The Doctors Association and BMA have raised serious concerns about regulatory and criminal charges resulting from the unique and difficult clinical decisions they are having to make during the pandemic.

The letter from the health organisations points out that the prime minister warned in November that the NHS being overwhelmed would be a "medical and moral disaster", where "doctors and nurses could be forced to choose which patients to treat, who would live and who would die"

It calls for emergency legislation to protect doctors and nurses from "inappropriate" legal action when dealing with circumstances outside their control.