Alastair McLellan
@HSJEditor
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I am the editor of HSJ, the No1 source of news on the NHS, and have reported on UK health policy for over 20 years. Subscribe for our unmatched coverage.
London
Joined August 2008
BREAKING: The number of Covid+ patients in England is now growing at 38% per week. That is the fastest rate of increase since last October! I think we're in real trouble.
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WOAH!. BREAKING: Hospital admissions of covid positive patients in England up 48% in a week. Fourth Covid wave of 2022 now in full effect.
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Bloody hell! Covid hospital admissions in the South West are now WORSE THAN JANUARY!.
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BREAKING: Covid hospital admissions now up 21% over past week. Weekly total back over 8000.
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'We are a lot closer to normal than we were a few months ago' says @sajidjavid .Weekly covid hospital admissions.17 June: 1220.17 Oct: 5250.
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BREAKING: Covid positve patients in English hospitals now back over 10,000 for the first time since 15 Feb - up 18% in a week. More to follow.
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BREAKING: Number of covid positive patients in English hospitals falls below 5000 for 1st time since 25 July. Really looks as if the Summer Wave has peaked (and that people like me were too pessimistic when it came fearing how high peak might be). Never been happier to be wrong.
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BREAKING: The results for all national Covid testing has gone missing
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BREAKING: Admissions of covid-positive patients to English hospitals UP 15% in the last week (more to follow).
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The health secretary @sajidjavid repeats his description of nearly 1000 covid deaths a week as 'mercifuly low' - I expect that statement will haunt him.
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It REALLY didn't, V worried that the BBC is tweeting this out as fact rather than claim @BBCHughPym.
The UK carried out 122,000 coronavirus tests on the last day of April, passing the government's target
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On the way to work in central London. Top deck of the bus, one small window half open, 30 people, three quarters unmasked. Demographics suggest around half unboosted. We’re getting this wrong.
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Yesterday I was asked to prepare a brief about the situation in the NHS for a senior (non-Gov) political figure, who was about to do some media interviews. Now that's done - I thought you might like to see it (thread follows) 1/8.
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BREAKING: Fifth covid wave of 2022 finally kicking off. Hospital admissions up 28% in a week and growing expedontially
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99% of GPs now do video-conferencing with patients says @MattHancock at Tory Conf fringe - this is, I'm afraid, untrue.
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BREAKING: Hospital admissions of those with a positive covid diagnosis up by 16% in a week. The expected autumn wave now appears to be washing ashore. More analysis to come.
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BREAKING: The number of covid+ patients in English hospitals has risen 48% in the last week to 2798. This is a rate of increase not equalled for NINE months!.
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A senior NHS source messages me: "London Health workers are unable to book a PCR today. When they are tested, it seems that NO priority is being given to getting the test result back when they tick the “care worker box”. Up to 48 hours is the norm for getting the result back.".
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NEW: Admissions of covid positive patients to English hospitals is starting to rise again. Up 7% in a week (15% in the South West).
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WARNING: In a few hours, stories about the NHS workforce plan will begin to drop (inc ours). NONE of the writers will have seen the actual report - which won't be published until tomorrow morning. This is now a well established tactic from this Gov 1/2.
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BREAKING: Government declares 'serious shortages' of 'three penicillin medicines'.
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BREAKING - Revealed: How government changed the rules to hit 100,000 tests target
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BREAKING: Royal College of Nursing members to be balloted on industrial action following yesterday's NHS pay award.
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BREAKING: Number of covid positive patients in English hospitals falls below 30,000 for first time since 9 Jan after 2nd biggest daily drop in total (first was on Wednesday). Covid inpatients have fallen 11% in just four days!.
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BREAKING: The Health Secretary is giving immediate financial backing for all NHS Trusts to provide free car parking to NHS staff for the duration of COVID-19. More to follow.
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BREAKING: The former head of the covid vaccine programme, Emily Lawson, is returning from her new job at No10 to take charge again. A sign of how serious things are getting.
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Astonishing that BBC (among others) are reporting the low number of daily coronavirus deaths without mentioning the NHS system used to record them was unavailable to many trusts for 18 of the 24 hour reporting period.
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BREAKING: The number of covid positive patients in English hospitals has FALLEN for the first time in 30 days! . One swallow doesn't make a summer - but VERY good sign.
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Covid patients in English hospitals are doubling every two weeks (NOT three as Chris Whitty claimed). That puts us on over 6000 by end of July and (given that pace will probably slow a bit in August) 10,000 a month later. 2/8.
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So - in the final analysis - it seems 40k of Gov's 122k tests were 'in the post'. Why not just say 'we hit 82k' and are growing fast?.
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BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE: Government has misled public over UK deaths being lower than France
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BREAKING: The weekly average of reported Covid19 hospital deaths in England has RISEN for the first time in 19 days.
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Emergency care Is already through the roof – with A&Es beating record attendances almost every week. If it wasn’t for the pandemic this would be front page news. 5/8.
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The sheer scale of infections means many NHS staff are isolating – having been pinged. I spoke to one trust CEO this week who said 25% of their junior doctors were off. 6/8.
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Two year elective waits are becoming a reality for the first time in nearly two decades 7/8.
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NEW (and pretty important): Covid hospital admissions fall in London and the south east for first time since Xmas
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BREAKINg - 'Exclusive: Watchdog says government's 40 new hospital building programme is ‘unachievable’
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NEW: Omicron hospitalisation wave really starting to accelerate now. 7 day hospital admissions total in England up 36% (to 24 Dec). 62% in London, 47% in NW, 39% in East, 36% in Midlands, 31% in North East & Yorks. Only SW still going down.
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The modelling suggests that rather declining as fast as it rose (as the spring 20 and winter 21 waves did), this wave will plateau for six weeks – so although it might not be as high at peak, it may actually involve as many people. 4/8.
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The available general and acute bed base after allowing for IPC in England is about 82k. This means the NHS starts the autumn/winter with over 10% of its bed base consumed by covid patients. In comparison, on 1 Sep 2020 there were 496 covid+ patients. 3/8.
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Let’s get one thing clear. Gov may not have known what exactly was driving rapid growth in covid cases, but they have known that SOMETHING was for AT LEAST a week. They were simply hoping they would get lucky and things would turn round before Xmas (sorry for caps, bit angry).
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BREAKING: Exclusive: Police given access to Test and Trace data on those told to self-isolate
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. which means its proposals do not get full scrutiny . HSJ will, of course, be diving deep into the report and bringing you all the messy detail the Gov would prefer you didn't know about 2/2.
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'The government must stop gaslighting the public and be honest about the threat the pandemic still poses to them'. A joint editoiral from @KamranAbbasi and myself . FREE to read
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ANNOUNCEMENT: From now until the curve begins to flatten all of @HSJnews unmatched coronavirus coverage will be free to view - I hope our loyal subscribers will understand. Please R/T.
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BREAKING: Exclusive: London will be overwhelmed by covid in a fortnight says leaked NHS England briefing FREE TO READ.
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More that at ANY time during the pandemic, I get the overwhelming sense that the UK is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with the decision to move ahead with 19 July unlocking.
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NEW: Royal College of Physicians reporting: 'Across the UK, more than 1 in 10 doctors are off work and 1 in 24 due to COVID. In London these figures increase to 1 in 7 off work and 1 in 13 due to COVID.'.
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BREAKING: Another 711 people have died in English hospitals from Covid19. BUT Saturday is always a big figure and the running weekly average is still falling. It is now 22% down on the 13 April peak. More analysis in a few mins.
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BREAKING: More than 5000 Covid positive patients in English hospitals for the first time since Mid-March - more analysis to follow.
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BREAKING: North East and Yorkshire becomes the first of seven regions in the English NHS to record over 1000 covid+ hospital patients. [It had 80 on 5 June].
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Directly contradicts what Chris Whitty said yesterday. He said he would wear a mask if asked by a 'competent authority' - like a train operator.
.@sajidjavid tells @MishalHusain that he would not wear a mask in a thinly-occupied carriage on a mainline train late at night, even if there was a sign advising him to do so. “Even if it said ‘we recommend wearing a mask’, I wouldn’t wear a mask”.
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NEW: Latest covid hospitalisation figures out (they are now weekly, rather than daily). Show a sharp rise in admissions in the South West (up 22% in the week). Here comes the next wave people.
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When we published our joint editorial with @bmj_latest on Tuesday calling for an end to household mixing over Xmas, @matthancock dismissed it to colleagues as ‘mischief-making’ by ‘newspapers’ who knew it was too late for the Gov to change their plans….
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NEW: Covid hospital deaths in the south west now running at (least) thirty perecent ABOVE lowest point (recorded on 20 May). All six other English regions continue to fall (tho there are worrying local hot spots like south essex and manchester).
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What utter bollocks.
There will be more data to crunch. But this is more evidence that the NHS is pretty much the worst healthcare system in the Western world. Once we look at all the info, there may be a good case for going for an EU-style more marketised system.
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BREAKING: 10,000 covid hospital patients in England for the first time since 2 March. Total was 7000 just THREE days ago.
NEW Today's covid hospital numbers: The number of covid patients in English hospitals as topped 10,000 for the first time since the beginning of March. Up nearly 1,000 on yesterday, again. No clear sign of a slowdown in London, unfortunately. 1/x.
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to the serious and sustained increase in covid pressure on the NHS @HSJnews is once again making ALL its covid coverage FREE to view. We believe our subscribers support this move and thank them for their continued support. Please R/T.
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Astonishing - the NHS has just (effectively) nationalised commissioning Three decades of debate and controversy gone, if not quite in 60 seconds, then close.
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I'm usually relatively relaxed about such things, but I did a double take at this - 'Sir Patrick Vallance has £600,000 shareholding in firm [GSK] contracted to develop vaccines' Surely, this must contravene some kind of civil service or prof code.
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There has been much talk of covid 'overwhelming' the NHS. On a national and sustained level that has hadn't happened - EXCEPT in one, sadly neglected, area - ‘No capacity anywhere’ to deal with unprecedented surge in children’s mental health demand'
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PM says: 'To those on the [NHS] frontline I must ask you to make another extraordinary effort' [on the vax booster push]. and yet he won't even suggest that going to the pub might not be the wisest thing to do right now.
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BBC political editor @bbclaurak quoting the very dodgy £84bn extra for NHS figure on radio 4. It’s £20bn. @HPIAndyCowper.
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BREAKING: Government must stop household mixing this Christmas to protect the NHS: a joint call by @bmj_latest & @HSJnews
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BREAKING (7 July update): Number of covid+ patients in English hospitals up 43% in last seven days. (was 38% yesterday. Growth accelerating FAST).
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NEW: Number of covid positive patients now falling faster than at any time since decline began on 19 Jan. Week on week decline now 25% (37% in SW and 33% in London).
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NEW: Less than 1000 covid-positive patients in English hospitals for the first time since 17 Sep.
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@maxwele2 Oh Elaine there’s was so much I could have added (long COVID, CAMHS crisis, cancer screening etc), but I was depressing myself and had to stop.
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BREAKING: @NHSEngland announce 'that everyone visiting healthcare settings must continue to wear a face covering and follow social distancing rules'. Been a lot of concern about this among NHS leaders, with trusts taking own action - as we reported
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Spoke to a very senior NHS leader yesterday. They said the SPI-M forecasts on hospitalisations had been 'consistently awful'.
'Most of the scenarios presented by SPI-M on 31 March showed hospitalisations rising as a result of step two in the roadmap. In the event, they didn’t, and neither did they rise significantly following step three of the roadmap on 17 May.'. ✍️ Ross Clark.
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"The majority care of is delivered in primary care", says @theresecoffey "by doctors, dentists and chiropractors [!?]".
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It's a bit of a disgrace that no journos have been invited to @MattHancock public health speech - he is not being pressed on ANY important point. Tone set when @Policy_Exchange host said 'no outrageous questions'.
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The NHS is saved. SAVED!!!. Why did no-one think of this before?!!.
Today I am asking the Health Secretary to put in some more hospital beds so we have more NHS capacity. That would be a good use of the extra money.
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NEW: Some relatively good news for 'Freedom Day' - the seven day rate at which the number of covid+ hospital patients in England is growing has fallen to 36%. It was 49% a week ago. 1/2.
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NEW: Second covid wave still stubornly refusing to take off in London. Hospital deaths in capital still under 10% of spring peak. NW, by way of contrast, over 50%. Some chance that both may have peaked tho. NW admissions clearly heading down and Lonon plateauing.
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The refusal of government to fund the full pay award given to the NHS means the service now has to cut its spending by £1.8bn . Bound to affect already seriously over-stretched services.
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BREAKING: Exclusive: ‘Wobbly’ contact tracing app ‘failed’ NHS clinical safety and cyber security tests
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BREAKING: Government censored review into the Covid deaths of asian and black people
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Health minister @mariacaulfield has just BLOCKED my colleague @AliJaneMoore - I assume becuse of this very worrying story . so I've made it FREE to view. Please RT.
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BREAKING: NHS covid alert staus raised to highest level - means effort will be co-ordinated nationally.
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BREAKING; Amged El-Hawrani, ENT consultant at University Hospitals Of Derby And Burton has died from coronavirus. He was 55.
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Confirmation from John Newton that of yesterday's 122k tests - 39k were those put in the post.
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'If you can't be bothered to get vaccinated, then get out and get another job' @sajidjavid tells care home staff.
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BREAKING: BIG fall in number of covid inpatients in England. Down 1491 on yesterday. By far biggest drop so far.
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We should have vaccinated old people against Covid everywhere (in the world) before we started on the young says @BillGates.
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NEW: Number of covid hospital patients in England falls below 10,000 for the first time since 1 Nov.
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If my twitter feed is anything to go by - the amount of cake been eaten to celebrate #nhs70 is likely to add significantly to the service's workload.
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BREAKING: BIG fall in Covid positive patients in English hospitals. Down 6% on a week ago (steepest decline for a month). Sharpest falls in NE & Yorks (14%) and SW (11%). Only SE still increasing. Overall numbers still at early March levels.
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NEW: ALL seven English regions now showing an increase in covid positive hospital patients. South East up 39% in a week, East and South West (+32%), North West and Midlands (+16%), North East & Yorks (+16%), London (+15%).
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NEW: Clear signs now that the rate of growth in covid hospitalisation in England is flattening (i.e. it's still increasing, but the rate at which that is happening is not climbing).
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NEW: Covid+ patients in Eng hospitals - 26/5 = 745, 27/5 = 742, 28/5 = 743. Stalemate between the vaccine and the virus.
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THIS is the best piece written by a NHS trust CEO I've read in the 19 years since I became @HSJEditor - please read it (it's free): 'Trust CEO: my cancer diagnosis has given me a new perspective on patient care'
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BREAKING: The woman who ran @DHSCgovuk until 2016 says a public inquiry into the UK's response to coronavirus must begin now
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Right - that's official then. The chair of @NHSImprovement says any patient who asks for a 'white' doctor or nurse should be told 'sorry, no'. also any trust CEO looking to get on the right side of @didoharding might want to make sure their trust is doing that.
I completely agree @HSJEditor on both counts. All NHS organisations, including my own, need to work harder to support our people when they face abuse, racism or prejudice.
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It's very simple - the answer should be 'no'. Worrying that the surgeon didn't know if the trust would back him up.
My heart snaps in two watching this. Specialist surgeon whose whole life has been dedicated to the #NHS close to tears over being asked ‘Can I have a white doctor?’ And his response, my God. Hard to believe it’s 2019. #racism #nationalism #brexitbritain .
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BREAKING: Trust chiefs lead NHS criticism of 'disgraceful' Cummings Seasoned NHS observers will know how rare it is for NHS chiefs to openly criticise senior government figures.
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Today in the @HSJnews room it has felt like it did during late March /early April - with news of hospitals in trouble coming in every 30mins or so.
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John Newton from @PHE_uk said that how they couunted tests never changed. This is NOT true. It changed about seven days ago and the gov webiste was updated yesterday. Here's the April 29 version WHICH DOES NOT INLCUDE MENTION OF HOME TESTS.
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NEW: Growth in Covid hospitalisation slowing sharply now. Actually falling in London [calculated on a week on week basis].
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NEW: Another grim set of covid hospitalisation figures for England. 7 day admissions total for London up 68% in last week (18 to 25 Dec), North West, 60%. North East and Yorkshire, Midlands and East regions all up between 42 and 48%. South East up 17% and South West’s by 2%.
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