The Health Secretary still isn’t facing up to the terrible toll of lockdown
SIR – Matt Hancock says he hopes that, by the end of the year, Covid-19 will be a disease that Britain can “live with, like we do flu” (report, February 13).
I am afraid that is not good enough, without the prospect of a much earlier end to lockdown. Vaccination numbers are rising rapidly, but so are those for hospital waiting lists. Cases of mental illness, domestic violence and unemployment are also going up.
The Government must focus on easing lockdown and mitigating the collateral damage being caused to young and old alike. This is urgent: it should be a matter of weeks, not months. Mr Hancock, in particular, should not be diverted from this task by embarking on a restructure of the NHS before the pandemic is over. Norman Macfarlane
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
SIR – I always understood that the purpose of lockdown was to “save the NHS” and “flatten the curve”.
Now that the most vulnerable 14 million have received at least their first jab, why are ministers still telling us that children shouldn’t be using playgrounds, and we shouldn’t be booking domestic summer holidays?
We should be hearing about plans to unwind lockdown as soon as possible. We need to get the country out of what is becoming an unnecessary prison sentence affecting millions financially, mentally, physically – and, in some cases, all three.
Adrian Wright
Shaftesbury, Dorset
SIR – At the start of the pandemic, our Government was panicked by scenes of chaos in Italy’s hospitals into imposing the draconian measures that have destroyed lives and livelihoods.
The original idea was for three weeks of restrictions to “flatten the curve” and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. Since then, however, the restrictions have escalated, creating even worse problems for both the economy and people’s health, physical and mental.
I looked in vain in Matt Hancock’s proposals to reform the NHS for a plan to ensure that this won’t happen again when the next new virus arrives. The NHS needs to be nimble, employing a reserve force of retired nurses, doctors and volunteers (unencumbered by last-minute training courses) in the manner of the Territorial Army. Its remarkable medical staff – as well as taxpayers – deserve nothing less.
Tim Coles
Carlton, Bedfordshire
SIR – In December 2019, while making calls to voters from Tory HQ, I found myself sitting next to Matt Hancock.
I asked him when we, as a country, would be able to have a grown-up conversation about the NHS. He shook his head and said: “Never”.
He seemed a nice enough man at the time, but I should have known then that someone unprepared to face up to the biggest issue in his portfolio would only morph under pressure into the hectoring bully we see today.
Brian Gedalla
London N3