On the face of it, i really liked it also but I wasn’t totally sure which risks weren’t worth taking.
Well, I guess we each consider the amount of risk we are each prepared to take, and that it is largely an insular process. Covid changed the rules really, and now risks in one way or another are forced on us, be that in lock down, not accessing treatment or at times, even going for a ****ing walk. Perhaps this may sound simplistic, but i dont understand if 1% or whatever the figure is of those most at risk of death; the elderly, the sick, the fat, couldn’t we have done something that shielded them whilst everyone else made up their own mind. The issue as i saw it for this is that many of these people didn’t want t be the only ones locked down, so we all went through it (care homes excluded). Interesting know how much **** loads of people on this site attacked the Gov for what went on in care homes and basically Called them murderers, when i was thinking that care homes are private entities that make **** loads of cash, and have the ability, as any business does, to effectively make their own decisions based on risk assessments and pandemic planning. I work int he FM business and we had a tried and tested BCP for pandemics and i was totally amazed that care homes kept saying they relied on Gov advice - for me they failed a basic duty. I’m sure when I studied Nichiren Buddhism there was some old proverb about famine & disease in a Japanese village and they put the elderly and infirm away to keep them safe, as they knew they needed their wisdom to overcome adversity.
Ok, so some dont make money, in this case it is re-invested back into the home, which is great and makes me realise there is still hope out there. Even so, they are still required to prepare business continuity plans, and pandemics are pretty much top of the list, especially for care homes. I get this one is pretty severe (understatement of the year), but care homes should know much better how to handle patients going into hospital, back to care homes and be isolated, in the event of a major contagion. If not, that is also dereliction of duties on the part of care homes. I’m not saying the Gov couldn’t have given advice, but care homes start with the responsibility, and to cascade the approach/plan through their staff - unless I’m getting this totally wrong, I’m happy to be corrected if so
Trying to apportion blame for the disastrous impact of Covid in care homes probably isn’t that helpful right now. Preventing it recurring should be the priority (there seems to be some evidence it already is). That said, it’s surely not unreasonable for care home managers and staff to expect help and direction from the appropriate government agencies going forward. Is it? Historical privatisation of the care sector doesn’t absolve government of responsibility towards the recipients of that care.
Spoke to a friend who is a ICU nurse, and she said the problem in the care homes is that when patients were discharged from hospital (even though some were showing symptoms). They were told to self isolate in the homes, but a lot suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s so unless they locked them in their rooms like prisoners they don’t know anything different and want to mix with the other residents like normal. Tough one for the homes to police.
Exactly what I heard as well. Hospital wards were emptied of the old and vulnerable in preparation for the "wave" and care homes were tasked with looking after them with little or no guidance, no PPE and, horrifyingly, without being told in some cases that these patients were exhibiting symptoms. I'll never forgive the bastards who, basically, murdered many of the people I knew in my mother's care home because of what happened. But - big bonus for the government, less to pay in care costs and a big reduction in the pension outlay .............
You have to be so careful when dealing with people that have Care needs, and look out if you stray from the agreed care plan. I used to care for a young man, who has cerebral palsy, and who was extremely volatile, temper wise. He was in his powered mobility chair, and we were crossing a road when he just went into tantrum mode, because his mum hadn’t let him visit with her for as long as he wanted. So there we are, middle of the road, a T junction 20 yards to our right, and a 90 degree bend in the road to our left, and he refused to move. As the road is a rat run, I had to get him to move before a local swung round the bend or corner, and hit us, so I used the switch, at the rear of his chair, which turned off the power and allowed me to push the chair like a manual chair. As soon as we were safely on the pavement, less than one minute later, I switched the power back on, giving him back control. I had to report the situation to my company, because of the danger my client had put us in, but then had to sit through a meeting, that pointed out that by turning the chair’s power off, I was “restraining” my client. Common sense finally ruled and his care plan was changed to allow other careers to take the same action, should the same thing happen again. So, back to the point about dementia sufferers in care homes, locking them up in their own room would have to be agreed by those with power of attorney etc.
Coronavirus wards and the Nightingale wards have been put on standby here, from what I read this morning. We are 2/3/4 weeks behind France I think, so it is to be expected.
Absolutely. As my wife says, and remember she works on a dementia unit in a care home, exactly how do you explain to someone with Alzheimer’s what this swab heading for the back of their throat is for? If they don’t have the capacity to understand about social distancing, and patients ripping masks off nurses and carers happens several times a day, testing is way beyond what is possible without violating their rights. Fortunately in her home, the patients discharged without testing were put into the nursing unit upstairs, where there has so far only been one COVID-related death so far, amazingly, but then Somerset has been the least-hit county so far. If the second wave includes us, though, I honestly don’t know how the dementia cases will fare.
My Neighbour is a consultant in Bournemouth Hospital (Bowel stuff not COVID), but we were chatting today and she says that they are gearing up for a lot worse than the 'first wave' that although didn't hit Bmth really, she still lost 4 colleagues to it. EDIT: Yet we have another neighbour who boasts about working the NHS all the time (she is a secretary to another consultant) and constantly flaunts any form of lockdown. Last time they had gatherings every weekend with 10-12 people on a Sunday and her 17year old has asthma and a pacemaker. This unfortunately is my immediate neighbour and needless to say we don't all get on.
So as of tomorrow we can’t have gatherings of 6 inside your own home or in pubs restaurants, so the best place to have a meet up is on the tube where there are no restrictions
