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Matt Hancock was left embarrassed on breakfast television after being questioned by an ICU nurse who demanded to know how he could “look the NHS staff in the face.”
The Health Secretary appeared on Good Morning Britain today to address whether there would be a national shutdown, confusion regarding schools and ICU wards struggling with understaffing.
Presenter Susanna Reid was quick to point to comments from ICU nurse Dave Carr that hospitals are “past breaking point.”
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking, it’s breaking us down,” he had said, warning that doctors are preparing to fire sick patients.
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“It’s already worse than the first wave,” he said. “The concern is extreme.”
Hancock was shown a clip of what Dave would ask him if he could, which saw the nurse reply, “How can you seriously look any healthcare worker in the face and tell us that you are running the NHS and handling this pandemic correctly?
“We are doing this under-staffed, underpaid, I mean, the insult that we received at the beginning of the year with no pay raise for what we did at Covid really hurt us.
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“But I think they must be honest, the government must be honest, they are not handling the pandemic well and the impact it is having on us and the NHS is fierce.
“I mean, I’m an older kid and I have a lot of resilience, but I see young people doing things that they shouldn’t be doing.
“We shouldn’t put the amount of people in body bags that we’re going to have to do because of the way this pandemic is being handled.
“I really think they need to blame politicians for the mismanagement of the pandemic and the impact it has had on an already deteriorating NHS.”
Hancock awkwardly replied awkwardly, “Well, the staff across the NHS have done a great job … I’m very glad that at the beginning of the year we were able to give a significant pay increase to nurses across the board.”
Susanna commented wryly that Dave certainly hadn’t described the pay increase as “significant” before asking him about the staff shortage.
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“Over the last year we have seen an increase in the number of nurses across the NHS,” he insisted. “I know a lot of people thought that we would lose nurses to the pandemic.”
Susanna debated her answer, noting that there were still 40,000 to go, to which Hancock insisted that this was “not entirely correct.”
Piers also questioned Hancock about why the government is waiting for a nationwide shutdown.
“Why are you waiting? Sorry, but this reminds me of what happened in March,” Piers replied. “Surely we know that the only truly effective blunt instrument is to make a blockade.”
“It’s not just about the measurements, it’s about how everyone responds,” Hancock responded. “We are prepared to act quickly and take all possible measures.”
* Good Morning Britain airs Monday through Friday at 6am on ITV
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