On 30th March RT News reported
The UK’s national healthcare system (NHS) is struggling to cope with around 25 percent of doctors who are off work sick or in self-isolation, as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc across frontline services.
The president of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), Professor Andrew Goddard, claimed on Monday that around a quarter of all doctors have been forced off work, either with coronavirus or because a family member or housemate is symptomatic.
Goddard said London in particular is suffering with workforce shortages and warned that other cities are also beginning to show the strain.
This is really impacting a lot in emergency departments and London is in a much worse position than elsewhere at the moment, but it will come to other places. Birmingham is also struggling.
The claim comes after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) revealed on Sunday that around one in every five nurses had taken time off work to self-isolate due to the outbreak of the deadly disease.
There’s been widespread criticism of the lack of availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and of Covid-19 testing for frontline healthcare workers, both in the NHS and care home sectors.
Amged El-Hawrani, a 55-year-old ear, nose and throat specialist, became the UK’s first frontline healthcare worker to die from contracting coronavirus on Saturday night.
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