More than 1,500 health and social care workers have died with Covid-19, a Labour MP revealed as she slammed the Government for previous PPE shortages.
A total of 922 social care workers died with the virus between March 9 last year and May 7 this year, revealed the devastating figures obtained by Dame Diana Johnson.
A further 639 NHS workers also died within the same period, amounting to 1,561 deaths within the frontline professions.
Dame Diana, who has represented Kingston Upon Hull North since 2005, described the figures as a ‘national tragedy’.
The MP is urging the Government for a new Covenant for NHS, social care and emergency services staff, which would commit the state to protecting the safety of workers in a similar way to the Armed Forces.
Arguing for fresh safety commitments from the Government, she told The Mirror: The status quo clearly failed (NHS workers).
‘Never again should these workers face needlessly putting their own health – even their lives – at risk in the course of doing their jobs, due to failings in areas like PPE or testing.
‘Basic safety standards at work should be guaranteed and an NHS and Social Care Covenant can be a mechanism for this.’
She compared her proposed Covenant to that of the Armed Forces and the police, which would act as a legal guarantee to ensure safety in the workplace.
Dame Diana insisted ‘the same arguments apply’ to NHS and social care workers ‘who have served our country so well and saved so many lives’.
The national care lead of the General Trade Union (GTU), Kelly Andrews, agreed the UK should ‘never forget the sacrifices (NHS workers) made’.
She said staff don’t ‘need any more broken promises’ but instead a Government that will ‘recognise them, protect them and give them a decent wage’.
Her comments came after senior doctors in England threatened to refuse working overtime because of the Government’s ‘insulting’ 1% pay rise.
Deputy chair of the BMA consultants committee, Dr Vishal Sharma, told BBC’s Radio 4: ‘Consultants are absolutely burned out and experiencing high levels of fatigue and stress at the moment – and this is on the back of consultants having the worst pay erosion of any group.
‘We absolutely understand how difficult this is. To be clear, consultants would not down tools.
‘They would not leave patients unsupported and not looked after, but what we are talking about is really that kind of extra work that people are struggling to do and they are feeling underappreciated.’
Devolved nations have already promised to increase pay by more than 1% – adding extra pressure on No 10 to up the salary in England.
Disgraced former health secretary Matt Hancock previously said that the 1% pay rise was what is ‘affordable as a nation’ after the economic hit of the pandemic.
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