Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NHS heroes’ Boris backlash
» Just 5% think Government’s done good job » Surgeries at breaking point as doctors quit
The public know the PM has barely put a foot right PROF JOHN ASHTON PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT
£4billion ‘hole in the heart’ of social care
NHS staff yesterday delivered a sucker punch to Boris Johnson as a damning poll revealed only 5% think the Government has handled the Covid crisis well.
The backlash came as the health service looked on course to reach its incredible target of vaccinating 15 million by tomorrow and ministers were busy preparing to announce their “roadmap” out of lockdown next week.
Despite the good news, frontline workers hit out at the Tories’ failure to protect them properly during the pandemic in a poll of 3,500 staff for the GMB trade union.
Nearly half – 47% – said Mr Johnson and his ministers had handled the crisis badly, citing failures in providing them with the PPE they needed to properly protect themselves.
Latest Office for National Statistics figures revealed the deaths of more than 850 health and social care workers in England and Wales last year involved Covid-19.
Staff also criticised the Tories’ real term pay cuts and crippling staff shortages, which hit them hard in their darkest hour. And the beleaguered medics know they will still face an overwhelming workload when the crisis subsides because of a backlog of non-Covid patients.
In December, 225,000 people had been waiting for more than a year for vital treatment. And there are currently 4.5 million on hospital waiting lists – the highest number since records began in August 2007.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Our NHS staff have shown themselves to be true heroes throughout this crisis. But they have been let down by Boris Johnson’s ministers who left our NHS badly prepared after years of cuts and understaffing. “Now, our NHS will need back-up and support like never before. We need a plan to recruit and train the extra doctors, nurses and staff the NHS needs.”
Workers who took part in the poll slammed the Government for failing to provide enough PPE, which saw some medics resort to wearing binbags. They also criticised the PM for refusing NHS staff in England a bonus, while
colleagues in Scotland got £500. The snub came after a decade of pay freezes which has left them needing cash during the crisis.
Staff shortages have brought the NHS to the brink of collapse. Before the pandemic, it already had far fewer nurses than it needed. In December 2019, there were 44,000 nursing vacancies in England alone.
Boris Johnson has clapped for carers with fiancee Carrie Symonds. But comments submitted to the poll reveal how NHS workers feel they have been let down by the PM.
One said: “I am suffering from shock at work due to the very, very high numbers of deaths. It makes me feel numb. We have lost a lot of staff, too.”
Another said: “Advice changes all the time. It’s very confusing and makes confidence low.”
GMB National Officer Rachel Harrison said some staff were still wearing inadequate PPE and “suffering negative consequences from the last pay settlement”. She urged minsters to give them “the pay and protection they need to carry on saving lives”.
Public health expert Prof John Ashton said the message was getting through to the public, even if it hadn’t yet registered with the PM. He said: “The British public are not stupid. Boris Johnson has barely put a foot right in this pandemic.”
Last night the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged health workers “have been going above and beyond for months”. It said the Government had “committed to continue to provide pay rises” and more than a million staff were “benefitting from the multi-year pay and contract deal” agreed in 2018.