Doctors, MPs and care chiefs have warned the Government that its vaccine programme could turn into a ‘shambles like the PPE fiasco’ if current issues with the rollout are not fixed. Hundreds of GP surgeries and hospitals are still waiting to receive doses of the Pfizer vaccine, while doctors warn they are having to cancel … Read more Doctors warn jab rollout could turn into shambles like PPE
Loyal savers are deserting NS&I as its customer service breakdown continues. National Savings and Investments yesterday slashed rates for its 25 million customers. But those trying to move their money are having to wait weeks as they struggle to navigate the bank’s new website or to speak to anyone about it on the telephone. Rates … Read more Goodbye NS&I! Rate cuts hit and customer service shambles continues
An eerie silence suddenly befell Committee Room number six just after 4pm yesterday. Baroness Dido Harding had just explained to the Commons’ science and technology committee how she’d come to be head of our vital testing programme. The matter had been raised by Graham Stringer (Lab, Blackley and Broughton) who had politely pointed out that … Read more HENRY DEEDES watches Dido Harding explaining the coronavirus testing shambles
The testing fiasco is on the brink of dooming the country to a de facto lockdown with keeping schools open ‘unsustainable’, ministers were warned today. Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock are facing fury after the system descended into a shambles, with millions of people struggling to get checked. The Health Secretary was humiliatingly forced to … Read more Warning of ‘lockdown by default’ as Hancock faces fury over testing shambles
Britons seeking a coronavirus swab in Twickenham have been told to pretend they’re from Aberdeen in order to jump the queue – amid growing anger over the Government’s testing ‘shambles’. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged the public to not ‘game the system’ by changing their postcodes when requesting a test. But a glitch, revealed … Read more Coronavirus UK: ‘Shambles’ as 25% of tests booked by non-eligible
Covid tests will have to be rationed, Matt Hancock admitted yesterday. In a humiliating climbdown, he said a ‘priority list’ would ensure care homes, hospitals, schools and key staff had enough. In a torrid session in the Commons, the Health Secretary was also forced to admit the current critical shortages could drag on for weeks. … Read more Matt Hancock reveals plan to RATION swabs then admits testing shambles could last for WEEKS
Border Force officials are only aiming to spot check fewer than a third of arrivals at Britain’s airports, it has been revealed. The government has introduced measures which require passengers arriving in the UK to fill out an online form before they arrive in the UK from any country. This includes countries or territories which … Read more Track-and-trace shambles as Border Force admits it spot checks fewer than a THIRD of arrivals
Fiasco doesn’t begin to do it justice. Perhaps omnishambles – a word first coined in the BBC political satire The Thick of It – comes a little closer. Or given the PM’s reliance on his trusted henchman Dominic Cummings to read the political runes, should it be Domnishambles? In reality, the events presided over by … Read more ANDREW PIERCE: From hubris to humiliation… an anatomy of a political shambles
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, confirmed plans to merge the body with the NHS Test and Trace programme Public Health England’s boss has revealed he is ‘sorry beyond words’ for staff finding out the beleaguered agency was getting broken-up through media reports. Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, confirmed Number 10’s controversial plans to … Read more Public Health England denies it was responsible for mass testing shambles
With great fanfare, Boris Johnson last week announced a ‘world beating’ army of contact tracers whose job is to stop coronavirus in its tracks. No fewer than 25,000 have been hired. Their mission – to combat coronavirus by sleuthing down every person in danger of contracting Covid from each new case that emerges. On Thursday … Read more Coronavirus UK: Contract tracers say system is a ‘shambles’