Our response to the Government Covid 19 Module 3 report
The acknowledgement by the Government in their response to the Module 3 Covid report of the 'extraordinary efforts of frontline staff and the profound pressures under which they worked' is a welcome one. As we said in our statement when the report was originally published many of our members faced extreme workloads and traumatic experiences during this period and are still suffering from the impact today.
Our main demand throughout the Inquiry has been that the staffing, beds and equipment shortages felt by many during the pandemic are addressed with concrete plans in place to tackle these issues sooner rather than later. While we are pleased to see the Government's response commit to strengthening surge planning - and measuring bed capacity as part of this - we are disappointed - as we were with the original report - that there is no mention of addressing the workforce shortages which existed during the pandemic and still exist today. Without the correct workforce in place, any pandemic planning that the Government is undertaking feels incomplete.