For one you couldn't blame them. Would I want to clean a bed space that I knew had a Corona patient in it that morning, with basic PPE, hell no! But that's what they're asked to do. And as a final insult they are told that the overtime bonus has been cut as of this week. You couldn't make it up.
Bloody hell Col thats the million dollar question. In some quarters it's because the government are crap and let the NHS run down and are not prepared. For me, I think the government were probably a bit slow off the mark and are in a long queue to get the vital stuff needed.This didn't help with the Chinese clearing us out of masks and gloves. However other than the PPE, we are coping quite well according to the spokespeople and figures released. Although we are not on the ground so who knows exactly? No one could have prepared for this... unless you stockpile everything needed and I don't believe you can do that.
I didn't watch the briefing as it's been the same every day now. Ppe on it's way (from another universe judging by the speed its taking). Testing getting ramped up which was supposed to be 25k by mid week, I hazard a guess that it's nowhere ****ing near that nor will it be for some time. A couple of colourful graphs that mean absolutely **** all to anyone. Have I got the jist of it?? Same again tomorrow and the day after etc.
Again I agree, nobody could have prepared for this, at least to the extent its potentially going to reach anyway. It's the mixed messages that dont seem to actually be happening that's really pissing me off. They apparently stated that preparation seriously started in January, apart from locking people down, **** all else has happened! Granted the new nightingale hospital has speedily been sorted and full credit there but we are about to begin April ffs. It's not good enough in my opinion.
I don’t think just throwing our hands up and saying nobody could have prepared is good enough. Nobody is saying we could have avoided every death but it wasn’t long ago we were actively planning for the majority of the country to get infected quickly.
The way the government has handled this situation seems worse by the day. Where is the protective gear for NHS staff? Where are the ventilators - yes, F1 is standing up, but wasn't a contract awarded to Dyson? Why is antigen testing so slow? Where are the antibody tests? We knew in January that this was coming, but no real preventative action was taken until March, after the herd immunity approach was abandoned. Whilst no one could know what form it would take, a pandemic such as this has been anticipated for some time and a review of our readiness for such a crisis - undertaken 3 years ago - was not acted upon by the government.
We were preparing in some areas Watford. It didn't just start a week ago. Our scientists confirmed on TV that they have been working hard since Jan. The government maybe blinked (which could have cost us time) but they were making preparations some time ago. (I will go further on this in the coming days). As I said recent Germany has big Pharma manufacturing whereas we don't. I still think that those bloody Chinese have caused us more problems. It's not all doom and gloom Watford. Although the football season ain't happening.
No it hasn't. That is still the plan. They just don't refer to it as herd. All this lockdown is doing is stalling it so the NHS doesn't get swamped. They will get fit people back to work as soon as they can. They are probably waiting for these test kits.
What’s the difference in how people are tested post mortem and how people such as nhs workers should be being tested? I heard something today that inferred the testing of the the virus in only qualitative, in that it only shows the presence or absence of the virus, but not whether an individual has it in high, dangerous amounts or low inconsequential amounts. Does anyone know if this is valid and true. Could this explain the lack of testing progress? Could give false positives?
Bloody hell Woody thats a good point! Maybe Staines might know, I thought I heard the fella on Sky say they test the critical... but interesting that they can say when have x amount of new cases but still have NHS staff to test.
I don’t think they are being slow, I think they over promised based on the best possible interpretation they could put on things. We don’t make antigen tests, the antibody tests don’t exist, the ventilators are much more complicated than thought, all because we don’t actually make much of this stuff in this country. And the tests will get worse as everywhere, even Germany, is running out of key disposables. The PPE stuff is a total disgrace though. Seems to be just as bad in New York, except they are testing more. It would depend on how well it was explained. Most staff are fit so wouldn’t be scared of catching it I assume, so it needs to be presented in terms of reducing infections and protecting lives. But if you do strike the libertarians who are upset with the police telling them off and, more importantly, those who have lost their incomes because of the Government strategy will say you are heroes because it kills the government approach dead. But if you all go off sick with suspected COVID19 it has the same effect and no one will hate you. Plus you get sick pay. There aren’t any tests so they can’t prove you’re on the lam.
