Hospitalisations from Covid could pose major problems for the NHS as Omicron surges in the winter despite the acceleration of the booster programme, leading scientists have warned.
The NHS is planning to roll out a “game-changing” anti-viral pill that people who have tested positive for coronavirus can take at home.
NHS England officials said the health service is ready to extend the availability of vaccines quickly when and if expert recommendations for who should receive them change, after a report suggested plans to give the Covid jab to children aged five to 11 could become reality next year.
The NHS faces a “mass exodus” of GPs, experts have warned as figures reveal nearly one in four are nearing retirement amid a growing row over staff shortages and access to family doctors.
NHS patients enter a postcode lottery when it comes to common hospital treatments such as eye, hip and knee surgery in England – with some areas facing huge backlogs while others have almost none, new research reveals.
The NHS faces “disaster” this winter amid fears of a “mass exodus” of staff facing burnout from the Covid frontline.
The NHS is as stretched now as it was at the height of the pandemic in January and things will get worse before they get better, health leaders have said.
The NHS cannot provide thousands of extra doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Blackburn with Darwen borough, despite it having the highest infection rate in the UK and a death rate almost a third higher than the national average.
Tens of thousands of patients will get quicker access to diagnostic tests and surgery under a new £160m NHS initiative to identify ways of tackling the vast backlog of care that built up because of Covid.
Boris Johnson is facing pressure to increase a proposed pay rise for NHS staff, after more than 150,000 health workers in Scotland have been told their pay packets will be upped by 4 per cent.
