NHS must learn lessons of Covid to overcome winter flu, say experts
With flu cases rising and resident doctors on strike from Wednesday, the NHS is under considerable pressure.But experts say lessons from the Covid pandemic could help ease the situation.A trio of UK-based academics say a three-pronged approach of increasing uptake of flu vaccines, boosting support so people can stay home when unwell, and increasing ventilation and air quality would help to protect people from influenza.“Many of the lessons we learned during the Covid pandemic about what needs to be done to ease the spread of infection still apply, although we are consistently failing to follow them,” they write in the BMJ.If such measures are not taken, they add, “people will continue to get sick and die while schools close and hospitals are overwhelmed”.
The NHS is expecting to face one of the worst winters yet, with the flu season having started several weeks earlier than usual.In some countries, including the UK, a new strain of the virus is dominating, which is thought to help it spread faster.However, Prof Stephen Reicher, an expert in social psychology at the University of St Andrews and co-author of the article, said the situation was not a surprise.“People talk about the ‘super flu’, which is not a medical term and in a sense it’s more an excuse than an explanation,” he said.“Respiratory diseases happen every year, and the lessons we had from Covid about how to deal with them in the longer term just haven’t been taken onboard.
”Reicher and his co-authors – Prof Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Prof Stephen Griffin, of the University of Leeds – say that among the measures needed are an increased eligibility for free flu vaccines, engagement with those who are hesitant to have a vaccine, and a wider availability of the vaccines – for example, making them accessible in schools and workplaces,The team also stress the importance of supporting people to isolate when unwell, noting that in Germany workers receive 100% of their salary for eight weeks, “while UK statutory sick pay was under £100 a week, and nothing for the first three days”,Even with the new employment rights bill, now in parliament, they write, “most people with Covid or flu must still work to survive and, for them, isolation remains more an aspiration than a practical prospect”,The trio add ventilation and good airflow are also important to prevent the transmission of Covid – and flu,Reicher said that as well as protecting people’s health and preventing them needing time off work, better ventilation had been shown to improve decision-making and productivity.
“There’s a short-termism of politics whereby people aren’t prepared to do things which bring a benefit in a number of years’ time when they might not be in power.They do things simply in the short term,” he said.“But we need a longer-term perspective.And if we did, then we would be able to deal with these generic problems which happen time and time again.”Reicher said that rather than hectoring the public on how to behave, the government should create a sense of partnership.
And with the festive season in full swing, he said a sense of communal responsibility mattered.“The last thing you would want to give to a relative as a Christmas present, especially an elderly or vulnerable relative, is the flu.”
UK politics: Employment rights bill set to become law after Lords backing – as it happened
The House of Lords has passed the employment rights bill. Last week Tory and cross-bench peers defeated the government over one aspect of the bill – a last-minute addition lifting the cap on compensation paid to people who win a case for unfair dismissal – but that defeat was overturned on Monday and this afternoon peers debated the bill again. This time the Tories and cross-benchers dropped their opposition to the measure, and the bill as agreed by the Commons was approved without a division.That means it will now get royal assent very shortly.Lord Sharpe of Epsom, the Conservative spokesperson, told peers that a letter from business groups released by the government yesterday, in which the business groups urged peers to pass the bill, showed that ministers had “misrepresented” the compromise deal unveiled last month
Penitent Tice tussles with The Unbearable Lightness of His Being | John Crace
Call it a Christmas miracle. For this was the day when Richard Tice sent in his application to become a fully paid-up member of Woke. The day the Reform deputy leader tried to break free from his role as the perennial sidekick. An insignificant blot on the Nigel Farage landscape. When he tried to show he was able to think his own thoughts
How far must UK go to fend off threat of foreign interference in its elections?
Russia has been attempting to meddle with western democracy for years, but successive governments led by Boris Johnson and others have insisted that the UK’s electoral system can withstand its influence.That argument was recently blown apart by the conviction of former Reform politician Nathan Gill, jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes to advance Russian arguments.And now Steve Reed, the cabinet minister responsible for elections, has admitted there are worries that the UK’s “firewall” against foreign interference may not be strong enough as he ordered an independent review.The decision is clearly partly motivated by the chance to score political points against Reform UK over its links to the Russian bribe case. And yet there is no doubting the reality of the threat, even if it has until recently been ignored
Richard Tice refuses to condemn Reform mayoral candidate’s comments about David Lammy
Reform UK’s deputy leader has refused to condemn a mayoral candidate for the party who said David Lammy should “go home to the Caribbean”.Richard Tice said it was the role of the party to “challenge” the justice secretary. Answering questions after a press conference, he also refused to say whether he still thought the 25-plus former school contemporaries of Nigel Farage who have accused the Reform leader of racism and other offensive behaviour were making up their claims, calling it “old news”.Reform has repeatedly declined to condemn comments on X by Chris Parry, a retired naval rear admiral who has been picked to contest the now-postponed Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election for the party.In a post in February, referring to a news story about the UK government supposedly considering talks about reparations for slavery – which ministers have in fact rejected – Parry is said to have written: “Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies
Starmer’s communications chief to address cabinet on media strategy overhaul
Keir Starmer’s Whitehall communications chief will address the cabinet on overhauling the government’s media strategy on Tuesday as ministers increasingly try to combat far-right rhetoric online.David Dinsmore, a former editor of the Sun who was appointed permanent secretary for government communications in November, will speak to ministers about modernising the way they reach voters.The government is concerned about the proliferation of false and inflammatory far-right content on social media and is stepping up efforts to communicate on those platforms.A New Media Unit (NMU) was set up inside the Cabinet Office by Starmer’s aides soon after Labour came to power to coordinate those efforts.The work is led on the ministerial side by Darren Jones, who was tasked by Starmer on his appointment as chief secretary to the prime minister in September to develop and modernise the government’s communications
US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice
The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.The £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational stepchange in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Donald Trump’s state visit, has been put on ice by Washington.As part of the deal, US tech companies pledged to spend billions in the UK, including a £22bn investment from Microsoft and £5bn from Google. But Washington has paused the implementation of the agreement, citing a lack of progress from the UK in lowering trade barriers in other areas.British officials sought to downplay the development, which was first reported by the New York Times
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