Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[mizfit]

 

Basically, freedom for some, mandated lockdown with little additional support for some?

[PedroMoutinho]

Sturgeon seemingly hinting at ‘unpopular’ decisions ahead

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19427243.covid-nicola-sturgeon-hints-lockdown-exit-delay-not-popular-decisions-ahead/?fbclid=IwAR2bWED_PQSiaGLMAEBumyCzV-t42nAoRCZ5ZBgOky9PvGvhVhLeNkeawRY

Edited July 8, 2021 by PedroMoutinho

[Michael W]

If we don't manage to ease the restrictions before the schools are back (and this applies everywhere in the UK taking into account different school timetables) then we'll be in lockdown in one form or another until Easter. 

We joke on here that Scotland is alway England +2 or 3 weeks, but Johnson is also quite Sturgeon +2 or 3 weeks when there's bad news. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Michael W

[PedroMoutinho]

7 minutes ago, Michael W said:

If we don't manage to ease the restrictions before the schools are back (and this applies everywhere in the UK taking into account different school timetables) then we'll be in lockdown in one form or another until Easter. 

We joke on here that Scotland is alway England +2 or 3 weeks, but Johnson is also quite Sturgeon +2 or 3 weeks when there's bad news. 

Yeah, August 16th is really the last possible date for reopening before you hit schools returning. 

The positive though is that furlough seems on track to end as planned so the Scot Gov can’t keep this going much longer, no matter how much they may want to.

[Todd_is_God]

30 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Sturgeon seemingly hinting at ‘unpopular’ decisions ahead

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19427243.covid-nicola-sturgeon-hints-lockdown-exit-delay-not-popular-decisions-ahead/?fbclid=IwAR2bWED_PQSiaGLMAEBumyCzV-t42nAoRCZ5ZBgOky9PvGvhVhLeNkeawRY

I really wish that both the UK & SG would stop with this hint dropping of bad news in the media etc.

It's an absolutely disgraceful way to play with people's lives, emotions, and, ultimately, mental health. This, to everyone apart from them, isn't a game.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I really wish that both the UK & SG would stop with this hint dropping of bad news in the media etc.

It's an absolutely disgraceful way to play with people's lives, emotions, and, ultimately, mental health. This, to everyone apart from them, isn't a game.

Can't speak for Scotland, but down here that's the way they roll. The Speaker has even expressed his disgust at the practise, but Johnson's creww continue to brief the media and then take action according to public reaction. Populism at its simplest. 

..and again, only talking about the crew in Wesminster - it absolutely is a fucking game. 

[PedroMoutinho]

7 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Can't speak for Scotland, but down here that's the way they roll. The Speaker has even expressed his disgust at the practise, but Johnson's creww continue to brief the media and then take action according to public reaction. Populism at its simplest. 

..and again, only talking about the crew in Wesminster - it absolutely is a fucking game. 

NS is particularly bad for hints and threats imo

[vikingTON]

The solution is to stop blanket isolating close contacts (no credible basis for this calculation anyway) who do not have symptoms, when the vaccine has removed almost all risk to vulnerable groups.

The logic for limiting asymptomatic spread was sound before vaccines were rolled out; now it is causing far greater problems than the shan virus the policy is trying to control. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by vikingTON

[ICTChris]

I'm waiting a callback from a GP about a non-Covid related issue.  I realise that the alias fantasist obviously made up all his stories about his GP but I'm consistently amazed by how difficult it is to get an appointment with a doctor.  Has it always been like this?  A few years ago my wife asked for a GP appointment and was told it was a three day wait for an emergency appointment - some emergency! 

Why has this become standard?  Are there too few GPs or an increase in demand?

[101]

Just now, ICTChris said:

I'm waiting a callback from a GP about a non-Covid related issue.  I realise that the alias fantasist obviously made up all his stories about his GP but I'm consistently amazed by how difficult it is to get an appointment with a doctor.  Has it always been like this?  A few years ago my wife asked for a GP appointment and was told it was a three day wait for an emergency appointment - some emergency! 

Why has this become standard?  Are there too few GPs or an increase in demand?

GP receptionists trained the SS and the folks at Guantanamo Bay.

Always been at least 4 weeks to get a doctor's appointment and hence I never bother.

[Todd_is_God]

39 minutes ago, Snafu said:

You need to fix the reasons why the current restrictions are there in the first place and why there is considerations to keep future restrictions.

If the government don't sort out the track and trace plus some of the other stuff that keeps healthy people away from working in the vital services such as hospitals and public transport etc then regardless where we are on vaccines we will be back in the protect the NHS box again, hospitals being overwhelmed due to lack of staff is unacceptable.

Solution might be to get these temporary hospitals up again to keep the COVID patients away from the hospitals unless very serious and let the hospitals deal with the regular numbers of patients and try to catch up with the backlog. The backlog of operations and consultations should be priority now and many being left for too long creates even more problems and health risks for the patients, death rates and patients ending up in a worst condition among those on waiting lists could be another mess like what happened in the care homes last year.

Sorry if I'm not putting this across too well today.

Ultimately until we get away from the mindset that everyone (and in particular those with both vaccine doses) is at equal risk and "no-one is safe until everyone is safe" we will be stuck in this endless loop.

It never was true, and absolutely isn't true now.

You sense they are trying to head that way down South by talking about different rules for those with 2 vaccines with regards to quarantine and isolation. Its not perfect, but it is a welcome first step down the "living with covid" road. I don't believe that is even under consideration up here. It's dismissed as "reckless" without ever showing why.

The SG have no idea how to get out of this. Their go-to method of England + a few weeks no longer suits their narrative and has left them totally and utterly lost in "care more" land.

People maybe getting a virus that makes the overwhelming majority feel, at worst, like complete shite for a good few days is not the same as the situation last March or around Christmas.

Enough.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Billy Jean King]

I'm waiting a callback from a GP about a non-Covid related issue.  I realise that the alias fantasist obviously made up all his stories about his GP but I'm consistently amazed by how difficult it is to get an appointment with a doctor.  Has it always been like this?  A few years ago my wife asked for a GP appointment and was told it was a three day wait for an emergency appointment - some emergency! 
Why has this become standard?  Are there too few GPs or an increase in demand?

It depends I think on where you live. We have had normal FTF doctors appointments back in our surgery for months now. Phone before 10 get an appointment same day or next.

[Steven W]

1 hour ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Sturgeon seemingly hinting at ‘unpopular’ decisions ahead

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19427243.covid-nicola-sturgeon-hints-lockdown-exit-delay-not-popular-decisions-ahead/?fbclid=IwAR2bWED_PQSiaGLMAEBumyCzV-t42nAoRCZ5ZBgOky9PvGvhVhLeNkeawRY

Its just Left Wing v Right Wing politics now. Plain and simple

 

[Michael W]

23 minutes ago, Snafu said:

You need to fix the reasons why the current restrictions are there in the first place and why there is considerations to keep future restrictions.

If the government don't sort out the track and trace plus some of the other stuff that keeps healthy people away from working in the vital services such as hospitals and public transport etc then regardless where we are on vaccines we will be back in the protect the NHS box again, hospitals being overwhelmed due to lack of staff is unacceptable.

Solution might be to get these temporary hospitals up again to keep the COVID patients away from the hospitals unless very serious and let the hospitals deal with the regular numbers of patients and try to catch up with the backlog. The backlog of operations and consultations should be priority now and many being left for too long creates even more problems and health risks for the patients, death rates and patients ending up in a worst condition among those on waiting lists could be another mess like what happened in the care homes last year.

Sorry if I'm not putting this across too well today.

 

 

I agree. It is fair to say that Track & Trace is probably going to start falling over as well given the number of cases. But as VT has said, the isolation policy needs to be ended because it's playing havoc now. Ending it in six weeks or whatever means the problem is temporary, but it is starting to show as a real problem now, especially in healthcare. 

You can understand the policy when it was brought in. We knew nothing about the virus (a genuine we don't know!) and did the best we could to try and stop the spread. Crucially, and it is beyond painful repeating this ad nauseum, we have effective vaccines. The world has moved on and the isolation policy needs to as well now so it can reflect the changed circumstances. 

No reason that, at a minimum, we move to a daily LFT in the event of a close contact. Questions as to whether that's necessary for the fully vaccinated, of course, but it'll stop the nonsense of healthy people being forced to isolate. 

[well fan for life]

13 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

I'm waiting a callback from a GP about a non-Covid related issue.  I realise that the alias fantasist obviously made up all his stories about his GP but I'm consistently amazed by how difficult it is to get an appointment with a doctor.  Has it always been like this?  A few years ago my wife asked for a GP appointment and was told it was a three day wait for an emergency appointment - some emergency! 

Why has this become standard?  Are there too few GPs or an increase in demand?

I'm not able to book an appointment in advance with the GP. Only same day appointments where the phone line opens at 8.30am and it's a case of phoning, sometimes hundreds of times, until you get through. Mental how there isn't an easier way. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by well fan for life

[PedroMoutinho]

I see the SNP’s health spokesperson is speaking at an ‘emergency summit’ organised by doom monger Deepti and the rest of the independent sage weirdos.

[ICTChris]

4 minutes ago, 101 said:

GP receptionists trained the SS and the folks at Guantanamo Bay.

Always been at least 4 weeks to get a doctor's appointment and hence I never bother.

One of the receptionists in our surgery is genuinely horrible, especially to patients who don't have English as a first language.  The one I spoke to today was perfectly fine though.

6 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

You have answered your own question.

But why is there a shortage of GPs?  Do new doctors not want to work in that area, what are the reasons for that? 

Regarding demand, I found this blog from a couple of years ago - https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/why-does-it-take-so-long-see-gp

Quote

 

So what is driving these pressures? One obvious reason is that patient demand has increased substantially. A recent analysis, published in The Lancet, and led by a team at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, examined over 100 million NHS primary care consultations. The analysis showed that between 2007 and 2014 there were significant increases in both the numbers of consultations being requested by patients and the lengths of the consultations; the system, the researchers suggested, was reaching a “saturation point”.

Along with increasing demands to see GPs, the complexity of patients’ problems has also increased. A 10-year study of more than 15,000 people in England, aged over 50, showed a 10% rise in the number of patients who have two or more long-term conditions, so-called “multimorbidity”. NHS England has suggested that this is currently the greatest challenge facing the NHS, a challenge largely being managed by GPs. Patients who live longer, but with more health problems, also face the potential problem of polypharmacy, the use of multiple medications, sometimes justifiably, sometimes not. A 15-year study of over 300,000 patients in Scotland showed a doubling in the number of individuals who were taking five or more medicines. Avoiding the harms that medicines can cause, while maintaining their potential benefits by optimising their use, is a challenge faced by every GP every day, and one that can rarely be managed during a typical 10-minute consultation.

 

I doubt Covid will improve any of this.

[Honest_Man#1]

34 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Can't speak for Scotland, but down here that's the way they roll. The Speaker has even expressed his disgust at the practise, but Johnson's creww continue to brief the media and then take action according to public reaction. Populism at its simplest. 

..and again, only talking about the crew in Wesminster - it absolutely is a fucking game. 

Yes exact same up here. Every single time there’s a bit of foreboding in the media to test the water and look at the level of acceptance vs pushback before actually announcing. An absolutely disgraceful way to do things both north and south of the border by a couple of utterly shan governments.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I missed this yesterday before the match.

"Government sources told the paper a packed stadium "cannot be ruled out" if England reach their first final in over 50 years."

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/england-final-italy-fans-attendance-wembley-euro-b1879577.html

So if England hadn't reached the final then they wouldn't have considered it?

This looks suspiciously like cheap populism.

[Todd_is_God]

1 minute ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

I missed this yesterday before the match.

"Government sources told the paper a packed stadium "cannot be ruled out" if England reach their first final in over 50 years."

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/england-final-italy-fans-attendance-wembley-euro-b1879577.html

So if England hadn't reached the final then they wouldn't have considered it?

This looks suspiciously like cheap populism.

Fully welcome a full Wembley tbh. We need things like this to happen.

"BuT dElTa" has given people a convenient excuse to ignore the fact that there have been full stadia etc in the US for months.