NHS faces ‘exceptionally difficult’ winter even without Covid spikes, says Chris Whitty – live updates
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Version 5 of 13. Chief medical officer said GPs will be at forefront of challenging winter amid expected surge in flu cases The Queen has praised the efforts of all those who worked to address the Covid pandemic in a short speech delivered when she officially opened the the sixth session of the Welsh Senedd. She said: There was a private notice question down in the House of Lords today on the Northern Ireland protocol, but it did not get taken, and so peers did not get the chance to question Lord Frost, the Brexit minister. Boris Johnson has been continuing his Cop26 telephone diplomacy, speaking this morning to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Johnson encouraged Sisi “to commit to no new coal power and to come forward with an ambitious nationally determined contribution ahead of Cop26 to cut emissions”, according to the No 10 read-out. Johnson also congratulated Sisi on Egypt being nominated to host Cop27. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, did a morning interview round today to publicise his plans to encourage more GPs to see their patients face to face. He is also visiting a GP’s surgery in south-east London. But he pulled out of appearing at the Royal College of General Practitioners’ annual conference this morning. There was laughter when Dr Michael Mulholland, the conference chair, read out the reason given for Javid’s non-appearance. Mulholland said: As my colleague Denis Campbell reports, doctors are furious with Javid over the way the government seems to be blaming them for not seeing more patients in person. The latest YouGov polling is looking good for the Conservatives. In his Sky News interview this morning, Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, criticised the hardline approached adopted by the UK government in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol. (See 11.01am.) But Raoul Ruparel, an adviser on Brexit to Theresa May when she was prime minister, argues that, without that hardline approach, the EU would never have agreed to compromise. He has posted a long and interesting Twitter thread on the plans starting here. And it ends with this conclusion. Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says it is “astonishing’” that Sajid Javid, the health secretary, was unable to say what the government had got wrong in its handling of the Covid pandemic. (See 9.28am.) The DUP MP Ian Paisley has confirmed Dominic Cummings’ claim that No 10 always intended to ditch parts of the Northern Ireland protocol. (See 11.01am.) As my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports, on Newsnight last night Paisley said that Boris Johnson said that to him personally. In an interview with Sky News this morning Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, said that the claim from Dominic Cummings this week that the UK always intended to ditch parts of the Northern Ireland protocol would do “real damage” to the country’s reputation. He said: Drakeford also said that he was “baffled” by the way ministers talked about the protocol. He said: He also said that he hoped the UK and the EU would be “pragmatic” about finding a long-term solution to the problems caused by the protocol. Uncompromising language from the UK government was not helpful, he said. This is what Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser and the chief medical officer for England, told the RCGP conference as he explained why the winter would be “exceptionally difficult” for the NHS. He said this would be the case even without a major Covid spike. He explained: |