Nosey Dogs Margate

ALT   At the Doctors Association UK (DAUK), we speak out on behalf of frontline doctors and share the widespread alarm at the enormous rise of the recent new variant of the SARS COVID-19 virus. Doctors, alongside our other healthcare colleagues, are becoming increasingly concerned by the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of patients requiring ward and critical care beds. We believe that the current arrangements are not working in London and the SE and that it is only a matter of time before the new variant spreads to the whole of the country. We acknowledge that all of these decisions are far from easy to make but the speed of the acceleration is deeply worrying and we are deeply concerned that current measures don’t appear to be containing transmission of the virus. For the fifth day in a row over 50,000 transmissions have been recorded and the death toll is climbing inexorably. We are particularly worried that things will get even worse as the effects of Christmas an

ALT   (i)             DAUK believes that current restrictions are not working and we are very concerned that if the current situation is simply left to continue there could be disastrous consequences for both patients and NHS staff.   (ii)            Despite the urgency given to the COVID-19 vaccination programme, we are not at all confident that it will prevent the NHS being overwhelmed in the very near future.   (iii)           We believe that a further period of even tighter restrictions is essential to avert a national disaster and call now for the implementation of a full national lockdown.     (iv)          We also endorse the current decision not to open schools next week but ask for this to be extended in order to protect the NHS and ensure that its staff can continue to deliver safe care. We acknowledge that this will undoubtedly mean significant problems for many families. Vulnerable children and those of key workers should still be able to attend school.