Downing Street petition calling for airborne infection prevention and control measures in healthcare settings
The chair of UK Hazards Campaign, Janet Newsham, will be handing-in a petition at 10 Downing Street on Thursday 26th June calling for improved new air quality and PPE rules for health and social care settings. Janet who is also the coordinator at Greater Manchester Hazard’s Centre, will be accompanied at Number 10 by representatives from several organisations, including Sioux Vosper, who is a member of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. Representatives from healthcare organisations will include Jonathan Fluxman from Doctors in Unite union and Dr. Alison Twycross RN, Chair of Supporting Healthcare Heroes UK Charity, Editor-in-Chief of Evidence Based Nursing and Honorary Associate Professor at University of Birmingham, School of Nursing and Midwifery.
The petition that they will be handing in is calling for the government to ‘set new rules on air quality and infection control in health and social care settings, to prevent and control airborne infections, with new ventilation and filtration requirements, new PPE standards and staffing rules’ – it also calls for monitoring and inspection to ensure compliance.
In her covering letter with the petition, Janet will be formally requesting a response from the government to the thousands of people who have supported and signed this important petition.
She has also sent this briefing document on the issue to all UK MPs: See link: https://shh-uk.org/get-in-touch-with-your-mp-safeair4all/
In the first few months of 2025, the UK was gripped by a ‘quaddemic’ of flu, covid, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Many hospital trusts across the country declared critical incidents, asking people to stay away from A and E units for non-urgent treatment, also asking them not to visit if they had symptoms of viral illness and to mask if they did have to come to the hospital.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued a new alert on Thursday, 30th January, urging the public to adopt measures such as staying at home and masking up when venturing outside. However, it is notable that UHKSA did not mention airborne spread of any of the viruses or the need to protect patients with airborne infection prevention and control measures within healthcare settings.
Covid, flu and RSV are all airborne diseases and norovirus can be passed on by inhaling virus particles (as well as by direct contact or contaminated surfaces.) Airborne can mean that the virus is spread by either aerosol particles or droplet particles. This means a person can become infected, either by inhaling aerosol particles that are spreading away from the infected person (like smoke in the air) or respiratory droplets that are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. Although flu and RSV are mainly seasonal, covid remains a threat all year round.
Janet believes that improved airborne infection prevention and control measures in UK healthcare services, could help to reduce the impact of the winter crisis that has affected hospitals and GP surgeries across the country. The measures will also provide reassurance for clinically vulnerable patients who have no choice but to attend essential medical appointments in hospitals and GP surgeries where the risk of airborne infection is high – particularly as this risk exists year round for Covid-19.
“Hospitals are at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19,” said Janet. “However, they are also environments where the risk of transmission is high, particularly for patients and healthcare workers. This has led to a staffing crisis in our health providers with high staff sickness levels, and dozens leaving the profession with long term disabilities.
“The ongoing threat posed by Covid-19 underscores the need for a proactive approach to infection control to reduce the incidence of long-term disabilities and prevent avoidable deaths. Protecting these vital spaces ensures the well-being of our most vulnerable citizens and contributes to the broader effort to stem the tide of this relentless virus.
“As we learn to coexist with Covid-19, vigilance and collective action remain our strongest tools in safeguarding public health. It is critical that the Government takes the action called for in our petition.”
Research carried out on Covid wards at Addenbrooke’s Hospital suggests that air filter machines removed almost all traces of airborne Covid virus. The study was led by a team of doctors, scientists and engineers at Addenbrooke’s and the University of Cambridge in January, at the height of the second wave of the pandemic. Air filtration machines were placed in Covid wards and the air quality analysed with the machines switched on for a week, off for a week, and then on for another week. The team found that with the machines on, it removed almost all traces of airborne SARS-CoV-2.
In recent months an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Long Covid has been set up and separately to this group, a letter was sent to the chair of the Covid Inquiry, to invite her to “make urgent interim recommendations to make healthcare settings safe”. A reply to this letter was received on 27th January 2025, from the Right Honourable Baroness Hallett, Chair of the Covid-19 UK Inquiry, in which she declined to make any interim recommendation in Module 3 of the Inquiry.
Prof Colin McKay (Deputy Director for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde) testified recently at the Covid Inquiry that, as early as April 2020, it was increasingly clear to those on the ground that airborne transmission was taking place and that infection control advice was incorrect, leaving staff unprotected.
In September 2024, Dr Barry Jones, Chair of CATA (COVID-19 Airborne Transmission Alliance, which is a Core Participant in the UK COVID-19 Inquiry), gave evidence at the Covid Inquiry about healthcare officials denial of how COVID-19 is transmitted, which has resulted in:
- A failure to protect healthcare workers by providing them with enhanced PPE and adequate ventilation, leading to death and life-changing Long Covid;
- A failure to protect patients, with many contracting the virus in hospital;
- Billions of pounds being wasted on inappropriate PPE.
Kamini Gadhok MBE, former Chief Executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and Vice Chair of CATA highlighted the wider impact of these failures on the NHS: “The staffing crisis in the NHS has been compounded by Government officials’ blatant disregard for keeping healthcare workers safe during the pandemic, and we’re now seeing the impact this is having on patient care and waiting times.”
ENDS
EDITOR’S NOTES
Janet Newsham Contact: 07734 317158
Email: janetnewsham@googlemail.com
Posts from X (formerly Twitter) that illustrate patients anxieties about attending medical appointments:
https://x.com/ELHopkins/status/1849774621555376171
https://x.com/JoIsSummer/status/1865453048379621798
This ‘MegaThread’ has clips of video evidence given at the Covid-19 UK Inquiry
https://x.com/_CatintheHat/status/1860781843244634365
UKHSA posts on Thursday 30th January:
New Alert post: https://x.com/UKHSA/status/1884888051748368629
Link to Addenbrooke’s research article:
https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/news/air-filters-on-wards-remove-almost-all-airborne-covid-virus/
**Link to Mirror Online article about UKHSA new alert on 30th January: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/urgent-new-stay-home-wear-34580964
Prof. Colin Mckay’s testimony at the Covid Inquiry: https://x.com/_CatintheHat/status/1860783278464114927
Information about the Long Covid APPG:
https://joplatt.com/news/2024/12/11/jo-platt-becomes-chair-of-the-all-party-parliamentary-group-for-long-covid/
Letter to chair of Covid Inquiry:
https://x.com/LongCovidSOS/status/1870061604781298062
Links about covid being an airborne disease – information from the covid inquiry was taken from this link: https://www.rcslt.org/news/evidence-given-at-uk-covid-19-inquiry/#:~:text=On%2012%20September%2C%20evidence%20was,ongoing%20investigation%20into%20these%20issues.
Dr. Lisa Ritchie – IPC Lead for NHS England – Still believes that the primary mode of transmission for Covid-19 is droplet and contact. Professor Clive Beggs testifies in the second part of this video that the primary mode of transmission is ”predominantly by an airborne route”: Watch video: https://x.com/_CatintheHat/status/1884951090162016643