Lockdown might be easing, but the NHS still needs protecting

This week, many doctors, including myself, were rightly disturbed by the results of the latest BMA survey. It found that more than a third of BAME doctors in the UK are still not being given access to potentially life-saving Covid-19 risk assessments – nearly two months after NHS England issued recommendations that risk assessments should be carried out for all staff as a precautionary measure. For white doctors, 42% said they haven’t had risk assessments yet. Results also showed that BAME doctors are still less likely to feel fully protected from coronavirus compared to their white colleagues, and far more likely to often feel pressured into treating patients without appropriate personal protective equipment, which is incredibly worrying.