Health service prioritises unvaccinated patients
What if the unvaccinated were given priority treatment?
The UK health secretary has threatened to sack thousands of doctors after National Health Service staff voted to treat non-vaccinated and disadvantaged Covid patients before anyone else.
Health service staff across the country yesterday overwhelming supported the motion for positive discrimination saying the ongoing staffing crisis meant care needed to go where it would do the most good.
Closures of schools and childcare centres have exacerbated staffing shortages and forced hospitals to triage treatment.
A spokesperson for the health workers said the decision to treat the most vulnerable first was in line with the NHS commitment to provide the best value for taxpayers’ money.
“We had a vote, all the doctors, nurses, orderlies, cleaners, everyone in the hospitals. The government is all over the place. These are the people most at risk and most likely to spread disease. By helping them, we help everyone.”
The Health Secretary said the NHS could not make a decision like that and threatened to terminate contracts.
Shares in FTSE-listed health stocks rose 5 per cent on expectations that reduced access to public health will increase sales of private health insurance.
Industry analysts say that although pent-up demand for elective surgery would hit profits this quarter, insurers were hiking premiums for new policies and that the industry was poised to benefit from the public health crisis.
“A healthy retirement includes stocks,” said one.
Hostility toward the unvaccinated, who are more likely to be poor or marginalised. Impact of school closures on health workers.