Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[peasy23]

[ICTChris]

 

[welshbairn]

13 minutes ago, The Master said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57703959

Protection from what? The vaccines are crushing the hospital numbers and that’s before everyone is fully immunised. 

Think the problem is more to do with staff shortages due to Track and Trace rather than increased hospitalisation. That and all the backlog.

[Cyclizine]

2 hours ago, trainspotter said:

The BMA would also like, amongst other things, for boxing to be banned and for all smoking in cars to be banned so it's not a given that they get their way on everything.

The BMA are a useless union. I was a member until they absolutely shat it in the junior doctors contract negotiations. To me a union should represent its members' interests, there's loads of other learned societies, colleges and whatnot in medicine that can pontificate on health, it's not the role of a union.

[Ginaro]

36 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

 

500 is the default maximum for an event, but you can apply to the local authority / Scot Gov for an increased number. Did the rugby have entry requirements like testing?

[Cyclizine]

40 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Think the problem is more to do with staff shortages due to Track and Trace rather than increased hospitalisation. That and all the backlog

Everywhere is absolutely rammed at the moment. We've actually got more patients in critical care than we had during the last wave and the rest of the hospital is bursting. The reduced real estate doesn't help, but we think this is because the public health measures to reduce Covid spread had the additional effect of reducing spread of the usual winter bugs: RSV, flu, paraflu etc. We're now seeing a spike of admissions for these, that we'd usually expect in winter, not summer, which isn't boding well for the coming winter. This is also coupled with people presenting late with newer onset conditions and those with chronic conditions who have deteriorated during the last year and a half. We've also got staff missing due to isolation. We realistically need to change the rules for those who are vaccinated and are just contacts.

[Thereisalight..]

26 minutes ago, Ginaro said:

500 is the default maximum for an event, but you can apply to the local authority / Scot Gov for an increased number. Did the rugby have entry requirements like testing?

No entry requirements. I was there and was half expecting a temp check just so they could be seen to be doing something but no. About 90% of people didn’t wear a mask or sit in their allocated seats. It’s over, people no longer care. Get the football grounds open with a full quota of home fans at least 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Thereisalight..

[SoapMactavish]

1 hour ago, Cyclizine said:

Everywhere is absolutely rammed at the moment. We've actually got more patients in critical care than we had during the last wave and the rest of the hospital is bursting. The reduced real estate doesn't help, but we think this is because the public health measures to reduce Covid spread had the additional effect of reducing spread of the usual winter bugs: RSV, flu, paraflu etc. We're now seeing a spike of admissions for these, that we'd usually expect in winter, not summer, which isn't boding well for the coming winter. This is also coupled with people presenting late with newer onset conditions and those with chronic conditions who have deteriorated during the last year and a half. We've also got staff missing due to isolation. We realistically need to change the rules for those who are vaccinated and are just contacts.

Exactly. Number of kids with RSV/croup is a concerning indicator. 
 

Much like Cyclizine, we are missing something like 12 staff, because its much more rife in the community and people are having to isolate more.

[super_carson]

1 hour ago, Cyclizine said:

Everywhere is absolutely rammed at the moment. We've actually got more patients in critical care than we had during the last wave and the rest of the hospital is bursting. The reduced real estate doesn't help, but we think this is because the public health measures to reduce Covid spread had the additional effect of reducing spread of the usual winter bugs: RSV, flu, paraflu etc. We're now seeing a spike of admissions for these, that we'd usually expect in winter, not summer, which isn't boding well for the coming winter. This is also coupled with people presenting late with newer onset conditions and those with chronic conditions who have deteriorated during the last year and a half. We've also got staff missing due to isolation. We realistically need to change the rules for those who are vaccinated and are just contacts.

How can that be managed going forward?   I saw comments from the fella Semple at Edinburgh Uni, but wouldn't continued/re-introduced restrictions in winter just end up with the same result next year?  This is a genuine question and not an attempt to be a dick btw, it just looks like (from my layman's perspective) that we were so focused on covid for the last year and a half that we've just stumbled into arguably bigger problems for our health service.  

[harry94]

At the start of the pandemic adverts for masks were banned on the grounds they didn't work.  Governments didn't put in place early lockdowns because they didn't think the population would be willing to adhere to them.  Now, governments aren't willing to get rid of social distancing and mask mandates because they think the population are too scared to go back.  

I thought it was more of a procurement issue that the western gov were shitting it that they'd have ppe shortages in hospitals so didn't want them bought up.

[Ross.]

Post second shot Moderna migraine lasted a good 24 hours. Had to sack work not long after starting yesterday, went back to bed and slept from 11am until 6am this morning. Just feeling a tad lethargic today but no headache anymore, which is nice…

[Ross.]

5 hours ago, stumigoo said:

Absolutely fuming/frustrated this morning. Our wee one has to go to A&E, hopefully nothing serious, but only one parent is allowed to go. I’ve been double jabbed, wife has been single jabbed. We’re teachers so have about a thousand of these test kits in the house, each testing negative, but only one can go to the hospital. Honesty, get this shite so far to f**k.

When my son was born last year, he spent his first couple of nights in intensive care. I had to choose if I wanted to see him or see my missus, and she wasn’t allowed in the intensive care ward at all because she had a high temperature during the labour. Was an absolute c**t of a few days for both of us.

[BlueBear]

The NHS was creaking at the seems pre Covid due to underfunding and gross mismanagement. 

Covid only compounded the problem and government have done nothing to right the wrong. 

Now we have many a health professional hiding behind Covid rules and and millions not being treated. Where is the consistency when one Doctor will do face to face consultations and others not?! 

Many do do a great job in the NHS, but it's a train wreck, strangled with bureaucracy, over burdened with jobsworth box tickers backing up the system.  As one Consultant told me, management have lost the dressing room. 

Quite simply governments North and south of the border are not prepared, nor can afford to resource it to be fit for purpose, but Boris can waste tens of billions on useless crony contracts that added no value in the fight against Covid. 

[gav-ffc]

• 3,108 new cases of COVID-19 reported 
• 34,567 new tests for COVID-19 that reported results 
  • 9.6% of these were positive
• 3 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive 
• 25 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
• 306 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19 
• 3,844,371 people have received the first dose of the Covid vaccination and 2,749,373 have received their second dose

[Cyclizine]

51 minutes ago, super_carson said:

How can that be managed going forward?   I saw comments from the fella Semple at Edinburgh Uni, but wouldn't continued/re-introduced restrictions in winter just end up with the same result next year?  This is a genuine question and not an attempt to be a dick btw, it just looks like (from my layman's perspective) that we were so focused on covid for the last year and a half that we've just stumbled into arguably bigger problems for our health service.  

If we did nothing, the situation would have been significantly worse. We were never fully overwhelmed in Scotland, but came pretty damn close. We've just had no respite. We normally expect it to be busy in Winter and were (generally) prepared for it. There's just no slack in the system currently and staff are burnt out. I don't know what the answer is.

14 minutes ago, BlueBear said:

The NHS was creaking at the seems pre Covid due to underfunding and gross mismanagement. 

Covid only compounded the problem and government have done nothing to right the wrong. 

Now we have many a health professional hiding behind Covid rules and and millions not being treated. Where is the consistency when one Doctor will do face to face consultations and others not?! 

Many do do a great job in the NHS, but it's a train wreck, strangled with bureaucracy, over burdened with jobsworth box tickers backing up the system.  As one Consultant told me, management have lost the dressing room. 

Quite simply governments North and south of the border are not prepared, nor can afford to resource it to be fit for purpose, but Boris can waste tens of billions on useless crony contracts that added no value in the fight against Covid. 

Ah, the standard answer of the armchair expert! If anything, the NHS is under-managed. I don't want to be a manager, I want to practice medicine which is my job. Having good managers let me do this. One suggestion I have is to make healthcare management a registered profession like medicine, nursing and other allied health professions, so that they are regulated.

As for "hiding behind Covid regulations" what else can we do? The main constraint is physical space within GP surgeries, so it's a no-brainer that face-to-face consultations have reduced.

[super_carson]

19 minutes ago, Cyclizine said:

If we did nothing, the situation would have been significantly worse. We were never fully overwhelmed in Scotland, but came pretty damn close. We've just had no respite. We normally expect it to be busy in Winter and were (generally) prepared for it. There's just no slack in the system currently and staff are burnt out. I don't know what the answer is.

That's completely fair, and I don't think any sane person would say we should have done nothing either.  In some ways, the decision to lockdown was quite a straightforward one.  The really hard bit to get right is getting things up and running again, balancing healthcare, the economy and society as a whole.  

We can throw all the money at it we like, but you need the staff to do the work.  

[Abdul_Latif]

27 minutes ago, Cyclizine said:

As for "hiding behind Covid regulations" what else can we do? The main constraint is physical space within GP surgeries, so it's a no-brainer that face-to-face consultations have reduced.

Our just short of 2 year old daughter was refused a face to face in Dundee this week for a suspected chest infection.

Was sent home from nursery on Monday to get a PCR which came back negative on Tuesday.

Wife called the doctor on Wednesday to say she had a pretty bad cough, but not COVID. Telephone appointment said to call back Friday if not any better.

Called back Friday and only offered a telephone appointment again. Doctor advised she would not be seen in the surgery as they won’t see anyone for respiratory issues and our only options were to accept a prescription for amoxicillin or go to the COVID clinic at Kings Cross hospital.

Now I don’t know if it’s NHS Tayside that stipulated that or if it’s the surgery’s own decision, but IMO it’s a piss take not to see an infant to even hear the cough and put the stethoscope on them - especially after returning a negative PCR.

[MP_MFC]

Track and trace only contacting people who are at high risk of Covid.


That’s a big change in policy.

Not quite. It’s high risk scenarios where there is likely onward transmission issues, so I guess retail, hospitality and travel basically and they’ll trust that folk who test positive in houses etc will tell others.

[BlueBear]

26 minutes ago, Cyclizine said:

If we did nothing, the situation would have been significantly worse. We were never fully overwhelmed in Scotland, but came pretty damn close. We've just had no respite. We normally expect it to be busy in Winter and were (generally) prepared for it. There's just no slack in the system currently and staff are burnt out. I don't know what the answer is.

Ah, the standard answer of the armchair expert! If anything, the NHS is under-managed. I don't want to be a manager, I want to practice medicine which is my job. Having good managers let me do this. One suggestion I have is to make healthcare management a registered profession like medicine, nursing and other allied health professions, so that they are regulated.

As for "hiding behind Covid regulations" what else can we do? The main constraint is physical space within GP surgeries, so it's a no-brainer that face-to-face consultations have reduced.

One daughter is a Urological Surgeon at University College Hospital London and another, Practice Manager at a local GP practice. 

It's a fucking train wreck burdened with the same old shitty jobsworth of which you appear to be on and you ain't no Doctor. 

Amongst other businesses, I personally owned a very successful 3rd party Occupational Health company, and hired the GGC Head of Occ Health who was based at the GRI, who even back then twenty years ago, confirmed the NHS was a train wreck. My next door neighbour is a well known Cardiologist and also proclaims same. My daughters old boss who is a Clinical Director in GGC NHS repeats same. Saw him last week fir golf and its now far worse. 

So you stay happy in your defensive bubble and ket the pros do their job as best they can, in being constrained by jobsworth and a thousand government cuts. 

 

[Cyclizine]

4 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

I don’t know if it’s NHS Tayside that stipulated that or if it’s the surgery’s own decision, but IMO it’s a piss take not to see an infant to even hear the cough and put the stethoscope on them - especially after returning a negative PCR

I can't comment on individual practices' policies. But, URTI is extremely common in children, there's a lot of normally-seen-in-winter bugs floating around at the moment and in an otherwise well child, clinical examination isn't going to add much to management. There's a reason stethoscopes are known as guessing tubes... Appreciate I don't know the full story and am not trying to defend the practice here.