The government has been urged to revamp its ‘living with Covid’ plan as NHS leaders stress that the government risks abandoning the health service amid continued high infection rates.

While the severity of the virus has been reduced due to the success of the vaccine roll-out, hospitals are continuing to see high numbers of people with Covid. More than 20,000 patients are now in hospital with Covid (or who have Covid but are in hospital for other reasons). Alongside high staff absences, NHS Confederation say that this continues to pose huge operational challenges for the NHS and is harming efforts to reduce waiting times in other areas.  

In the past week, around 20 accident and emergency departments in England have issued diverts, with patients having to be taken elsewhere. The NHS is operating at extremely high bed occupancy levels and continued staff absence rates are well above the average for this time of year.  

NHS Confederation is calling for the government to reconsider its ‘living with Covid’ plan and introduce mitigating actions that will help avoid further critical incidents being declared at the NHS front-line. This includes reinvigorating its public information campaign on Covid to be clearer about the rates of infection and impact and infection prevention control measures being reviewed to better balance risk.

Matthew Taylor, NHS Confederation chief executive, said: “NHS leaders and their teams recognise the need to ‘live with Covid’ as we move towards what the government hopes will become an endemic stage of the pandemic. However, they report a clear disconnect between the government’s ‘Living with Covid' plan and the realities they are facing at the NHS front line.

“The brutal reality for staff and patients is that this Easter in the NHS is as bad as any winter. But instead of the understanding and support NHS staff received during 2020 and 2021, we have a government that seems to want to wash its hands of responsibility for what is occurring in plain sight in local services up and down the country. No 10 has seemingly abandoned any interest in Covid whatsoever. The Treasury has taken bites out of the already very tight NHS budget, while soaring inflation means the NHS settlement is now worth less. It is now unclear that anyone in the centre of government feels the unfolding NHS crisis is their responsibility.

“NHS leaders and their teams feel abandoned by the government and they deserve better. We have been promised a ‘living with Covid’ plan yet all we have is a ‘living without restrictions’ ideology. We urgently need stronger messages to the public on taking precautions to reduce opportunities for the virus to spread and getting booster vaccinations. We need to be realistic about what the NHS can be expected to achieve in the face of very high Covid levels, rising demand for urgent and emergency care, and backlog pressures. We also need proper Covid funding to continue until the virus is genuinely under control and we need a medium-term plan for reducing the risk of respiratory diseases including mask wearing and ventilation in public spaces.”