Hospital staff snub Prime Minister

Rates are already going up Jane. Rate of infection in my area has gone up by 0.4% in the last week. With the population of my area, that is over 1000 people.

1000 more people with C19. Schools should NOT be opening.

As far as care homes are concerned, weren't hospitals told to empty as many beds as possible in preparation for the expected influx of C19 patients?

Didn't we have a poster strongly defending the move to send C19 patients back to their care home on the grounds that there wasn't much a hospital could do for them and it was better for them to die in familiar surroundings? (And the care home should have all the necessary PPE, palliative medication and nursing skills)

Then we had the debate on whether care homes were cash cows for millionaire owners who cut staffing and equipment to the bone and who were thus completely responsible for care home deaths?

Or was it up to the LAs ,who had to send some old people there, because they don't have their own care homes, to keep a check on standards.

Or were there some genuine and dedicated care home owners who were struggling financially and for whom the care of C19 patients was a last straw for which they couldn't afford to be prepared?

But, of course, it was in no way the responsibility of the government because, despite having a Department of Health and Social Care, social care isn't their remit because it's mostly all privatised...

So many conflicting stories. So many dead old people...

It may be that, on balance, we'll be OK. We are not necessarily doomed to a second wave of infections. It may be OK to reopen schools carefully. It may be OK to resume other NHS services but we'll never know unless we make a careful start. The country cannot remain in hiding indefinitely.

What is worrying me is, if the only way that the NHS has been able to cope with this first wave of covid infections has been to severely limit other resources, what is going to happen when we get, as now appears to be likely, an inevitable second wave?

Is the government planning to increase capacity to cope with that as well as returning all other services more back to 'normal'? I don't know at all what the position is on this, but I don't have a lot of confidence in the future.

We know that the NHS went into this first wave seriously understaffed and under resourced. We knew this before Covid even happened because NHS bodies had been warning of their unpreparedness to cope with even a 'normal' winter flu episode this winter.

X post felice, mine was not in response to yours.

A post from someone who knows and has brought some local knowledge and common sense to the thread.

Why should the title be changed?

Pantglas started the thread with a link to Belgium.

Yes, Jane10 Symptomless does not mean that the virus is not present. Obviously it was thought that sending elderly people back to their care homes would be safer for them than in hospital, but the RMO had a duty of care to ensure that they were not carrying the virus back with them.

The home owners failed in their duty of care to both staff and residents.

I was not going to get involved in this as I do not post on anything political.
The protest was just that, politics, at the moment we do not have a government, again. She is an interim PM and not too popular.
You would need to study the Political system here to understand.
The reason for the high posted death rates is that Belgium has been counting all deaths, in care homes, peoples own homes Hospitals and the huge Convalescent homes we have here.
Any death from suspected Covid 19 has also been counted.
It is expected the numbers will go down when autopsies are completed.
There are a lot of Hospitals in Brussels and St Pierre being in the city centre has been used as the main Hospital for Covid 19 for Brussels.
The main testing centres are at St Elizabeth and St Michel.
If you have symptoms you call your GP and then make an appointment to go for a test, same day, results in 48 hours.
I noticed the thread became quickly about the NHS and Boris, as I said in a previous post I am not sure what this has to do with Belgium.
Our health services are very very different so is our political system.

I've been thinking about the care home situation. Obviously they are full of the sort of frail elderly people most at risk. Decisions were made by responsible clinicians to discharge patients back to them without checking first whether or not they were carrying the infection back to this at risk group. In NHS the RMO is key (responsible medical officer). Surely they have some responsibility here? I know we're all supposed to venerate our wonderful medics but bad decisions were made and they weren't all down to Westminster.
Puts on tin hat and retires.

Not much mention about Belgium on here. Perhaps the title should be changed.

The first sentence was to Dinahmo
People's experiences of the NHS are often different.

Do you not understand? The thread is about Belgium.

I had a lovely phone chat with my new consultant the other day. He isn't working from home but out of a different hospital which is very inconvenient but safer for him, the staff and those patients who have to attend in person for treatment.

For heaven's sake you lot (at least the ones who are complaining about the NHS) The consultants are often working from home doing skype consultations. The rest are working in the hospitals looking after those with covid 19.

Have you seen the photos of the staff, ranging from nurses to consultants who have died whilst looking after the rest of themselves.

Some of you should be feeling ashamed of yourselves.

gillybob Remember the shortage of 20,000 nurses etc? One reason why the Nightingale Hospitals weren't fully used (if at all)

I suspect that the Nightingales were installed because it was quick and easy to do and it showed the the govt were doing something successfully. About the only thing and what a waste of money.

No idea where that hospital is Harris27, but it's not what staff working at the three hospitals near to me are saying. Some wards are empty because they have no staff for them. There was already a shortage of staff, some are self-isolating because they have symptoms or underlying health conditions and others have been redeployed.

Presumably your OH is an adult, is capable of living as healthily as he can and can pick up a phone to try to speak to a doctor.

He has conditions which make him vulnerable to being badly affected, so presumably he's completely self-isolating. The last place I want to go at the moment is anywhere near a hospital with Covid-19 patients.

True Calli and they only pay a minimum wage. Greedy beggars.

Alexa
I myself with my old fashioned knowledge of infection control could have handled the care home fiasco better than the the present government.

I think one of the problems with care homes is that they are not local authority run - around 84% are owned by faceless millionaires, for-profit companies and venture capitalists. They left their dedicated staff without adequate protection and then, of course, it is easy to blame the government rather than themselves and their lack of care for their employees and residents.

I agree quizqueen . I though the same when the mayor of London allowed then to fly that awful blimp . Imagine if it had been Obama, the queen or anyone else ?

Shocking really .

My DS remains convinced that my DH had CV at the end of last year. We never ever got a proper diagnosis for the unknown virus he had. Double pneumonia , sepsis and symptoms mimicking legionella. He is incredibly lucky to be alive .

If anyone called Obama an orang-utan, it would be termed racist but it's seems it's okay to call Mr Trump one. That's disgraceful.

He has so much other stuff going on too growstuff it’s as though he has fallen through the cracks and is being ignored. I’m battling so many things right now and don’t feel like I should be battling for my DH’s life as well .

I echo callistemon's post.

I’ve often wondered about this also oopsminty.I do think in Later months the problem will be more severe about people dying due to not getting the relevant appointments in hospital when they needed them some may be routine but some more serious and like they say cancer doesn’t wait around for anyone. Such a sad situation.

* There's an article in today's Guardian claiming that between 10-20% of Covid-19 cases in hospital were acquired in hospital,*

I've been wondering about that for quite a while now.

I've family working in hospitals who have mentioned this. Also, the 2 people that we know that have died, were both in hospital with different ailments when they contracted the virus .

One chap in his 50s had been fit and healthy and had gone in for a knee operation

I was talking to a nurse yesterday and she said her hospital which is a main hospital is practically empty. She said she’s sitting around waiting for a patient to come in and getting paid for this. Their cleaning door handles etc to keep busy so if Boris needs to restart the economy he should start getting patients back for appointments.