etc due to flu cases, but I don’t remember everything else being cancelled or people being told to stay at home.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/05/04/reason-youvenot-seen-gp-recently-frankly-scandal/

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How 12 times more people are dying from cancer than Covid – as experts warn treatment backlog will become ‘collateral damage’ of the pandemic- Daily Mail

  • Figures show 36 people on average died each day from covid in the last week 
  • By comparison, cancer is claiming 450 live every day or about 166,000 annually 
  • Experts say NHS needs to urgently expand cancer services to deal with backlog
  • NHS England say most cancer services are operating at pre-pandemic levels

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9457599/How-12-times-people-dying-cancer-Covid.html

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Revealed: What Really Happened In The Nightingales – The Huffington Post

  • Only three of England’s seven Nightingale hospitals have ever been used to treat Covid patients.
  • Cost to the taxpayer is more than £500m to set-up and keep on standby.
  • Four of the Nightingales have never treated people with Covid-19.
  • Only two of the hospitals have been used to treat Covid patients in during the second wave.
  • Nightingales totalled up to £1.27m per inpatient as of January 2021.
  • Only 272 inpatients were treated at the Nightingales up until January 2021.
  • Nightingale Birmingham, which was the most expensive to set-up at a contracted budget of £109million – has never been used at all.
  • Each Nightingale building cost between £409,000 and £1.2m a month to keep on standby.
  • The bill to set up the hospitals was £346m, according to contracts awarded by the government to NHS trusts.
  • NHS England has forecast total costs will run to £532m for the financial years 2019-21.
  • At least £850,000 was also spent with consultancy firms on the construction of the Nightingales.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nightingale-hospitals-covid-patient-numbers_uk_605a0dd6c5b6cebf58d220eb

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NHS HOSPITALS SPEND £2M ON GAGGING ORDERS PREVENTING STAFF SPEAKING OUT – The Independent (2013)

Hospitals have spent £2 million on more than 50 gagging orders preventing staff speaking out, a Freedom of Information Act request has revealed.

Tory MP Steve Barclay, who obtained the figures, accused NHS chief Sir David Nicholson of either failing to ask questions about the orders or being “complicit in a cover-up”.

Sir David will retire as NHS England’s chief executive next year but Mr Barclay said he should stand down now because the culture in the health service had to change.

It was reported last night that at least 52 staff have been silenced using the orders since 2008, some of which cost as much as £500,000. All are thought to contain confidentiality clauses.

…North East Cambridgeshire MP Mr Barclay told The Daily Telegraph: “It is simply not plausible that the man who was supposed to be running the NHS was seemingly unaware that employees threatening to speak out were being offered golden goodbyes in return for a vow of silence.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20201111180257/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-hospitals-spend-ps2m-gagging-orders-preventing-staff-speaking-out-8654716.html

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Hospital Bed Occupancy in England 2020/2021 is lower than last year – UK Column

Source: UK Column News, 8th January 2021
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Hospitals have 13k FEWER patients taking up beds – so why are millions more in Tier 4?

HOSPITALS had almost fifteen percent fewer patients this December compared with 2019, despite the Covid crisis.

But they are being ovewhelmed by the surge in infections because of a lack of beds and staff, experts said.A freedom of information request to NHS England revealed that on December 22, three days after Boris Johnson introduced tier four for millions, more than 13,000 fewer beds were occupied than the same date in 2019.

The new data suggests a key reason hospitals are struggling is this lack of capacity.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210103103002/https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1379012/covid-cases-uk-tier-4-areas-hospital-beds-NHS

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More under 60s died on roads last year than those with no underlying conditions from coronavirus – The Telegraph

Almost three times as many under 60s died in road crashes last year as those without health conditions killed by coronavirus, NHS data shows.

Just 388 people under the age of 60 with no underlying health conditions have died of coronavirus in England, NHS data has revealed.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/28/60s-died-roads-last-year-no-underlying-conditions-coronavirus/

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Only 388 people under 60 without underlying health conditions have died of coronavirus in hospitals across England – The Sun

ONLY 388 people aged under 60 without underlying health conditions have died of coronavirus in hospitals across England, NHS data shows.

The figure is just 0.8 per cent of all Covid fatalities recorded in English hospitals between April 2 and December 23.

https://web.archive.org/web/20201227205622/https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13584329/377-covid-deaths-under-60-underlying-health-conditions/

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Publications

Leaks reveal two-thirds of private hospital capacity went unused by NHS – HSJ

  • Two-thirds of the private sector capacity that was block-purchased by NHS England was left unused over the summer
  • Unprecedented block contracts in place for almost all the private hospital capacity, thought to be worth around £400m per month
  • Comes as waiting times for elective care and diagnostic tests have steeply increased
  • Capacity to carry out chemotherapy treatment was among that not fully used
  • Insiders blame confusion and communication over contracts, and some argue the contracts were not needed

https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/leaks-reveal-two-thirds-of-private-hospital-capacity-went-unused-by-nhs/7029000.article

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What they DON’T tell you about Covid: Fewer beds taken up than last year, deaths a fraction of the grim forecasts, 95% of fatalities had underlying causes… and how the facts can be twisted to strike fear in our hearts – Daily Mail

  • Despite the fearmongering, the number of Covid-19 deaths is significantly lower than the peak back in April 
  • Latest ONS estimate shows that in the week ending November 14, new infections were already levelling off 
  • GCHQ has embedded a team in Downing Street to provide Boris Johnson with real-time updates of Covid-19
  • Analysts will sift through vast amounts of data to ensure Boris Johnson has the most up-to-date information

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8971669/What-DONT-tell-Covid-facts-twisted-strike-fear-hearts.html

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Publications

Covid-19: GPs to get £12.58 per dose to deliver vaccine from December – BMJ

Practices will be paid £12.58 (€14.15; $16.69) per vaccination. This is 25% more than the current £10.06 practices receive for an influenza vaccination, in recognition of the need for extra training, post-vaccine observation, and other associated costs. Practices will need to provide most of the required staff from their own workforce.

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4354

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NHS faces winter with ‘2,000 less’ beds than last year – HSJ

The NHS has ‘significantly less’ beds now than last winter and parts of the system ‘don’t have enough’, a NHS England and Improvement director has admitted.

https://www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-performance/exclusive-nhs-faces-winter-with-2000-less-beds-than-last-year/7028680.article

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Lockdown ‘could kill 75,000 over five years’ – that’s the OFFICIAL projection of non-COVID deaths – Daily Mail

  • 75,000 people could die from non-Covid causes as a result of lockdown to devastating official figures in a 188-page document from SAGE.
  • 16,000 people died as a result of the chaos in hospitals and care homes in March and April alone.
  • A further 26,000 will die within a year if people continue to stay away from A&E.
  • An additional 31,900 could die over the next five years as a result of missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and the health impacts of a recession.
  • Official COVID-19 death toll on 29 September 2020 is 41,936.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8785415/Just-1-800-110-000-occupied-hospital-beds-currently-taken-Covid-19-patients.html

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How close is the NHS to being ‘overwhelmed’? Just 1,800 out of 110,000 occupied beds are taken up by Covid-19 patients as thousands more than normal die at home of other causes – Daily Mail

Covid-19 patients are currently occupying fewer than 2 per cent of all hospital beds in England, official data suggests.

The most NHS recent snapshot — released three weeks ago — shows just 478 out of 110,000 beds in use were by Covid-19 patients on September 3.

…Even at the peak of the crisis in Britain, only a quarter of all beds were occupied by virus patients. On April 7, 26.5 per cent of the 67,206 people in England’s hospitals were being treated for coronavirus — the highest proportion on record.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8785415/Just-1-800-110-000-occupied-hospital-beds-currently-taken-Covid-19-patients.html

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News Opinion

UK second wave fears quashed? Top doc claims Britain almost ‘reaching herd immunity’ – Dr. Ron Daniels, The Express

  • Official data from NHS England points to a huge drop in the number of coronavirus patients being treated in hospitals today compared to mid-April, during the height of the pandemic.
  • Dr Daniels: Britain is “almost reaching herd immunity”.
  • Increase in hospital admissions nor a second wave to hit the UK.
  • “I think that’s highly unlikely because the pubs have been open for over a month, people have been socially interacting heavily during that time, and the natural history of this disease is that if you contract the virus and you’re going to end up in hospital, you’re pretty much in hospital within 15 days of contracting it.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1320683/uk-coronavirus-news-latest-second-wave-death-toll-infection-rate-herd-immunity