Military could offer further support to hospitals in Covid battle

The military is in discussions about offering further support to hospitals around the UK as they battle the current Covid wave, a Royal Air Force chief has said.

Air Commodore John Lyle said forces are looking at ways to offer more assistance as around 200 Armed Forces personnel take up roles in the NHS in London, which is ahead of the rest of the country in dealing with Omicron.

It comes as business minister Paul Scully insisted the Government’s Plan B is the right course of action for tackling coronavirus, despite warnings from the British Medical Association (BMA) over unprecedented levels of NHS staff absence.

Air Cdr Lyle told BBC Breakfast: “We can’t really forecast too far ahead, but certainly, throughout this current surge, we know that it’s particularly difficult in London at the minute but we are aware that this is impacting all across the United Kingdom.

“And so we remain in discussions and there are a number of areas where we’re looking at the potential for more assistance.

“So, over the coming weeks or months, I think we’ll learn a lot from how the progress is made through London and potentially there could be further military support required in other areas.”

He said troops have “a long history of supporting all government departments, but particularly the NHS over the last two years”.

He added: “This isn’t anything new. This announcement today about assistance to the hospitals in London is just part of a wider picture where we’ve got over 1,800 people supporting across the whole United Kingdom, members from all three Armed Forces – both regular and reservist – delivering support in areas such as the booster programme… supporting ambulance services, and of course, supporting in hospitals.”

He said patients could expect to see a “primarily NHS workforce” supported by military personnel wearing Army uniform and protective equipment.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the deployment in London includes 40 military medics and 160 general duty personnel to help fill gaps caused by absences of NHS staff unable to work because they are ill or having to self-isolate.

They will be deployed in 40 teams of five – comprising one medic and four support personnel – and will be targeted at areas where the need is greatest.

It is expected they will be “on task” for the next three weeks.

In addition, 32 military co-responders are being provided to support the South Central Ambulance Service, working alongside paramedics until the end of March.

Speaking to Sky News, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, council chairman of the BMA, said “we have never known this level of staff absence before”.

He added: “Every winter of course, the NHS has additional pressures, but I don’t think anyone who’s worked in the NHS has experienced this level of absence of their colleagues and we’re feeling it in very real time because doctors and nurses and healthcare workers are having to cover for their absent colleagues – that’s adding additional, exceptional strain.”

He said although Omicron is milder, people are still falling seriously ill with Covid-19 and hospitals are also dealing with the NHS treatment backlog, with almost six million people on the waiting list in England.

Asked how close the NHS is to being overwhelmed, he said: “I think that the words like overwhelmed, I mean, I think we should just look at the reality.

“The reality of the Army having been drafted into London, the reality of 24 hospitals having declared critical incidents, the reality of having some hospitals having to cancel all their routine surgery, the reality of general practices having to cancel clinics on the day.

“I’m a GP, I’ve never known it this bad. We’re having to literally contact patients without notice that the staff member or a doctor or nurse just isn’t in today because they’re self-isolating.

“This is not normal, and therefore the Government does need to recognise this is clearly an NHS under extreme pressure and the living reality sadly for thousands of patients is that they’re suffering the consequences of such pressures and also staff absence.”

Dr Nagpaul said it is important “the Government doesn’t just wait to ride this out, because every day people are suffering”.

He said there are two or three things that must be done, including bringing down levels of Omicron infections in the community and higher-grade face masks for NHS staff to help protect them as much as possible.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said people should not feel “concerned” by the presence of the military in hospitals as this is how the service is dealing with staff shortages.

He added: “The NHS is not going to disintegrate – it’s been dealing with this crisis for two years and it will deal with it again and NHS managers will… burn the midnight oil thinking about how they deploy their resources to deal with things that are most urgent.”

He said there will be a “price to be paid” in terms of ambulance wait times or cancelled operations but the “NHS will get through this”.

Elsewhere, Mr Scully said he does not think the country needs more lockdowns after being asked about reports that Health Secretary Sajid Javid had argued in a Covid-O Cabinet committee meeting this week that removing the PCR pre-departure test requirement for travellers could lead to “having to shut down the entire economy”.

Mr Scully told Sky News: “I don’t believe at this stage that we need any more lockdowns.”

Asked whether extra measures are “off the table”, he said: “At the moment we are looking at the data but we’ve seen what is happening in London, which was leading the way in the curve of the case numbers, and we don’t see the need to do it at this moment in time.

“We’ll clearly be reviewing our Plan B scenario before January 26 and then we’ll come to Parliament with the decision that has been taken at that time.”

Mr Scully also told LBC Radio there are “encouraging” signs London is emerging from the Omicron wave.

“I think it is looking encouraging, the trend at the moment, but clearly we need to be on our guard because there is still pressure on the NHS in London,” he said.

“It is not just about the case numbers – there is a clear disconnect between case numbers and hospitalisations – but you’ve also then, because of the increased testing and the increased awareness by people, you’ve got bigger absences as well, and that’s obviously putting extra pressure on the NHS and other public services.”

As of Thursday, around 17 hospital trusts in England had declared critical incidents – an alert to signal that there are fears priority services cannot be safely delivered.

Government figures show there were 17,988 people in hospital in the UK with Covid-19 as of January 5, up 50% week-on-week and the highest total since February 18.