This briefingis published ahead of the House of Commons debate and vote on the government’s proposed new tiered restrictions.

We recognise that government and parliament have difficult decisions to make in the fight against COVID-19. There is an important balance to strike between competing priorities: protecting people’s liberties, livelihoods and their mental health, protecting the wider economy and protecting NHS capacity.  

Trusts face difficult challenges in managing these competing priorities, which are not captured in the national data on bed occupancy and bed occupancy:

• infection control measures requiring separate areas, reducing capacity by up to 20% – red for COVID-19, amber for patients waiting for test results , and green for non-COVID-19 patients
• slower or disrupted planned surgery caused by limited theatre space, time consuming donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the need to convert elective surgery recovery wards to treat COVID-19 patients
• although overall demand for urgent and emergency care is slightly down on the same point last year, trusts are reporting higher numbers of very sick patients requiring admission and more people in A& E with complex mental health needs
• increased staff absences (compounding severe workforce shortages) because of COVID-19, and staff transferred from other duties to look after COVID-19 patients
• these issues exacerbated by current lack of access to rapid turnaround testing.