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We're woefully unprepared. I work in a non-emergency part of the NHS so I understand we're no-one's priority right now, but without austerity and with some decent long term contingency planning we could be better prepared. We do telephone assessments, so if we had work laptops/remote access from home a lot of that work could carry on, even if people needed to stay at home. We run groups, and have for years tried to talk to more senior managers about investment in Google Hangouts, Skype etc that would allow even one to one therapy to happen remotely. Of course, there hasn't been money available for any of this.

This means that if we get high absence and/or schools close (which would mean a significant majority of our workforce would have to be at home) we'd struggle to cover even the telephone side of our work.
 
We're woefully unprepared. I work in a non-emergency part of the NHS so I understand we're no-one's priority right now, but without austerity and with some decent long term contingency planning we could be better prepared. We do telephone assessments, so if we had work laptops/remote access from home a lot of that work could carry on, even if people needed to stay at home. We run groups, and have for years tried to talk to more senior managers about investment in Google Hangouts, Skype etc that would allow even one to one therapy to happen remotely. Of course, there hasn't been money available for any of this.

This means that if we get high absence and/or schools close (which would mean a significant majority of our workforce would have to be at home) we'd struggle to cover even the telephone side of our work.
I work in a hospital, with inpatient wards. We don’t have sufficient PPE. Should this turn into an epidemic in the UK, we don’t have enough commodes to even isolate patients in what side rooms we have. There’s no clearly communicated plan beyond the most vague about suspected Covid19, isolating patients, testing them, etc. Or about staff like me who are immonocompromised and whether we should/shouldn’t come to work.

It’s a joke. Boris and his government and the NHS as a whole is a joke.

edit: we need some fucking leadership
 
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I work in a hospital, with inpatient wards. We don’t have sufficient PPE. Should this turn into an epidemic in the UK, we don’t have enough commodes to even isolate patients in what side rooms we have. There’s no clearly communicated plan beyond the most vague about suspected Covid19, isolating patients, testing them, etc. Or about staff like me who are immonocompromised and whether we should/shouldn’t come to work.

It’s a joke. Boris and his government and the NHS as a whole is a joke.

edit: we need some fucking leadership
all nhs organisations ought to have emergency plans (NHS England » Guidance and Framework). many of them are available to view on the internet (search inurl:nhs.uk "emergency plan" filetype: pdf) given the situation you really should have been given some notion of what the plan (!) is

this page NHS England » Coronavirus (COVID-19) seems to have the most up to date nhs information on it

but the information you're looking for - not sure where it is - ought to be provided to you as a matter of course
 
Fucking hell Pickmans :D :D :D MANSPLAIN away mate :thumbs:
i've only ever come across emergency plans for organisations i've worked in by chance: and my colleagues have never encountered them at all. so i'm sorry it came across as mansplaining, what i took from your post was the information you wanted wasn't being provided and the suggestions i made were made in the hope that they might offer you what you sought.
 
i've only ever come across emergency plans for organisations i've worked in by chance: and my colleagues have never encountered them at all. so i'm sorry it came across as mansplaining, what i took from your post was the information you wanted wasn't being provided and the suggestions i made were made in the hope that they might offer you what you sought.
I know x Just made me laugh. I’ve seen The Plan. It’s pitiful. It’s a shit flow chart (and accompanying word doc) on the intranet. It bears little relation to what the reality of an actual epidemic in the UK would entail. Occupational Health haven’t managed to return my email. It’s just the reality of working in the NHS which is no longer fit for purpose. I mean let’s face it, the NHS cannot prepare for winter let alone a pandemic.
 
I work in a hospital, with inpatient wards. We don’t have sufficient PPE. Should this turn into an epidemic in the UK, we don’t have enough commodes to even isolate patients in what side rooms we have. There’s no clearly communicated plan beyond the most vague about suspected Covid19, isolating patients, testing them, etc. Or about staff like me who are immonocompromised and whether we should/shouldn’t come to work.

It’s a joke. Boris and his government and the NHS as a whole is a joke.

edit: we need some fucking leadership
Must admit, I haven't looked at the government's plans so far, but I'd also be astonished if there was anything approaching a realistic plan for care homes, vulnerable adults in the community etc. If we get to the point where government advises the elderly and those with underlying conditions to stay at home as much as possible that will require a major effort - something we just don't have capacity for. Decades of neoliberalism and privatisation has us in a very dangerous place. It might be that the initial infections are amongst the healthy (wealthy even) and those who travel by air, but the real casualties are likely to be the most vulnerable and those without support.
 
Must admit, I haven't looked at the government's plans so far, but I'd also be astonished if there was anything approaching a realistic plan for care homes, vulnerable adults in the community etc. If we get to the point where government advises the elderly and those with underlying conditions to stay at home as much as possible that will require a major effort - something we just don't have capacity for. Decades of neoliberalism and privatisation has us in a very dangerous place. It might be that the initial infections are amongst the healthy (wealthy even) and those who travel by air, but the real casualties are likely to be the most vulnerable and those with support.
being as the advice seems to be to stay in and self-isolate, i fear many corpses will be discovered some time after they've died.
 
being as the advice seems to be to stay in and self-isolate, i fear many corpses will be discovered some time after they've died.
'Liked' if not liked. :( Yeah, exactly that, people isolated and ill, along with those who isolate due to panic. A further reason why profiteers and those who will be ramping up the anxiety need a good kicking.
 
all nhs organisations ought to have emergency plans (NHS England » Guidance and Framework). many of them are available to view on the internet (search inurl:nhs.uk "emergency plan" filetype: pdf) given the situation you really should have been given some notion of what the plan (!) is

this page NHS England » Coronavirus (COVID-19) seems to have the most up to date nhs information on it

but the information you're looking for - not sure where it is - ought to be provided to you as a matter of course
It's not. Not the kind of details that need to be passed out on a department by departmental basis. Specific advice taking into account the environment. For example I work with people having day surgery as well as people coming in to stay and emergency surgery.

There is a reception that people wait in and hundreds of people passing through every day. Plus patients from the wards having surgery that are already unwell.

I went to back to work yesterday after 10 days off and despite things moving on a lot in that time re coronavirus nothing was different and no one seemed bothered. In fact they all seemed to think I was being really paranoid. Maybe I am? I'm finding it hard to get perspective tbh. I did have to tell two members of staff to wash their hands after they sneezed on them :rolleyes: -both nurses.
 
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I went to back to work yesterday after 10 days off and despite things moving on a lot in that time re coronavirus nothing was different and no one seemed bothered. In fact they all seemed to think I was being really paranoid. Maybe I am? I'm finding it hard to get perspective tbh. I did have to tell two members of staff to wash their hands after they sneezed on them :rolleyes: -both nurses.

Your perspective will stand the test of time, theirs will feature an ugly reality check at some point which is more likely to leave them panic-stricken and paranoid.
 
kalidarkone Try to explain the pace of cases will be rapid and without training for staff on where the green zone and red zone is in a hospital things will get worse even quicker

Here's yesterday's Washington Post article on Italy:

One infectious-disease doctor said coronavirus had hit "like a tsunami" at his hospital, where more than 100 out of 120 people admitted with the virus have also developed pneumonia. Another hospital nearby is facing staff shortages as doctors have become patients.
Doctors, virologists and health-care officials on the front line of Italy’s battle against coronavirus, in more than a dozen interviews, described a health-care system stretched to its limits — a situation other countries may face as the virus spreads.
In an effort to cope, Italy is graduating nurses early and calling medical workers out of retirement. Hospitals in the hardest-hit regions are delaying nonessential surgeries and scrambling to add 50 percent more intensive-care beds.
“This is the worst scenario I’ve seen,” said Angelo Pan, the head of the infectious-disease unit at the hospital in Cremona, noting the prevalence of pneumonia complications. He said 35 patients in his hospital required intubation or mechanical ventilation to breathe.

Italy within two weeks is already calling up student nurses
 
Your perspective will stand the test of time, theirs will feature an ugly reality check at some point which is more likely to leave them panic-stricken and paranoid.
Perhaps. My current perspective is that if the Government seem concerned which seems to be increasing daily then it's probably 10 x worse. Like the tip of an iceberg or when you see one mouse in your house and know that you have at least ten :(.

My other clue is the government spin on the efficiency of the NHS.
 
They arent even downplaying the current likely reality much!


“When I was here previously, we were firmly in contain stage. Now I think we are on the borderline between containing and delaying. But many of the things you do to contain it also delay it.”
 
Here is solid advice from a doctor in Italy:


1 Don't rule out patients because a bacterial pneumonia test has come through:
“You cannot rule out SARS-CoV-2 infection just because you have contemporary bacterial pneumonia,” he told CTV News.

2 Watch out immediately for healthcare workers with fever or cough:
“Be very, very attentive in any case of interstitial pneumonia and any case of healthcare workers that may develop minimum symptoms, because at the very beginning of the epidemic you do not have information regarding the spread inside your country and so you expect all the cases will come from abroad.”

3 Be ready to supply oxygen quickly:
What makes containing the virus even more difficult, Guaraldi said, is that some patients in hospital can appear fine, but then start to rapidly show symptoms.

4 Use telemedicine sensibly
Italy has also been turned to telemedicine to help track and communicate with those in quarantine. This approach can help ease a log jam at health care facilities and reduces the risk of spreading infection.
 
3 Be ready to supply oxygen quickly:
What makes containing the virus even more difficult, Guaraldi said, is that some patients in hospital can appear fine, but then start to rapidly show symptoms.

So what is the crucial marker for getting people into hospital? Because depending on clarity and timelines with that, people may not be in the hospital at the point where they clearly need oxygen?

edit: Sorry, that came over a bit inquisitorial - hope you see what I mean. :)
 
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Just had an email from Morrison’s to say my shopping delivery today is missing hand wash and toilet roll and they can’t substitute anything :eek:
I’m a childminder so get through a lot of both.
 
If the bog roll runs out, I will be washing my undercarriage in the shower a lot :D

We should all have the Asian arsehose that is in all the loos in SE Asia anyway. Much cleaner and no paper required at all.

I completely agree. British bum hygiene is terrible, sort of unbelievable if you've ever gotten used to any system that involves washing bums with, you know, water.

Anyway, life is going on quite normally here in Northern Italy. As the % above stated (and I'm inclined to agree with it being the common perception) quarantine is not a particularly welcome idea here. The health service is under serious strain (especially as the population is so old) and I don't think brining old doctors and nurses out of retirement will be helpful, it will infect a lot of them. But outside, for the rest of the country, people stubbornly just want to get on with life as normal.
 
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