Doctors in Unite sent the letter below to Professor Allyson Pollock and colleagues, in support of their letter to Liverpool MPs questioning the rationale for mass testing of the people of Liverpool. A link to their letter, and a BMJ blogpost by Dr Angela Raffle, Consultant in Public Health appears below our letter. 9th November […]
Category: Government Guidelines
A review of where the UK is in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic 1. Policy failure Richard Horton, editor of the prestigious medical journal ‘The Lancet’, described the management of COVID-19 as the “greatest science policy failure for a generation” in his book on the pandemic. Currently the numbers of newly diagnosed patients are […]
5th July 2020 The 72nd birthday of the NHS takes place in the shadow of the COVID 19 pandemic. The progress of the virus underlines the absolute importance of having an NHS as Bevan intended when it was founded in 1948, a comprehensive health service, publicly funded from general taxation, publicly provided and free at […]
Below is the Doctors in Unite repose to the Peers Inquiry which has asked for an open consultation from the public and professionals in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. We welcome the opportunity to feed into the Peers Inquiry into Public Service Lessons from Coronavirus. We are Doctors in Unite, the doctor’s branch of […]
Open letter for anyone working in Health and Social care to sign and distribute. Sign here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdk4q_YaJnNrMAGtaz9W32WCYLyWnE1rvLPFR3Y376tydRZg/viewform Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to ask you urgently clarify our Covid-19 strategy. Herd immunity was abandoned early on as it became clear hundreds of thousands would die. We entered lockdown in order to “flatten the curve” […]
June 1 2020 heralded the official start of the easing of the lockdown that has been in place since 23rd March to try to contain the spread of Covid 19. The current reality is that due to the Westminster Government’s repeatedly vague and confusing messaging, compounded by their unwavering support of the Prime Minister’s rule […]
Richard Horton, respected editor of the medical journal ‘the Lancet’, aptly summed up the current pandemic in the following words: “Coronavirus is the greatest global science policy failure in a generation. Austerity blunted the ambition and commitment of government to protect its people. The objective was to diminish the size and role of the state. […]
The basic principles of epidemiology are summarised by CDCD: count, divide, compare, then discuss differences. Unfortunately discussion of COVID-19 has widely ignored this approach. First, we must count something. Examples of things you might count include deaths, cases of disease, uses of a health service, occurrence of a symptom, or the presence of a risk […]
The UK government has asked the General Medical Council to contact doctors who have retired within the last six years and grant them temporary registration, a licence to practice and return to the GP performers list or secondary care equivalent. Without consulting the individuals concerned the GMC passed their details to local health services. Tens […]
Treatment without prejudice We believe that all people are of equal value. Whether old or young, rich or poor, disabled or not disabled, we all share a common humanity. This was true before the coronavirus pandemic, and it remains true today. Coronavirus is affecting different people in different ways. Many have a mild illness, but […]