Covid-19: Staff absences in July surged amid ongoing pressure on hospitals

NHS staff absences in England reached the highest peak in July since mid-April, amid continuing high numbers of SARS-CoV-2 infections and unrelenting demand for hospital beds.In a joint editorial published last week the editors of The BMJ and Health Service Journal, Kamran Abbasi and Alastair McLellan, sounded the alarm at the current situation and lamented the government’s inaction in tackling the “covid-driven collapse in services.”1They argued, “The constant pressure created by repeated covid waves is already the main reason that the NHS is nowhere near reaching the activity levels needed to begin to recover performance.“The nation’s attempt to ‘live with covid’ is the straw that is breaking the NHS’s back. The government must stop gaslighting the public and be honest about the threat the pandemic still poses to them and the NHS.”Given the current trends, the editors also questioned the government’s assertion that the link between infections and hospital admissions…
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