4 minute read
Cat Smith MP
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CAT SMITH MP
I hope you all had a good Christmas and were able to spend time with those you love and care about. At the time of writing we’re still holding our collective breath over the latest Covid situation. Throughout the pandemic the British people have been required to make big sacrifices to support the national effort against coronavirus. Sacrifices which have impacted on our lives, livelihoods and liberties. Sacrifices which have been necessary to protect ourselves, to protect the ones we love and necessary to protect our NHS – a service contending with winter pressures, a serious backlog, the Delta variant and now the Omicron variant.
Confronting these challenges though has been made much harder because we went in to the pandemic with NHS waiting lists at a record 4.5 million. There were 100,000 staff vacancies along with a shortage of 112,000 staff in social care.
Now the NHS is locked in a race against time. A race against the fastest variant of Covid we have seen to date. A race to get as many people boosted as quickly as possible. To every NHS worker, every GP, every pharmacist, every public health official and every volunteer – thank you. Thank you for working so hard in the run up to Christmas to administer the booster vaccination – to give as many of us as possible the best protection possible during a period when we’re mixing so closely with those we hold dear. For those of you who have cut short your holidays, thank you – and for those of you who are exhausted, thank you. But it’s not enough to just say thank you. If we demand the health and social care workforce do their duty as professionals, the government must also show greater respect
CAT SMITH MP (cont)
to their professional voice and experience - on pay, on conditions and on workload. It’s often said that the NHS runs on goodwill. I’d like to see the government showing greater goodwill in return and to engage with the royal colleges and staff trades unions not just on the plan for vaccine rollout to their members, but on the debate about the future of our health and social care systems and the big workforce challenge. And this should be a partnership. People who work in health and social care do so because they really believe in what they’re doing. They really care. And they have so much to offer if the government will listen to them.
No matter what further restrictions might be brought in over the next few weeks, it remains imperative that we all limit our interactions in the workplace, wear face coverings in settings where the virus finds it easiest to spread and take lateral flow tests before we attend large indoor gatherings. The goal in the end must be to learn to live with the virus. That means effective vaccination, anti-viral treatments and public health measures that have a minimal impact on our lives, our jobs and our businesses. Before Christmas I unfortunately had to cancel some visits, including my favourite kind – popping into our nursing and retirement homes. I’m really sorry the health concerns were such that it was too much of a risk to call in. I hope it won’t be long before I get a chance to see you all. These are challenging times to be wishing you a happy 2022 but above all I wish you a new year that is full of hope and happiness. If there’s anything I can help you with in the coming year then email me or call my office.
Cat Smith MP t: 01253 490440 cat.smith.mp@parliament.uk
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