Updated 11 November 2021: Kanlungan Filipino Consortium@kanlunganuk From today, care home workers must prove they are double jabbed through the NHS COVID pass but for people who don’t have a GP or NHS number, this will be impossible. Our Advocacy and Campaigns Officer explains here why barriers to healthcare for migrants must be removed (South East London BBC News)
NEON@NEON_UK · : We really need to focus on making sure that health care is accessible to all in this country, especially in the pandemic. It’s just another example of how the government’s immigration policy makes no sense from a public health perspective. @FrancescaHumi on @BBCNews today.
Updated 2 November 2021: Zero Covid Coalition: The virus is not going away. So neither can we: See below the recoding of last nights’ meeting. Francesca Humi spoke for Status Now Network (see 1:15 into the video)
Speakers:
- Mark Drakeford – First Minister for Wales
- Diane Abbott MP Vicky Blake – President (UCU)
- Kevin Courtney – General Secretary (National Education Union)
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
- Francesca Humi – Status Now Network
- Sarah Saul – SafeEdforAll
- Emma Kelly – Fighting for Vulnerable Lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvndEh4dP2c
New Covid-19 cases in Britain regularly run far ahead of other major European countries. The vaccine-only policy is not working. For some time now new Covid-19 cases in Britain have been running far ahead of other major European countries.
Some days new cases here have been more that the totals of those countries combined. New cases, hospitalisations and deaths are higher now than on so-called ‘freedom day’ on July 19. The rise in cases among children of school age now seems to be joined with rising cases among older populations. The NHS is once more coming under extreme pressure.
The government has a vaccine-only policy and it clearly is not working. One minister is reported to have said the pandemic is ‘all over bar the shouting’, and that is clearly how the government acts.
But polls show public concern is growing once more and many medics, scientists and others continue to point out that the current strategy is allowing a renewed upsurge.
This means we must continue to fight for a change of direct, working with everyone who wants even the smallest measures adopted that can prevent infection and save lives. And continuing to argue for a a complete change of direction and #ZeroCovid.
Updated 3 August 2021: ZeroCovidNow@ZeroCovidNow1: Undocumented migrants have faced exceptionally harsh conditions throughout this pandemic while being invisible to much of the media and political class. Hear from one undocumented mother, with a young child, about the challenges of the pandemic. #ZeroCovid#StatusNow
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZeroCovidNow1/status/1422523853247553540
Facebook: https://fb.watch/78YqjsX8xW/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM_Bo1bOJ9E&t=1s
19 May 2021: National Audit Office: Initial learning from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic a Cross-government report SESSION 2021-22, 19 MAY 2021, HC 66
We are the UK’s independent public spending watchdog. We support Parliament in holding government to account and we help improve public services through our high-quality audits:
Initial learning from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Over the last year, the National Audit Office has reported on the breadth of government’s response to COVID-19. Today’s report draws out the initial learning from this work to help government evaluate its performance, capitalise on new ways of working and better manage potential future emergencies.
COVID-19 has stress-tested the government’s ability to deal with unforeseen events and extreme shocks. Like many countries, the UK was not as prepared for the pandemic as it could have been, and government lacked detailed contingency plans to manage the unfolding situation. To deal with the crisis, government has had to streamline decision-making and coordinate efforts across multiple departments, public and private sector bodies. There are many examples of impressive national and local responses to the urgent need for healthcare and economic support on an unprecedented scale.
The response to the pandemic has provided a vast amount of new learning, both from what has worked well and what has not. It has highlighted the importance of government adopting a more systematic approach to preparing for crises, improving the resilience of key services and making better use of data. Working at pace naturally introduces greater levels of risk, but being transparent, properly documenting decisions and managing conflicts of interest is essential if government is to maintain public trust that taxpayers’ money is being spent appropriately and fairly.
COVID-19 has also laid bare existing fault lines within society and has exacerbated inequalities. An unreformed adult social care system, workforce shortages, issues caused by legacy IT systems, and the financial pressure felt by central and local government all require long-term solutions.
Today’s report sets out learning from the NAO’s 17 published reports on COVID-19 across six themes:
- risk management
- transparency and public trust
- data and evidence
- coordination and delivery models
- supporting and protecting people
- financial and workforce pressures
The NAO will continue to draw out learning from the government’s response to COVID-19 in its future work on the pandemic, to provide Parliament and the public with timely reporting to support accountability.
“COVID-19 has required government to respond to an exceptionally challenging and rapidly changing threat. There is much to learn from the successes and failures in government’s response and this report is our initial contribution to that process. Applying these lessons is not only important for the remaining phases of the current pandemic but should also help better prepare the UK for future emergencies.”
Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO
Read the report here: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Initial-learning-from-the-governments-response-to-the-COVID-19-pandemic.pdf