The honeymoon will be shorter than most

The "blame culture" is still alive and well!
Excellent post EllanVannin

Did you actually watch the Panorama programme, EV? How long is it since you actually worked in a hospital?

PPE is bought centrally , not by individual hospitals. The central purchasing organisation should have stockpiled enough PPE for emergencies such as this pandemic. It should also have maintained the stock by issuing stock before it went out of date and replacing with new. Some of the PPE shown on Panorama was 4 years out of date... It's called stock control.

Yes, it's then up to hospitals to order what they need from the central supply but the PPE they need isn't always available; it's not in stock because it hasn't been bought or not enough has been bought.

And the NHS funding has been cut in real terms over the past ten years of tory government. Which has no doubt made it harder to buy in adequate stocks...

Thank you EllanVannin! People always want someone to blame. Even when lockdown started there were many who carried on as normal and some still are.
Until all of us think about what we are doing and could our actions spread the virus it will be more difficult to control.
There are no experts on Covid19 as it is a new virus and we are learning all the time.

A brilliant post EllanVannin and absolutely true. Tbh I have become so disgusted with the constant comments blaming the governments handling of this awful unprecedented virus both on this and a similar thread, (even resorting to what are deeply unpleasant and frankly childish personal comments about Boris in particular) that I've decided not to post on these particular sites anymore. Your comments however are a breath of fresh air and I just wanted to say that before retreating once again!

Excellent post EllenVannin !! ?

I'm fed up with whingers playing the blame game all the time. If anyone is to blame it's China who started the whole thing. Every country is doing its best to deal with their damn virus.

Pandemics can and has killed millions, not thousands so I think the country has done very well considering not everyone adhered to the initial lockdown with the tubes still crammed like sardines and buses/taxis etc still operating when dozens were dying of a disease that spreads like wildfire.

The government weren't responsible for " a lack of PPE " at all, though those of you who have a distinct misunderstanding of financial management within each hospital will still keep repeating the same old thing in chorus---" it's the government's fault ", even when £140 billion has already been spread amongst the NHS. It's then down to hospital management and their NHS departments to order as required.

Though you're stuffed if those orders reach the same " type " of person wearing a " jobsworth " hat and who also blames the government in some form or another and as a consequence they're so wrapped up in their own personal politics that things are delayed.

But hey-ho, it's your prerogative to blame every Tom Dick and Harry along with the minority herd mentality of the country when and where you think fit.

Even if Boris had put the blockers on everything from the start ,at the beginning of January it still wouldn't have stopped those flying here and there as they did, besides which, if he'd ordered a complete lockdown on everything the outcry would have resounded into total anarchy here as nobody likes doing as they're told, like Taiwan for instance who have GPS trackers. Imagine living like that.? Their cases were low all the same so people can think what they like about their way of controlling infection.

I'm afraid Boris can't do right for doing wrong with some, but I don't see many complaints from his quarter as nobody but nobody could ever have foreseen that this virus had such a strangle-hold, probably thinking that by the time it reached our shores it would act like a bad case of 'flu.

I've worked through two pandemics, both times being on hospital wards when " barrier " nursing was key and no specialized kit was used as we changed into uniforms on entering a ward while our clothes and outer garments were kept free from infection. We had full length gowns masks and head-covers theatre shoes and plastic isolators were used to protect both patients and staff. We didn't lose any staff.

We also had other highly infectious diseases in the 50's when Asian 'flu struck in 1957----TB and smallpox along with whooping cough and yellow jaundice on a ward I was working on.After 8 months of this type of nursing and at 17 years of age I was exhausted.

All barrier clothing was washed on the premises at the hospital laundry and steam-cleaned and sterilized. The regime was very strict but is the only way to prevent a disease from spreading.

Outer clothing can carry this virus in the form of fomites from those who are infected and I shudder to think of seating areas on buses and trains and planes which haven't been disinfected as they should be.
UK get your act together and help stop the spread of infection for the sake of the staff of the NHS. Do as you're told and stop blaming the government, it's the people themselves !

I suspect that your, and Crace's, optimism is unfounded, WWmk2. ☹

TOTALLY AGREE

Totally agree. While it's good to see that Johnson is well enough to return to work there's a lot of issues to be addressed. When I first heard that American modellers predicted a death toll of 60000 for the UK I thought it seemed unlikely. I now think that we will be lucky to see the back of this with less.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/28/theres-no-such-thing-just-following-the-science-coronavirus-advice-political
Following the science means following the bit that most fits the agenda. If I hear that term one more time.......

Bloody hell, if we weren't all fed-up, we are now

Well on that cheery and motivating note I shall go and make a cup of tea and try not to think suicidal thoughts.