Do you beieve Hancock or NHS staff?

Whitewavemark yes, we did send PPE to China, but we apparently have subsequently had more than that back.
It does sound ridiculous on the surface of it but in the end it’s a global problem and we all need to help each other.

It is certainly better to be altruistic than be like Trump with the exporting adventurism and the 3M disaster.
That is surely so ridiculous that if it happened under any other American administration it would be unbelievable!

newnanny - obviously I can’t speak to your school but I know that in the Art room of my friend’s school in a deeply impoverished area, glue sticks were previously provided and had been provided for the whole of the six years she had taught there.
If this were not the case I wouldn’t have bothered to comment.

And yes, there will always be “top ups” by teaching staff. My friend has been collecting various items for years, and another friend, a (now retired) head teacher was regularly seen in the supermarket on her way to work buying breakfast cereal, milk etc for her school.
Nevertheless, It’s the small drip by drip cuts that ultimately do great damage.

I’m sure I’ve missed something in this thread but I always think of Hancock’s Half Hour when he’s at the podium.

Sorry Greta I obviously hadn't woken up. I was just interested in trying to watch the interview on catch up.

Government is lying, they are just trying to cover their own backs. They have made a complete botch up of everything and have let everyone down.

It is being reported that in February we sent 122000 sets of PPE to China.

Very altruistic of us but also extraordinarily short sighted.

Incompetent beyond measure

not spaghetti, as a teacher i can tell you most pupils have their own pens, pencils, glue sticks, scissors, a ruler and calculator. They should all gave these basic items. I used to buy some for pupilscwho had forgotten them or did not have them.

I think the NHS is used to having weeks of stockpile on ppe but now they are only getting supplies on the day they before they run out or sometimes even the day after they run out for some items. It must be very scary for them. The problem seems to be that there is a world wide shortage of the ppe items and each country is trying to buy up what there is. It is not like the government is refusing to pay for items or don't have orders placed. Orders from some countries are promised for a certain date but then delayed. Blaming the government is unfair and futile. Ultimately it shows we rely too heavily on imports and we should be manufacturing more of these vital products in UK. Maybe instead of so many wear once and dispose items we should be moving towards aprons/gowns that can be worn then washed and worn again. Better for evironment and less reliance on inports if we could manifacture ourselves. There is also a shortage of the drugs needed to treat patients. All parties should be working together, accusations and finger pointing does not help. Everyone is doing their absolute best.

Doctors are actually being 'advised' not to put Covid19 as a cause of death on certificates if the deceased was not tested positive or had not been tested and had an underlying condition

The lack of funding in public services has been well known to most of us for years and dismissed by many. I watch the government making promises about the targets for testing, for PPE and for dealing with this crisis and almost laugh, except it's beyond a joke. We still have no idea what the true number of deaths will be as only the hospital death figures are being counted and released. Deaths at home or in care homes still have to be counted.

I have an art specialist friend who teaches three days a week in a secondary school. She put in a request for classroom glue sticks and was (last term) given three in total to last all classes from Christmas to Easter.

She thinks they had been slid over from the ordinary stationary cupboard and needless to say she went on to buy her own.

Where are all these brainbox scientists ? We should have a vaccine well before now since this virus came to light in 1960 ! At present there are 3 different viruses which have mutated and give off different symptoms in the countries where they originated.

Each time we have our 'flu jabs, it's a year behind and not the virus that's floating about at that given time. "Behind" is the UK's middle name, this is not moving forward.
The WHO are supposed to determine the type of vaccine needed for each upcoming season.

There needs to be a reshuffle of all politicians who seem to spend their time yapping instead of getting things done. Sorry, but what do any of them do ? They can't continue to dictate their terms to the over 70's !

MaizieD - thank you! I was in education - my second career in mid-life. When I started a lovely history teacher told me she always could tell which Government was in power, Labour no problem, the school was always adequately resourced - when the Tories were in she was always having to buy her own classroom resources to supplement. Says it all really!!! I know which system of Government I prefer!!!! I suspect a lot of people might also change their minds once this debacle is finally over and the evidence is laid bare.

Oops, and MaiszieD

Sorry Gretta8 - x-post

growstuff - Greta8 said GP not MP

growstuff - it was a GP not an MP - see my post, I did actually say GP!!!

Greta was talking of a G P, not an MP

Excellent and revealing post at 07.33 Greta. Thanks

No doubt the apologists will be along to tell us it's all the fault of Labour...

By the way, I agree with your previous post. I have relatives who worked (and still work) in senior positions in the NHS and civil service. The "squeezing" has been going on for a decade and the chickens really have come home to roost.

Covid-19 doesn't choose its victims, but there certainly is a difference in how various groups will be able to deal with it and how they will be treated. The ones at the top of the pile will come out of it OK - some might even be richer than before. However, what this crisis has done has reveal gaping great holes in our health and social care systems. People who thought they wouldn't need help really do need it now.

Slightly off topic, the Vietnamese lorry deaths revealed serious shortages in Border Control, which can't cope either - and that's going to get worse after Brexit happens properly, but I bet nothing will be done. Anybody remember Grenfell or Windrush? Was anything done?

Can you remember the name of the MP Greta? Cheshunt doesn't have a female MP.

Just to add, interestingly the BBC have just had a woman GP on from Cheshunt, and she touched on - amongst other things - how much the Tory austerity programme had adversely affected the NHS and that only now was 'Middle England' waking up to the fact that actually a decently funded health service was essential.

This government is so behind the curve it's criminal. Add in the obvious lies and these daily briefings which are a joke. My husband was a senior manager in Adult Social Care so I've had a ringside seat for years, seeing how the wanton under-funding by the Tories has decimated not only Adult Social Care but also the NHS. The professionalism and dedication of our health services is totally humbling. I can't believe how many of the public are totally unaware of what's going on. Why should 'charity' be needed in one of the richest countries in the world? Austerity was a ruse used by the Tories to shrink state funded public services. I remember saying to my burnt-out husband on his retirement 'well the Tories can't do anything else to us now' - actually they can, their incompetence is killing people unnecessarily. Sorry for the rant, but having seen things from the 'inside', it makes my blood boil. I sincerely hope the PPE gets through to both health and social care before it's too late.

If the Sunday Times is to be believed , and I do believe them, then Boris missed 5 COBRA meetings to attend to “personal matters”.
Nero fiddling while Rome burned springs to mind!

Meanwhile, 84 tonnes of PPE equipment is arriving from Turkey. Thank goodness Turkey was never going to join the EU!

The former London Olympics chief executive Paul Deighton has been hired as PPE "tsar". Thank goodness somebody realised that a person with expertise in logistics is needed - shame it's a couple of months late.

We are being led by a bumbling bunch of twonks, who lie through their teeth to avoid responsibility.

Let’s face it, this government have lied through their teeth about just about everything, why should this be any different. Was talking to my Italian family yesterday - they were shocked by the fact that it’s worse in the U.K. than it is there - that’s not the way it’s played out here.