Suffolk in Tier 4 From 26th December

[Capt Popeye]

Oh yes they can

Well it is panto season even if there's no pantomimes on!

Yep so we Yell, its behind you then ?

Dont know about there being no pantomimes on, though present day life resembled a pantomime

 

[Bru]

Yep so we Yell, its behind you then ?

Oh how I yearn for the day when we can all yell "it's behind you"!

 

[Tomahawk]

'NHS England said it now had 20,426 people being treated for the virus in hospital as of 8am on Monday, surpassing April’s high of 18,946 on 12 April. Health officials in Wales and Scotland have also said they fear becoming overwhelmed.'
NHS hospitals facing ‘unprecedented’ levels of coronavirus cases

It is certainly a continuing serious risk to us individually and collectively, and to the ability of the NHS to cope.

How well the Regulations and official and unofficial guidance address the risk, and how best to interpret them is another matter.

In the very early days of the Coronavirus someone passed me part of an email from an English person living in Wuhan, who had been through it all before us. They said that one thing they'd learnt was that was it necessary to stop worrying about whether the official measures were the correct or best response, and just accept the situation as it was presented to them. Otherwise, it would all have been too much to cope with, and they would have driven themselves crazy. (I'm not saying that has happened to anyone here! ? )

I said at the outset this panto was purely to prevent photographs of people on hospital trollies in corridors appearing on fqcebook and twitter.

 

[LittleSister]

I said at the outset this panto was purely to prevent photographs of people on hospital trollies in corridors appearing on fqcebook and twitter.

A worldwide conspiracy to hide the shortcomings of the UK NHS and its funding? Wow!

 

[LittleSister]

Doctors raise alarm over 'dire' situation in NHS as Covid cases rise

 

[Tomahawk]

Doctors raise alarm over 'dire' situation in NHS as Covid cases rise

This took all of three seconds to find.
COVID-19 and SME Failures

It may come as a surise to find out that there is more to the country than the NHS.

 

[seivadnehpets]

Covid is real, I'm sure we can agree, and it isn't going away.
It makes certain demands of us;
*That we don't shake hands.
*Cocktail parties, where people spit food in other people's faces, probably out.
*Keep a little more distance, doesn't need to be measured in mm but that merry dance we're getting used to when we meet folk coming the other way.
The health service, as we know it, has to shut down, because care, and surgery necessitates intimacy, therefore we must work harder to keep ourselves healthy.
None of these are reasons why I should not go sailing or stay at home, but I am prepared to go along with the rules for now. Not for ever.

 

[pvb]

'NHS England said it now had 20,426 people being treated for the virus in hospital as of 8am on Monday, surpassing April’s high of 18,946 on 12 April. Health officials in Wales and Scotland have also said they fear becoming overwhelmed.'
NHS hospitals facing ‘unprecedented’ levels of coronavirus cases

It's worth noting that those 20,426 people in hospital with coronavirus are occupying only 15% of the total number of beds in English hospitals.

 

[LittleSister]

It's worth noting that those 20,426 people in hospital with coronavirus are occupying only 15% of the total number of beds in English hospitals.

Well, the doctors, nurses, managers and others in the NHS think there's a crisis and that they're struggling, as do the national epidemiologists and scientific advisers. But maybe you know better.

Doctors raise alarm over 'dire' situation in NHS as Covid cases rise

 

[pvb]

Well, the doctors, nurses, managers and others in the NHS think there's a crisis and that they're struggling, as do the national epidemiologists and scientific advisers. But maybe you know better.

The NHS has always protested loudly. There are 135,000 hospital beds in England. Having 15% of them occupied by coronavirus patients doesn't sound like the end of the world, particularly as treatment methods have changed and far fewer ICU beds are needed. In a normal year, there'd probably be a similar number of flu patients in hospital.

 

[LittleSister]

The NHS has always protested loudly. There are 135,000 hospital beds in England. Having 15% of them occupied by coronavirus patients doesn't sound like the end of the world, particularly as treatment methods have changed and far fewer ICU beds are needed. In a normal year, there'd probably be a similar number of flu patients in hospital.

I think it takes more than beds to treat Covid patients, and that they aren't the only patients the NHS has.

The NHS was short staffed before Covid hit. They now have lost staff who have died of covid, and are missing those who are isolating having shown symptoms or tested positive.

Are all those other countries whose health systems are struggling part of the same conspiracy, do you think?

 

[SaltIre]

The NHS has always protested loudly. There are 135,000 hospital beds in England. Having 15% of them occupied by coronavirus patients doesn't sound like the end of the world, particularly as treatment methods have changed and far fewer ICU beds are needed. In a normal year, there'd probably be a similar number of flu patients in hospital.

East England had 156 patients in mechanical ventilation beds yesterday, compared with 103 2 weeks ago. Thank goodness far fewer are needed.
Statistics » COVID-19 Hospital Activity

 

[jordanbasset]

The NHS has always protested loudly. There are 135,000 hospital beds in England. Having 15% of them occupied by coronavirus patients doesn't sound like the end of the world, particularly as treatment methods have changed and far fewer ICU beds are needed. In a normal year, there'd probably be a similar number of flu patients in hospital.

Looking at last year there doesn't look to be anywhere near that number of flu admissions
https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/u...ns-in-england-rise-by-more-than-40-in-a-week/
'In its latest weekly report on the number of influenza cases, PHE said there were 472 hospitalised confirmed influenza cases in the week leading up to 8 December – up from 330 cases the week before.
The number of cases is also higher than at the same point last year, when there were just 50 hospitalisations as a result of flu.'

There is not a great deal of spare capacity in hospitals at the best of times, 15% more patients from one cause is a real problem and it looks to be getting worse

 

[SaltIre]

There is not a great deal of spare capacity in hospitals at the best of times, 15% more patients from one cause is a real problem and it looks to be getting worse

Yup. 2,524 patients in hospital in East England yesterday due to COVID compared with 1,506 2 weeks ago.
Statistics » COVID-19 Hospital Activity

 

[pvb]

I think it takes more than beds to treat Covid patients, and that they aren't the only patients the NHS has.

The NHS was short staffed before Covid hit. They now have lost staff who have died of covid, and are missing those who are isolating having shown symptoms or tested positive.

The news media are reporting that the 4000 bed Nightingale hospital has been dismantled. You'll recall that it was announced with much fanfare by the NHS back in April. It's been dismantled because the NHS says it can't staff it. If that's the case, why did they build it in the first place? Over £220 million of our money was spent on Nightingale hospitals.

 

[pvb]

There is not a great deal of spare capacity in hospitals at the best of times, 15% more patients from one cause is a real problem and it looks to be getting worse

There's a fair bit of spare capacity at the moment, as many hospitals have virtually shut down their normal workload.

 

[SaltIre]

The news media are reporting that the 4000 bed Nightingale hospital has been dismantled. You'll recall that it was announced with much fanfare by the NHS back in April. It's been dismantled because the NHS says it can't staff it. If that's the case, why did they build it in the first place? Over £220 million of our money was spent on Nightingale hospitals.

Photo opportunity for Mr Hancock to cough and splutter outside.

 

[bedouin]

The news media are reporting that the 4000 bed Nightingale hospital has been dismantled. You'll recall that it was announced with much fanfare by the NHS back in April. It's been dismantled because the NHS says it can't staff it. If that's the case, why did they build it in the first place? Over £220 million of our money was spent on Nightingale hospitals.

That was down to Fergusson wasn't it? Remember UK needing 30000 ventilators?

Although things are pretty hard in the NHS we are still well below the surge capacity within the current system - that said I am still a bit surprised that they didn't make more use of them. Even with limited staff it would seem to have made more sense to concentrate the Covid patients in one area so reduce the risk to the remainder of people in the hospital

 

[LittleSister]

There's a fair bit of spare capacity at the moment

So you keep telling us.

 

[pvb]

So you keep telling us.

See also post 98...