Having been approached by a number of consultants and other clinical and managerial staff (including those who are ‘whistleblowers’ and did not feel able to sign the letter) I, along with colleagues Peter Walsh of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), Mary Smith of Novum Law, and other legal, patient safety charity and medical colleagues wrote to the Prime Minister and the First Ministers of each of the devolved nations last month in the following terms:
‘We the undersigned acknowledge the consistent efforts made by ministers in recent weeks to encourage people with non-COVID related illness to take up their rights to be treated by their national health service in the four parts of the UK, or under their private insurance arrangements, without any suggestion that those rights are reduced by the need to allocate resources to the fight against the pandemic itself.
However, we are increasingly concerned about the impact, including avoidable harm and death, which is being
