Today, NHS England’s boss was charged with ‘abusing’ Covid statistics. He exaggerated the amount of people in hospitals that had the virus.
Amanda Pritchard, during a round-of-interviews this morning, suggested that coronavirus cases are 14 times more common in hospitals now than they were last year.
The claims were circulated and picked up by a range of mainstream left-leaning media outlets such as Sky News, ITV, The i.
Ms Pritchard made the comments as she urged people to come forward for their booster vaccines and warned that the health service was under ‘very real pressure’.
The latest data, however, from the government’s dashboard show that there were 800 Covid admissions per day and 7,000 patients in England on Friday.
Comparatively, there were approximately 1300 admissions per night in November 2020 and over 11,000 patients admitted to hospital for the disease.
NHS England later had to admit that Pritchard was talking about statistics starting in September. However, Covid hospital rates at the time were actually higher than they were last year.
Francois Balloux (director of University College London Genetics Institute) called Ms Pritchard’s assertion ‘nonsense’. He also criticised news organizations for failing to contest it.
Others warned that the NHS Chief Executive had “abused” the figures, while political commentators claimed it was due to ‘incompetence’ or’mendacity.
Amanda Pritchard, during a round-of-interviews this morning suggested that coronavirus patients are now in hospitals 14 times more than they were last year. The latest Government data shows that there were only 800 daily Covid admissions in November 2013, compared with almost 1,300 the previous year.
There were 7,000 inpatients in England on Friday compared to more than 11,000 patients in hospital with the disease on November 5 2020
The comments were made by Ms Pritchard (left), as she encouraged people to get their booster vaccines (progress is shown right) while warning that the health care system was being put under “very real pressure”.
Speaking to Sky News about the current NHS pressure, Ms Pritchard said: ‘We had 14 times the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 than we saw this time last year.
‘We also had a record number of A&E attendance and a record number of 999 calls. Looking ahead to winter, we know this will be difficult.
“And we encourage people do anything that they can to protect themselves. So, the COVID-19 vaccination, the flu vaccine in particular.
NHS England claimed that the figures quoted by Ms Pritchard — which go up to the first week of September — were the latest that she had access to.
But the Government’s own Covid dashboard is based on hospital data provided by NHS England and goes up to November 5, slightly behind real time due to a recording lag.
Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs (rightwing think-tank) stated that NHS England is not able to access the latest dashboard figures.
Because medics believe that Covid has a domino effect on NHS treatment, it is hard to determine the exact pressure.
A huge backlog accumulated during the pandemic has also placed additional stress on them.
But Boris Johnson has resisted calls from senior NHS officials to activate the country’s winter ‘Plan B’, which would see the return of compulsory masks and working from home, as well as vaccine passports.
Defending the decision to hold off during a visit to a hospital in Northumberland today, Mr Johnson said he is often presented with ‘different scientific advice and different scientists say different things.’
He stated, “We analyze the data daily. We review with NHS chiefs every morning.
‘The key thing you want to do is to reduce those pressures, which are building, on the A&Es, on beds, by encouraging people, particularly the over-50s, to come forward and get your booster jab.’
Last month, Sajid Javid (the Health Secretary) upset NHS bosses by claiming that current pressures on the NHS were not ‘unsustainable’.
The threshold for the NHS’s winter admissions and inpatients is not set by the government or the health chiefs.
Last month, however Ms Pritchard acknowledged to MPs that her health care system has been unaffected by the pandemic.
Uncharacteristically optimistic modelling was also published by the Government’s Scientific Advisory Panel SAGE, which indicated that winter cases would naturally decline due to increasing immunity.
Daily Covid cases in the UK are on the decline, despite half-term starting at the beginning of the month.
Since October 23, infections have experienced a weekly fall of at least one day. There are now 35,000 cases per day, compared with 45,000 mid-October.
Professor Jim Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute at the University of Oxford, joined a chorus of independent scientists in claiming that Britain’s third wave has already peaked.
He said he expects hospitalisations and deaths — both of which are lagging indicators — to follow in the coming weeks.
Prof. Naismith said on BBC Radio 4’s Today that cases are clearly falling and it’s definitely what they would like.
“The rate of hospitalizations remains high. It is over 1,000 per day. The number of deaths is also tragically still quite high. There are just under 1,000 each week.
However, he said that if cases are lost, one would expect two more things to follow.
Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group advising ministers on the virus — an influential sub-committee of SAGE, also struck a positive tone.
He stated that the UK wasn’t out of the woods yet when it comes to Covid but he also said the country was far from being in a winter lockdown.
Sky News interviewed him: “I believe we are a long distance away from thinking in these terms.”
“It is clear that the NHS will be under serious pressure if there are more deaths than usual, so there could be some discussions about restrictions.
Leading experts believe that Britain’s declining Covid case count is due to increased immunity. This was caused by the combination of the booster vaccine and the recent back-to school wave of infected.
Dr Tildesley stated that the effectiveness of Covid’s vaccine booster programme will determine whether a winter lockdown occurs. He urged everyone to get their shots.
“I’d hope that, after a very successful vaccine campaign, the idea for a winter locking down is still a distant dream,” he stated.
“But it is certain that there are additional measures needed if the immunity levels in the population don’t improve. It is important to encourage everyone to get those booster jabs when they are eligible.
Professor Naismith also emphasized the importance and eagerness to get his Covid booster jabs. He said, “I am certainly looking forwards to getting mine the first time I can.”