Start using trains and buses again, ministers to tell workers

Leading doctor calls for new guidelines as patients delay elective treatment due to isolation concerns

RESTRICTIONS on using public transport are to be eased to get people back to work, and kick-start the economy, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

With leisure centres, swimming pools, hotels and some theatres now open, the Government wants to ensure the public regains confidence in rail, bus and Tube networks – as long as face masks are worn and cleanliness guidelines followed.

It follows the Prime Minister’s visit to shops on Friday, wearing a mask, and urging Britain to get back to work.

He also indicated masks will be compulsory in shops and enclosed spaces.

But many people are reluctant to return to commuting, and are still following lockdown advice to avoid public transport unless absolutely necessary.

Last week, the Department of the Transport removed from its website the guidance that public transport should be avoided.

Whitehall sources said the next step in easing lockdown was to establish the best ways to restore public confidence in transport, particularly trains, while ensuring people follow “best practice” to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

It is hoped a gradual return to public transport will also help boost income at tourist attractions, including struggling seaside towns. A Whitehall source said: “It is costing a great deal of money to run all these train services with so few people on them. Different departments are looking at ways to ease the message of avoiding public transport.

“The best way to do this – and when – is under discussion. There is some debate about how best to get the message across that the Government wants to allow more people to travel.”

It is understood staff at the Department of Transport have begun talks with transport operators. Its public transport advice remains under constant review as lockdown is eased.

A SENIOR doctor has warned how patients are postponing elective surgery because of draconian pre-op coronavirus quarantine rules, and has called for an overhaul of guidelines.

Dr Helgi Johannsson, a consultant anaesthetist, said patients are cancelling operations to avoid putting their own jobs and their children’s education at risk because they must isolate their entire household for two weeks before relatively routine operations.

The doctor fears the strict measures to ensure someone is coronavirus free before entering the operating theatre is deterring people from having elective surgery, procedures scheduled in advance because they are not a medical emergency. The Office for National Statistics estimated last week that one in 3,900 people had the virus, or 0.03 per cent of the population, down from one in 2,200 the previous week.

Under NHS England guidelines any elective patient should only be admitted if they remain asymptomatic having “isolated for 14 days prior to admission along with members of their household”. Even then, they should have a “pre-admission test” to double check that they do not have Covid-19.

Dr Johannsson, 48, said: “We cannot put our patients at risk by making their access to healthcare so difficult they have to choose between having their operation and allowing their children to go to school. It also means that anyone whose job is in danger will not want to have surgery.

“The chance of missing a Covid case is very, very, very small, and the disruption of self-isolation is very large.”

Postponing relatively common procedures such as a hip replacement, a hernia operation or removing a gall bladder can store up severe and even life-threatening health problems to a future date, Dr Johannsson added.

“Surgery is important to our nation’s health,” he continued. “Elective surgery cannot wait forever. Hernias become strangulated, gallbladder disease can cause pancreatitis and death. Surely at the current prevalence rate insisting that patients self-isolate for two weeks is unnecessary?”

The doctor, who has 13 years’ experience as a consultant anaesthetist and is based in a London hospital, believes the probability of doctors missing someone with Covid-19 is between one in 50,000 and one in 100,000.

“One of my friends is waiting for a hip replacement. She doesn’t want to do it because she would have to selfisolate along with her family, and her daughter wouldn’t be able to go to school,” Dr Johannsson said. “So, she is hobbling around in a lot of pain every day because she doesn’t want to put that pressure on the family.”

The anaesthetist posted his views on

‘My friend is hobbling around in pain every day because she does not want to put pressure on her family’

social media prompting a flurry of responses, including surgeons reporting how they had “struggled” to get patients who “desperately” needed surgery to self-isolate due to fears for their jobs. Dr Johannsson said he had heard of one woman who had to delay her IVF until next year, reducing her chances of having children.

An NHS spokesman said: “National guidance on preventing the spread of the virus in hospitals will remain under review based on the latest advice from the chief medical officer, Public Health England and other experts.

“NHS staff continue to work hard to bring back as many non-urgent tests and treatments as possible, but the reality is that while Covid-19 still poses a threat extra requirements will need to remain in place for the safety of individuals themselves, other patients and our staff.”