30,000 staff off work, warns NHS England
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30,000 staff off work, warns NHS England

About 30,000 NHS staff are self-isolating or off work due to COVID-19, according to NHS England’s chief executive. Sir Simon Stevens said the numbers underlined the need to control the spread of COVID-19 to protect the health service and its capacity to offer care.

Nursing Management. 27, 6, 6-6. doi: 10.7748/nm.27.6.6.s3

Published: 26 November 2020

‘We’ve got about 30,000 NHS staff who are either off with coronavirus or having to self-isolate – that has an impact,’ he said.

‘Our success in controlling community transmission of coronavirus is a force multiplier to what the NHS itself can provide.’

Sir Simon made the comments at a Downing Street press conference on 5 November, where he was also asked if COVID-19 restrictions could last into the new year to help keep routine NHS services going.

‘This will be a function of how well we are collectively able to get the infection rate down over the course of the coming month,’ he said.

Flexible facilities

‘But what we’re doing in the NHS anyway is making sure we’ve got enough flexible facilities and as many nurses able to work as we can because, when coronavirus takes off in the community, NHS staff themselves are often affected or they have to self-isolate.’

Sir Simon’s comments come after he suggested that all patient-facing health service staff will soon be given routine COVID-19 tests.

He said new tests and increased capacity mean that testing for all front-line workers – regardless of whether they have symptoms – should begin within six to eight weeks.

Routine testing of NHS staff is already taking place in the areas that have been hardest hit by the virus.

Sir Simon said that, so far, 70,000 staff in those regions have been tested in recent weeks.

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