Warnings of an NHS staffing crisis have dominated Boris Johnson’s inbox during the first week of 2022 as rising Covid-19 cases put unprecedented stress on the health service.
The prime minister has been told by health leaders that multiple parts of the NHS are “in a state of crisis” as the “rapidly increasing” number of absent staff piles “very serious” pressure on hospitals already struggling to deliver critical care.
The NHS Confederation has called for “tens of thousands of medical students” to be deployed on wards and for NHS staff to be given “priority access to lateral flow and PCR tests”, The Guardian reported. The conferation, which represents the whole healthcare system, has also urged to government to consider halving the self-isolation period from ten days to five.
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To find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the pandemic, and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week:
Need a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?
- Labour called on the government to tackle “rising bills and ballooning prices” amid predictions of a cost of living crisis in the coming year.
- The US marked the first anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, with Joe Biden blaming Donald Trump for the “chaos and carnage” of 6 January 2021.
- Tennis champion Novak Djokovic was detained after arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open and threatened with deportation after being unable to provide proof of vaccination.
- Kazakhstan declared a state of emergency amid mass protests that prompted the president to request an intervention by a Russian-led military alliance.
- India braced for a “tsunami” of Covid-19 infections triggered by the spread of the Omicron variant.
- And Prince Andrew appealed for a US judge to throw out a sexual assault civil lawsuit against the royal after details of a settlement between Jeffrey Epstein and his accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre were made public.
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