Good evening

It looks like we may be heading for another national lockdown.

A massive rise in the number of new cases being reported across the country, but particularly in the South of England, means that hospitals are being put under pressure for beds.

Ambulance services are also struggling to cope with the huge number of calls they are receiving and in some cases are being forced to queue at casualty departments, taking vehicles off the road for hours at a time.

None of us wants to see more restrictions. After all, we have been cooped up enough in 2020.

However, one of the major reasons for the first lockdown was to protect the NHS so that there was capacity for other, non-Covid emergencies, like heart attacks and strokes.

Given NHS staff are also at the forefront of administering the vaccine we hope will bring back normality to our lives, we cannot afford to halt that programme while they treat patients.

So if we are heading to Tier 4, Tier 5 or even a total lockdown, we may have to put up with it in the short term for longer term gain.

Feel free to send me your views at gillian.parkinson@jpimedia.co.uk

Until next time, take care

Gillian