This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Ensure clinically-urgent procedures are not cancelled due to COVID-19 crisis.
We, the undersigned, demand that the Government adhere to the recommendation that ONLY 'non-time-sensitive elective surgery' be cancelled or postponed in order to maximise hospital capability in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
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Despite Sir Simon Stevens' explicit recommendation that 'emergency admissions, cancer treatment and other clinically urgent care should continue unaffected', over the past week there have emerged numerous distressing reports of life-saving and life-prolonging procedures, including those promised to advanced cancer patients, being cancelled.
This is simply out of line with the Government's assurance that 'vulnerable...people in our society [be] left in no doubt of their importance to us and our determination to protect them as best we can'. In fact, many seriously ill people - like uterine cancer patient Claire Elliott, 51 - have been left feeling their 'life isn't worth anything'.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
Decisions about patient treatment are operational decisions for the NHS, not the Government or Parliament.
Since you started your petition the Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of the NHS have updated their guidance to NHS Trusts: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/04/second-phase-of-nhs-response-to-covid-19-letter-to-chief-execs-29-april-2020.pdf
You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support
You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips
You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/
You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/
Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.