Charities demand services do not shut over Covid

HEALTH AND care services must not be shut down again if Covid19 infections continue to rise, a coalition of charities has warned.

National Voices, made up of 160 health and care charities in England, said lessons needed to be learned about how to support those with long- term conditions or who are vulnerable.

It comes as the NHS continues preparations for a potential upsurge in the number of people needing hospital treatment for Covid- 19 over winter, with some regions separating hospitals into those that will treat coronavirus patients and those that will try to remain Covid- free. It is part of a plan to keep non- Covid services running as well as trying to clear the backlog of delays to treatment from the first wave.

National Voices published a report called What We Know Now, including survey responses from more than 66,000 people collected from 11 different charities including the MS Society, British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK.

The surveys, conducted between March and July, found that Covid- 19 most impacted people’s wellbeing, access to medication, ability to get food and their access to healthcare. A survey for the mental health charity Mind of more than 14,000 adults and almost 2,000 young people found 60 per cent of adults and 68 per cent of young people had experienced their mental health getting worse during lockdown.

Meanwhile, 32 per cent of more than 2,000 people living with multiple sclerosis ( MS) had their healthcare appointments cancelled or delayed during the first wave. A separate survey of people with Parkinson’s disease found 34 per cent had had appointments cancelled and more than half were not offered a phone or online appointment.