Alongside other East Sussex MPs, I attend a weekly meeting with our Sussex NHS Commissioners and Sussex Health and Care Partnership for updates and discussions around the pandemic, including vaccinations, boosters, and how our local NHS and primary care are coping, as well as discussions about the new Health and Care Bill (which is currently at committee stage in the House of Lords). These meetings started due to the pandemic but have proved invaluable, and we will continue them moving forwards as good communication facilitates comprehensive discussion and helps secure the best possible health and care services for our residents.
At last Friday’s meeting, MPs were relieved to hear that whilst our local hospitals in Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne are very busy, they are stable, despite staff absences due the virus. We saw that where the UK transmission rate is up, East Sussex tracked a bit below the South East and national averages. The Omicron variant has proved less severe and this, coupled with local residents’ determination to protects themselves, their families, and communities by taking up vaccines and boosters, as well as local residents being sensible as regards Plan B measures, has meant that the effects of the virus have been somewhat mitigated. There is, however, no room for complacency as the situation can change (at the time of writing, we have yet to see the effects of mixing over Christmas) and I would urge everyone to continue to exercise caution and take up their boosters.
Changes in hospital daily admissions are monitored closely and whilst the number of people on ventilators in intensive care remains stable, this is not a perfect proxy for severe disease and many patients can become severely unwell without requiring ventilation. Our local hospitals are still delivering a full service; there are no cancelled operations, and no critical incident has been declared. However, I must emphasise that the vast majority of people who are on ventilators locally, or who require hospital treatment because they are severely unwell, are unvaccinated. It is vital, therefore, that to protect our health services for everyone, people need to get vaccinated and boosted –this is the case even if you have recently had Covid-19, as we do not know how long the antibodies last for.
Pharmacies, GPs, and their teams have stepped up once again to play a pivotal role in delivering the Covid-19 booster programme. This is an enormous challenge for general practice and all of primary care. GPs have been asked to prioritise vaccinations, urgent or emergency care and other critical services, such as cancer treatments. While this will unfortunately mean that some patients may face a longer wait for an appointment, be assured that any changes to GP working arrangements are time limited. This prioritisation does not mean our GP practices are closed. GPs and their teams will always be there for their patients, alongside NHS 111 and community pharmacy teams. It is vital that that people do not delay in coming forward with health concerns.
Staff absences have also impacted on NHS capacity and the Government has put in place several measures to help reduce admissions to hospital, and this includes the combination of boosters, testing and antivirals. Our vaccine programme has been an impressive success nationally and locally with 81.6% of eligible adults boosted across East Sussex. Hastings is below the county average and there are specific outreach programmes in communities where there is less uptake - such as through the recent pop-up at Hastings FC. The UK’s testing programme is the largest in Europe with over 400 million tests carried out since the start of the pandemic. Record numbers of lateral flow tests are being sent to pharmacies across the country, with nearly 8 million test kits being made available to pharmacies just last week. Testing capacity is being rapidly expanded, with over half a million tests carried out on 23rd December alone, and delivery capacity doubled to up to 900,000 PCR and LFD test kits a day. The UK is leading in the number of antivirals bought per head of population in Europe and is the first country in the world to deploy this important medicine for patients at the highest risk of severe disease and hospitalisation from Covid-19.
Looking at our neighbours in the EU, I do believe that the Prime Minister is getting this Government’s response to the pandemic right and doing all that he can to protect lives and livelihoods. I also really do think that our residents, NHS staff, teaching staff, businesses and many, many others are doing an amazing job in ensuring we keep putting one foot in front of the other, keeping strong and carrying on.