As an NHS GP, I’m worried that what we are not doing enough to protect the country from the global COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. There are a number of steps the Government should undertake immediately to help slow the spread of the virus in the UK.

Those of us on the ground in the NHS are worried that the steps we are taking are too little too late. We are not in as strong a position as we were for the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in 2009. That’s why I’m calling for the Government do the following:

Suspend time-consuming reviews (appraisal and revalidation) for NHS doctors until the emergency is over in order to free up our time to attend to the sick and reduce the effects of the virus on public health and wider society. Help bring former doctors and nurses out of retirement (including offering emergency indemnity coverage) to help with the scale of the crisis Provide remote access for GPs to their systems to mitigate the quarantine

Please sign my petition to help the NHS attend to the sick and limit the effects of this outbreak on public health and wider society.