Retired doctors and nurses in England and Wales have been sent letters asking them to return to work to help fight against coronavirus. More than 65,000 retired NHS workers have been contacted by senior officials to join frontline workers at UK hospitals.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said some retired medics who return to work in the NHS will be able to come ‘straight back in’. Asked on the BBC’s Breakfast programme when workers could return, he said: ‘Well, over the next couple of weeks because for some they’ll have very recently left and they can come straight back in, their annual training’s been up-to-date and they can just restart.
‘Imagine if you’ve left at Christmas, for instance, you can restart straight away. For others who have been out for a little bit longer, they may need more of a refresher because, of course, it’s vital that we keep people safe, that’s the whole point of the NHS. ‘So the letter will go out today, we’ll then be engaging individually with all those who respond and I very much hope that many, many thousands will respond.
‘From those I’ve talked to, I think people can see just how important this is. ‘The training will happen for those who need it over the next couple of weeks, at the same time we’ll allocate people to a hospital near them because there’s a logistical exercise here as well.’ Maria Caulfield, the Conservative MP for Lewes and a former nurse, tweeted: ‘I will be returning to the front line in the NHS to support the fight against the coronavirus, important we all help where we can.’
In Scotland, anyone who left the medical profession during the past three years has also been asked to consider returning to the NHS. Schools nationwide will open for the last time today before the majority of pupils are sent home. The government has published a list of key workers whose children will still be able to go to school after they close later. Meanwhile, the chancellor is set to announce a wage subsidy package to protect jobs.
Rishi Sunak has been under pressure from Labour, unions and even senior Tory MPs to do more to help workers and the stalling economy weather the crisis. He will reveal new measures at the daily Covid-19 press conference in Downing Street, where he is expected to be joined by Boris Johnson at 5pm.
Source: metro.co.uk
