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Coronavirus

Respirator Supply & Demand Dilemma!

(65 Posts)
ananimous Sat 14-Mar-20 18:50:52

Where are the assurances from Boris that, as one of the 5th richest world economies, He is doing everything possible to source more medical equipment to ensure damage limitation?

The Tories will be the ones in the wilderness for decades if they don't throw some cash at this right now.

The bull might make more sense if we knew our hospitals were eagerly anticipating new respirators.

I am reminded of this movie scene -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1AIroyiLEM

"It's after ten!" - Mrs Greenway urges action!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1AIroyiLEM
It really is after ten.

Pumpkinhead&Sparkless have gone to ground, so there is that I s'pose.

Is it time we crowdfunded respirator supplies ourselves?

Good luck everyone.

ananimous Sat 14-Mar-20 18:52:03

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1AIroyiLEM Oop!

ananimous Sat 14-Mar-20 18:52:24

*s hmm grin

Doodledog Sat 14-Mar-20 19:10:40

I think it is very scary to think that decisions about who lives and who dies will be taken on the basis of age and whether or not we have underlying conditions, unless something drastic happens, which seems highly unlikely.

I can understand the logic (who couldn't), but as you say, in the fifth richest country in the world these decisions should not have to be taken.

Austerity has a lot to answer for, as do those who voted for it. I know that is harsh (and I await the whataboutery), but as someone with asthma whose husband is diabetic, I am scared and resentful.

ananimous Sat 14-Mar-20 19:16:23

Me too.
Isolate, and hopefully we can make it to the New Vaccine Level.
And especially looking forward to voting time, should I be spared.

The sick advert-lady on the opening page of GN is coughing into her balled up fist! Get a tissue, or use your elbow... hmm

craftyone Sat 14-Mar-20 19:18:26

so stay isolated and safe while the nhs and scientists do their work. It always they and them for some, for goodness take responsibility for yourself.

Bed blockers need to be moved to hotels, the younger adults need to recover and become immune so they can care for the vulnerable later in time and don`t believe everything you see or hear. There is a lot of scaremongering. The government are listening to their qualified advisors and all are doing a sterling job

ananimous Sat 14-Mar-20 19:36:09

Short of getting my own respirator, I don't know what your point is craftyone. Do you work for Boris?
Attacking me with the usual nasty digs, again. [Lol! I find you amusing.]
Anyhooo...
NHS staff are the best, that goes without saying..

I have long since lost confidence in the "experts".

Let us never forget that Pol Pot, and Mengele were also "expert advisors".
--Russian roulette--herd immunity - whatever you want to call it, would be more palatable if we had the necessary respirators in place, or in the pipeline at the very least.

SueDonim Sat 14-Mar-20 20:41:26

Doodledog said I think it is very scary to think that decisions about who lives and who dies will be taken on the basis of age and whether or not we have underlying conditions, unless something drastic happens, which seems highly unlikely.

My dd is a final year medic and those kinds of decisions are already taken every day of every week. There will indeed be more decisions to be made but that is the system we already have.

Matt Morgan’s book, Critical explains this.

Hetty58 Sat 14-Mar-20 20:49:22

Yes, we do already have that system. Decades ago, my friend (a nurse) was fed up because the doctors didn't want to choose who lived or died - so left it up to the nurses.

Then, it was a question of not enough beds. Not enough respirators is a whole new level of problem. It will be blindingly obvious who is getting treatment - and who isn't!

M0nica Sun 15-Mar-20 09:05:28

So could someone tell me where we would get all these respirators overnight were the government to throw money at it?

There are a defined number if respirator manufacturers with a maximum production capacity. Each respirator contains a set number of parts, some of which will need to be brought in from abroad. Even if a British manufacturer could produce them, they will need plans, raw materials, they will need to retool their production lines and retrain their staff. The defect level will be high to begin with.

There is a pandemic disease spreading at the moment. It is worldwide, so every country is wanting to buy up ventilators. There is competition for scarce resources.

So, I ask again, even if we had billions to buy ventilators, how do we get them into the system in less than a month and probably longer.

Do not do the 'if we had invested in the NHS' cant' Even if we had spent every penny everyone wanted , we would still have a lack of ventilators to deal with a crisis like this, unless we had warehouses filled with them waiting possible use in a crisis like this. Then everyone would be complaining about governement profligact in wasting money on equipment that wasn't needed, like they did when it stocked up with Tamiflu doses for the Swine flu epidemic that was not as bad as expected.

Missfoodlove Sun 15-Mar-20 09:42:50

The PM is in discussions with JCB and Rolls Royce to produce respirators.

Has anyone asked what the drug companies are doing?

M0nica Sun 15-Mar-20 10:02:36

It doesn't matter who they ask to produce ventilators, it will still face all the problems I mentioned above.

The majority of the generic drugs, like paracetamol, needed to treat this disease are not produced by the big pharma companies. They are generics made and imported from India. It is the Indian government that needs to be spoken to because they have threatened to stop all exports because their own population need the medications.

merlotgran Sun 15-Mar-20 10:21:29

The PM is in discussions with JCB and Rolls Royce to produce respirators.

Shouldn't he be consulting Mr. Dyson? grin

M0nica Sun 15-Mar-20 10:23:15

Ah, but he manufactures overseas. JCB and RR have factories in Britian

Missfoodlove Sun 15-Mar-20 10:30:15

The drug companies have made billions out of us and in particular our aged population!
They should be reassuring us they are developing effective anti viral drugs.

ananimous Sun 15-Mar-20 11:16:37

With their profits before people agenda, the death toll is going to be much higher than necessary.

I heard about Corona-19 last year, Boris has known for longer than the general public, and had time to stock up, but has not bothered.
Collateral damage. Each tax break has a human cost now.

You may like to cluck about what word is correct to use, - I am more concerned with unnecessary loss of life due to penny-pinching, and over-confidence in a buffoon led government.

When it is a loved one waiting to be turned away from respiratory help, suddenly I'm woke!
I am fuming.

ananimous Sun 15-Mar-20 11:18:52

A shabby end to the lives of people that worked their whole life for this country.

ananimous Sun 15-Mar-20 11:27:19

A simple cash investment in our UK company that makes respirators would have been a decent plan.

ananimous Sun 15-Mar-20 11:38:28

Published: 27 May 2019

virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-019-1182-0

ananimous Sun 15-Mar-20 11:43:40

People cannot get through to 111 - What the hell is going on?

ananimous Sun 15-Mar-20 11:49:52

These older people were once children, too...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaPBzhEsCL0

Patsy70 Sun 15-Mar-20 12:24:04

There are not enough operatives to cope with the demand of 111 in a crisis such as this.

Labaik Sun 15-Mar-20 12:28:36

The BBC4 programme said that a pandemic was at the top of the governments list of bad things that might happen, and plans were in place if it did. So why are they behaving as if it's a total surprise to them. The programme said it was not a case of 'if' there's a pandemic but 'when'.

Fairviewtenby51 Sun 15-Mar-20 12:33:16

I think the government is running to catch up. The NHS is already in crisis. Self isolation for the over 70s is the only solution for now.
I think we can rely on that generation to do the best they can. The shame is that the country can t do more for them.

cupaffull Sun 15-Mar-20 12:35:26

As a nurse in the 70's we were already making decisions on who to treat or not and who would ultimately pass away, so this is nothing new.
On reflection now, I should have spoken up but was young and following guidelines. However I actively participated so it haunts me.