The Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, has unveiled a plan to dramatically ramp up Coronavirus testing so that by the end of this month 100,000 tests are carried out every day in England. Professor John Newton the Director of Health Improvement for Public Health England, has been appointed to help deliver the new plans and bring together industry, universities, NHS and government behind the ambitious testing targets.
New 5-pillar plan
- Scale up swab testing in PHE labs and NHS hospitals for those with a medical need and the most critical workers to 25,000 a day by mid to late April;
- Deliver increased commercial swab testing for critical key workers in the NHS, before then expanding to key workers in other sectors;
- Develop blood testing to help know if people have the right antibodies and so have high levels of immunity to coronavirus;
- Conduct surveillance testing to learn more about the spread of the disease and help develop new tests and treatments;
- Create a new National Effort for testing, to build a mass-testing capacity at a completely new scale.
NHS workers will be prioritised to help ensure they can stay in work if they test negative. This will help protect life, and relieve pressure on our NHS.
NHS debt
In order to ensure that the NHS can focus on defeating this virus
- £13 billion of debt for NHS providers will be written off so that hospitals and services have the immediate financial certainty to plan and deliver their emergency response.
- NHS services will be in a stronger position to respond to the immediate challenges of Coronavirus, as well as deliver widespread improvements in the years ahead.
PPE
Millions of items of PPE have been delivered to front line staff. We do have enough items but there has been issues with delivery which is why the Government has brought in the army to help distribute to all NHS care providers. A hotline has been set up so everyone from hospitals to care homes can ask for what they need.
Stay at home
You must stay at home only leaving for the following limited purposes
- Shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible
- One form of exercise a day – for example a run, walk or cycle alone or with members of your immediate family
- Any medical need, to provide care or help a vulnerable person
- Travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home https://www.kevinhollinrake.org.uk/news/can-i-continue-work
