Chair of the Fabian Society: Living with COVID

Last month, the government repealed all covid restrictions in England, leaving the public dangerously exposed to the dangers of the still ongoing pandemic. 

Sir Keir Stammer was right to compare the current government approach to the pandemic as subbing your best defender off when there are 10 minutes left, and you are 2-1 up. To beat this virus, the country needs a robust set of preventive measures. Complacency is our biggest enemy (as we saw when restrictions were lifted too hastily in Autumn 2020).

The government's move to drop COVID restrictions comes a month earlier than initially scheduled. A survey of NHS Confederation members highlighted that healthcare leaders believe prevention and limiting transmission should remain a priority. 

I agree with this view. As a general practitioner, I have seen the benefit of mass testing for my patients. Mass testing enables peace of mind providing us with the opportunity to screen for covid before attending a large gathering or seeing loved ones. Dropping isolation rules and mass testing is premature and puts the most vulnerable in society at risk.

As we begin to live with covid, our government must acknowledge the profound economic and social inequality that the pandemic has further exposed and take steps to address these inequalities.

The pandemic has affected us all. However, the impact of the pandemic has not been felt across society. The disproportionately negative impact of the pandemic on key workers, BAME communities and those in insecure work across the UK has been well documented. 

The adverse effects of the pandemic can also be seen in our public services, with a rising waiting list for routine care and a worsening workforce crisis within our NHS. Living with covid will involve developing new ways to deliver healthcare and managing our workforce. 

Chris Thomas, a health fellow at IPPR, argues in his new book 'The Five Frontiers of Health' that we must emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic with a bold, new vision for our health and care service. 

Thomas states that the UK must move beyond safeguarding what we have to promote a radical expansion of the principles put forward by the NHS founder Aneurin Bevan, which includes a fundamental redesign of our economy to place public health and social justice at the centre.

The government's response has been woefully inadequate. While completely removing restrictions, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, has hinted at another potential reorganisation of primary care with GPs contracted by scaled providers such as hospital trusts. If pursued, these measures will be fiercely opposed by general practice leaders and the BMA.

In October last year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced additional funding for the NHS to reduce the backlog of cases. Although welcome, the funding announced by Rishi Sunak does go far enough to meet the challenges facing our NHS service.

In contrast, at the Fabian Society New Year Conference in January, Wes Streeting, Shadow Health Secretary, acknowledged the scale of the challenge as he outlined Labour's plan to live with covid.

Wes outlined a range of measures, including funding a robust testing infrastructure, maintaining the capacity to deliver vaccines through volunteers, improving the level of sick pay while helping to achieve global equity through improving access to vaccines for the global south.

These measures will enable us to reduce the spread of COVID and keep the public safe. Additionally, Labour should push the government to consider broadening its current third vaccination booster campaign. As we enter into spring and the weather improves, there will be more social mixing. Encouraging more people to have a third booster jab could help to mitigate further spread.

COVID has introduced new challenges for our health services, which will require new ideas. Labour must continue to think big and bold as living with covid means not only having responsive public health measures but fundamentally rethinking how our NHS works.

Dr Martin Edobor
Chair of the Fabian Society
NHS General Practitioner