EveryDoctor is a British grassroots advocacy group made up of doctors. [1] The group was established in 2019, and grew during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [2] In May 2021, EveryDoctor and the Good Law Project brought legal action against the British government in relation to COVID-19 PPE contracts during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the Department of Health and Social Care of unlawful procurement procedures and providing inadequate PPE supplies. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Matthew John David Hancock is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 2018, and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2010. He is a member of the Conservative Party, but now sits in the House of Commons as an independent, having had the whip suspended since November 2022.
Theodore Thomas More Agnew, Baron Agnew of Oulton, is a British businessman, Conservative life peer and former Minister of State at the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. He also founded the Inspiration Trust, and is the Trust's former chairman.
The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) is a voluntary organisation for doctors of Indian sub-continental origin, established in 1996 and based in the United Kingdom. Its president is Ramesh Mehta of Bedford Hospital NHS Trust.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in 24,639,160 confirmed cases, and is associated with 227,739 deaths.
The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) is a professional association for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association was formed by junior doctors led by Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden in January 2018 in response to the Bawa-Garba case.
Operation Rescript was the code name for the British military operation to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies between 2020 and 2022. It was described as the UK's "biggest ever homeland military operation in peacetime" by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), involving up to 23,000 personnel within a specialist task force, named the COVID Support Force (CSF). The support was given at the request of the UK government, its devolved administrations and civil authorities through the Military aid to the civil authorities (MACA) mechanism.
Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic are pandemic-related disruptions to goods production and distribution, insufficient inventories, and disruptions to workplaces caused by infections and public policy.
Exercise Cygnus was a three-day simulation exercise carried out by the UK Government in October 2016 to estimate the impact of a hypothetical H2N2 influenza pandemic on the United Kingdom. It aimed to identify strengths and weaknesses within the United Kingdom health system and emergency response chain by putting it under significant strain, providing insight on the country's resilience and any future ameliorations required. It was conducted by Public Health England representing the Department of Health and Social Care, as part of a project led by the "Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response Partnership Group". Twelve government departments across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as local resilience forums (LRFs) participated. More than 950 workers from those organisations, prisons and local or central government were involved during the three-day simulation, and their ability to cope under situations of high medical stress was tested.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the UK Government introduced various public health and economic measures to mitigate its impact. Devolution meant that the four nations' administrative responses to the pandemic differed; the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive produced different policies to those that apply in England. Numerous laws were enacted or introduced throughout the crisis.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-abortion government officials in several American states enacted or attempted to enact restrictions on abortion, characterizing it as a non-essential procedure that can be suspended during the medical emergency. The orders have led to several legal challenges and criticism by abortion-rights groups and several national medical organizations, including the American Medical Association. Legal challenges on behalf of abortion providers, many of which are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, have successfully stopped some of the orders on a temporary basis, though bans in several states have not been challenged.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted hospitals around the world. Many hospitals have scaled back or postponed non-emergency care. This has medical consequences for the people served by the hospitals, and it has financial consequences for the hospitals. Health and social systems across the globe are struggling to cope. The situation is especially challenging in humanitarian, fragile and low-income country contexts, where health and social systems are already weak. Health facilities in many places are closing or limiting services. Services to provide sexual and reproductive health care risk being sidelined, which will lead to higher maternal mortality and morbidity. The pandemic also resulted in the imposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in places such as California and New York for all public workers, including hospital staff.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare workers physically and psychologically. Healthcare workers are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection than the general population due to frequent contact with infected individuals. Healthcare workers have been required to work under stressful conditions without proper protective equipment, and make difficult decisions involving ethical implications. Health and social systems across the globe are struggling to cope. The situation is especially challenging in humanitarian, fragile and low-income country contexts, where health and social systems are already weak. Services to provide sexual and reproductive health care risk being sidelined, which will lead to higher maternal mortality and morbidity.
Saleyha Ahsan is a British physician, presenter and journalist. She has worked as a humanitarian doctor in conflict zones and as an A&E doctor in the UK, presented programmes including Trust Me I’m a Doctor and reported on conflict, social affairs, medicine, healthcare and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, better known as Independent SAGE, is a group of scientists, unaffiliated to government, that publishes advice aimed toward the UK government regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Its name is based on SAGE, the name of the government's official Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Operation Moonshot was a UK government programme to introduce same-day mass testing for COVID-19 in England as a way of enabling large gatherings of people to take place in that country while maintaining control over the virus. According to the British Medical Journal, the programme aimed to deliver 10 million tests per day by 2021.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the British government decided in March 2020 to rapidly place contracts and recruit a number of individuals. Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) were a particular political issue for the second Johnson ministry. This led to the awarding of a number of contracts without a competitive tendering process, and friends of political figures and people who had made political donations were quickly given contracts. As a result, accusations of cronyism were made against the government.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is an independent public inquiry into the United Kingdom's response to, and the impact of, the COVID-19 pandemic, and to learn lessons for the future. Public hearings began in June 2023. Boris Johnson announced the inquiry in May 2021, to start in Spring 2022. In December 2021, Heather Hallett was announced as the chair of the inquiry.
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice is a pressure group of over 4,000 relatives of people who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The group created the National Covid Memorial Wall and runs a support group on Facebook. They called for a statutory public inquiry into the UK government's handling of the pandemic. On 12 May 2021, then-prime minister Boris Johnson announced that the UK Covid-19 Inquiry would begin in Spring 2022.
The United Kingdom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic consists of various measures by the healthcare community, the British and devolved governments, the military and the research sector.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom from July 2022 to December 2022.