Breathtaking: facts and lies re COVID in the NHS

Too soon to watch and the title is very triggering when a loved one literally had no more breaths.

Was very hard to watch, and the snippets of real government footage interspersed with the drama, were even harder to watch. The initial inability of the government to realise the seriousness of the virus (despite the warnings from France and Italy) was shocking.

I know that DD's friend was working away from only saw her husband twice in the first few months, when he took her fresh clothes and supplies of ready meals. The internet was full of people telling us it was all a scam, it was a mild flu and the numbers of deaths were being inflated, while she was telling us about the people who were dying in A&E before they could even get them to a ward.

We were locked down here for 2 years but I have to say a lot of lives were saved because of the harshness of it. No one could travel more than 5 km from home and then only for food or essentials. They would fly helicopters overhead to make sure we were upholding the night curfew. Not an experience I would want to go through again and it has left lasting mental scars on many school aged and teenaged children.

I have watched the first two episodes, it was harrowing to watch what the hospitals had to endure and the country.
It all seemed a bit unreal...that we here today survived such an overwhelming time in history.
What an amazing work force we have in the NHS.

I am just thankful my OH missed it all - he died a few weeks before the lockdown - he would have been non-functional with anxiety. He had predicted a pandemic for years - he was a doctor - and was very worried about it.

I won't be watching.

My physical and mental health suffered from two years of sheilding, especially from lack of treatment, (Still is)If you think being locked down was harsh, try sheilding and being told you would not be eligible for a bed in Covid ICU, because you wouldn't survive.

I had a second heart attack during sheilding, I was in an out of hospital in less than twenty four hours ( too risky to stay) and saw first hand, what the staff had to contend with.
No drama could accurately depict what hospital staff had to contend with.

Like you Marydoll I shielded due to health issues, and that's why it feels so unreal I survived when so many healthy people died due to incompetence of the government.

I watched it all last night certainly brought back how harrowing everything was during those early months.
I felt is also highlighted how far we have come tests being so unavailable whereas now they are easily accessible The huge difference the vacinne has made as well as other antivirals
Not an experience anyone would wish to have again.

We watched it, very distressing in places and certainly brought home how fortunate we were not to contract covid in those early days. Would we have survived? We thought unlikely.

Very hard to watch, and those who were closely involved in it or bereaved by it I may never watch it (don’t quite understand ‘too soon’, will it ever not be too soon?) For the rest of us it was more than bad enough watching such selflessness and such bravery in the face of such government blindness and incompetence.

Marydoll

I won't be watching.

My physical and mental health suffered from two years of sheilding, especially from lack of treatment, (Still is)If you think being locked down was harsh, try sheilding and being told you would not be eligible for a bed in Covid ICU, because you wouldn't survive.

I had a second heart attack during sheilding, I was in an out of hospital in less than twenty four hours ( too risky to stay) and saw first hand, what the staff had to contend with.
No drama could accurately depict what hospital staff had to contend with.

No drama could accurately depict what hospital staff had to contend with

I agree Marydoll
I'm surprised a drama has been made so soon, especially when there are still deaths from Covid and the Civid Inquiry is still going on. It seems rather morbid in fact.

Perhaps they should have not taken the Royal Gwent Hospital documentary off iPlayer.

I prefer light hearted comedies such as Pride and Prejudice or One Foot in the Grave. However this seems to be a Must-See. Another theme of cheating politicians !

Failure to lock down early, lack of PPE, discharging untested patients to care homes, increased deaths due to the Christmas bubble, reassuring words from No. 10, travel to Durham, lack of testing and slow testing, lack of ITU beds for both COVID and surgical patients, lunatic mobs outside hospitals, claims Covid was a hoax, claims hospitals were empty, anti-vaxxers, death of courageous NHS staff: it's all there. What a legacy for BoJo and his Cabinet of Brexiteers. Where were the competent politicians?

I persisted for half an hour and then gave up. Too raw for me and life is currently difficult enough without regurgitating this awfulness. I'll perhaps try in ten years if it's still around.

This drama has been very well done.I have only watched the first one so far.I prefer watching as they are being aired.The acting is spot on.(I am assured of this by my daughter who works in the nhs)! I don't think we,the public,will ever fully realise what the staff went through during that awful time. I have nothing but gratitude and praise for them all. Also I hope all those who lost loved ones to Covid can find peace. No one could have imagined the suffering and devastation the pandemic caused worldwide.

Absolutely agree Delia22 it is harrowing but some lovely caring moments in there as well.

The juxtaposition of BJ spouting rubbish and the actual situation on the ground is very telling. It is also very frightening that decisions were being made by people many steps removed from the staff who could tell them what was needed, but their hands were tied by the various edicts. The clips of Matt Hancock are especially pitiful - he looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

I have now watched all of it on ITVx, and God, it was hard to watch.

I also shielded because of health issues, and was being treated for respiratory problems, largely over the phone, with occasional outpatient clinics in an apparently deserted hospital.

How Johnson et al had the brass neck to encourage people to clap for the NHS as though we were all in it together, when it was in the state this drama shows is beyond me. Do these people have no shame?

The series is very hard hitting, but definitely worth a watch. We should all be aware of what was going on - not just on Covid wards but much, much more generally.

Doodledog, you were fortunate, in that you had even the occasional clinic appointment.
My bloods weren't done for two years, apart from the day I had the heart attack, because it was deemed too risky for the district nurse to visit me and GP surgery or hospital were out of the question.
The bloods were supposed to be done every three months, due to the toxic meds I was on. By the time I had a face to face with my R.A consultant, the damage was done.
The first time I saw a cardiologist after the second heart attack I had during sheilding was when I was admitted to cardiology HDU in February 2023. I had been on the wrong medication all that time.
I am still waiting for a respiratory appointment.
I suspect that they hoped people like myself would die and save them a lot of bother.

On a more positive note, I have moved on. I can't change what happened, so the only way is forward. Dwelling on it is not good for the soul.

Won’t be watching it. It was a ghastly time for me personally because my Mum who had dementia was in a care home. I saw her every other day but when Covid I wasn’t allowed to see her for months.

The care home tried their best to allow contact and tried Facetime but just seeing her poor tired face, her confused eyes and tears rolling down her cheeks because she didn’t understand was too much for us both and we never tried again.

The horrendous adverts on TV showing infectious particles swirling around our homes, people wearing filthy face masks for weeks and people banging saucepans ……. i just want to forget all about it.

We’ve seen 2 episodes so far and it’s certainly hard to watch. The interspersed clips of politicians speaking nonsense are infuriating contrasted with what was really going on. I am so thankful for the work of those who made the vaccines so quickly, and that we were able to have them. I don’t see how anyone who watches this series could be an anti-vaxxer! (Not that I can understand anti-vaxxers anyway.)

It’s heartbreaking to watch, especially so for those who are still raw from personal experience, but for those who can, it’s essential viewing.
Thank you NHS.

I watched with tears in my eyes during the second programme.

Me too Maddyone. Absolutely heartbreaking to watch.