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All essential workers in England who are showing symptoms of coronavirus, as well as members of their households, will now be able to get tested, the government has announced. The move, revealed today during the daily government briefing, follows an expansion in testing capacity and comes on the back of criticism over numerous previous pledges on staff testing. Like the ongo...

This is advice for Tier 2, 4 and 5 visa sponsors in the UK who are sponsoring those affected by a coronavirus (COVID-19). If your student or employee is absent We will not take enforcement action against sponsors who continue to sponsor students or employees despite absences due to coronavirus. You do not need to report student or employee absences related to coronavirus. Th...

An MP has written to the government calling for all non-British nurses and other workers on the frontline of coronavirus to be granted citizenship without exams or fees. In a letter to the home secretary, Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams urged the government to consider granting immediate British citizenship to all key workers who had made an application, to “recognise the enor...

Nursing leaders have objected to new coronavirus guidance recommending the reuse of certain items of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the event of severe supply shortages. Public Health England (PHE) has told clinicians to consider reusing masks, gowns and visors marked single-use or seeking alternative kit when treating COVID-19 patients if stock runs dangerously low....

Commenting on the action plan issued today, Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive and Registrar at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), said: “The Government’s measures announced today are welcome and the focus on better supporting the social care workforce is vital. “It is clear with the numbers of people using social care services being affected by Covid19 that social ...

Adult hospices across Birmingham and Solihull have come together to create a “single hub” in order to try and provide the “very best care” at end of life in the current COVID-19 crisis. The telephone hotline initiative is called HoBS – Hospices of Birmingham and Solihull – and features John Taylor, Birmingham St Mary’s and the Marie Curie Hospice, West Midlands. Based at Joh...

State of the World’s Nursing 2020 provides the first-ever detailed analysis of nursing across the globe with contributions from more than 190 countries. Written by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and Nursing Now, the report placed the global nurse headcount at 28 million, with a shortage of 5.9 million. Speaki...

COVID-19, the disease caused by a new coronavirus that emerged in China late last year, is spreading rapidly around the world. The illness, the main symptoms of which are high temperature and/or a new continuous cough, has already caused thousands of deaths. While anyone can become seriously ill with the disease, people with certain health conditions, including lung disease ...

The Government has introduced emergency legislation so that we can temporarily register fit, proper and suitably experienced people if they want to practise and felt able to do so. We launched our Covid-19 temporary register on Friday 27 March 2020, following the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care advising us that the UK is in an emergency situation with the threa...

More than 1,000 volunteer therapists have signed up to provide free mental health support to NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic. A group of therapists set up the website frontline19.com so doctors, nurses and other NHS staff can access counselling services online during the COVID-19 lockdown. Organisers said 2,000 NHS staff had registered for help in the first three...