Health secretary

Could the NHS backlog be even worse than we feared? It’s been reported that the pandemic has pushed a total of five million people onto NHS England waiting lists. But speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, health secretary Sajid Javid revealed a new figure, which was not previously in the public domain: As a fresh set of eyes coming in, the thing that shocked me most was the huge waiting list and the number of people that did not come forward because of the pandemic. We estimate there’s some seven million people that did not come forward to the NHS to be helped with things like cancer, with heart disease.

Matt Hancock – ‘I’m pleased with what happened yesterday’ The Health Secretary was Sophy Ridge’s first guest this morning. Pubs and restaurants were allowed to reopen yesterday, prompting concerns from some quarters that the public would overindulge themselves. Ridge asked Hancock how he felt so-called ‘Super Saturday’ had gone: MH: From what I’ve seen… very, very largely, people have acted responsibly… Overall I’m pleased with what happened yesterday. We were ‘right to take firmer action’ on Leicester outbreak The city of Leicester has seen itself subjected to a lockdown extension after its rate of infection was found to have increased well above other areas of England (with cases reportedly reaching