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Covid

Where is the TV footage inside UK hospitals?

53 replies

automa · 06/04/2020 08:57

I've seen loads of clips from Italian hospitals where TV crew have been allowed in hospital wards and interviews with frontline staff saying how shit things are / how overwhelmed they feel etc.

But where is the UK footage?

I don't want to be morbid and actually look inside the hospitals seeing sick people. It's more those images really bring it home to people that this shit is real and it's happening on your doorstep and hopefully people will stay at home.

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Bimbleboo · 06/04/2020 09:04

I’m not sure this is something the NHS / U.K. hospitals have ever really engaged in is it? We don’t see footage of wards for anything else on the news regularly. I do understand we haven’t had quite this scale of pandemic before but we didn’t broadcast wards for mad cow disease or swine flu either.

I’m glad not to be being shown. People deserve some dignity. Whether you blurred faces or not, if I was dreadfully ill on hospital and someone was filming the ward to broadcast on the news I would be utterly horrified.
I hope and assume it’s cultural and we don’t decide to start doing it.

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pocketem · 06/04/2020 09:05

Patients have a right to confidentiality. We don't generally allow TV cameras in unless for pre-arranged situations where the patients have given advanced consent

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FOJN · 06/04/2020 09:07

I think a film crew might represent an infection control risk and get in the way of staff trying to do their job under difficult circumstances.

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Mascotte · 06/04/2020 09:09

I think that’s a totally awful suggestion and disrespectful to patients and relatives.If I were in hospital it’s the last thing I’d want.

It’s ghoulish in my opinion. And from the other countries it seems unlikely to change anything much.

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Nonameslob · 06/04/2020 09:11

Patients deserve dignity and confidentiality. I would hate the thought of a ward I was on being filmed. Also, bringing in a whole camera crew and all their equipment is an infection risk.

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BurgerQuean · 06/04/2020 09:12

I can’t imagine anything would be less welcome right now, either to those stuck in hospital or those treating them.

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automa · 06/04/2020 09:12

There were loads of TV footage from various world media in Italian hospitals. I think you're right, it's probably patient consent etc here.

I think for me, I find the UK press made more of a big deal about Italy's crisis in the way they reported it when in the UK it looks like we're headed in the same way or maybe even worse.

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BertieBotts · 06/04/2020 09:12

Privacy concerns I imagine and NHS staff too busy to give interviews.

There is this on Youtube which is quite good.

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Standrewsschool · 06/04/2020 09:15

My dh said the same thing this morning.

I guess it’s to with patient confidentiality and privacy, and the NHS staff have better things to do than hosting a tv crew.

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Kelsoooo · 06/04/2020 09:19

You're aware of the principles of care in the UK?

Dignity
Privacy
Respect

How the fuck would filming people be any of those?

I was in OOH GP at our hospital week before last. I was scared, in pain and a mess...and only had ruptured eardrums. Potentially dying and hooked up to machines? I'd sue the arse out of anyone that deemed it okay to film me in that state.

I think it's reprehensible other countries are filming in hospitals. I watched one where the doctor told the daughter her mom had died the day before....imagine being the daughter and seeing that conversation played out for the world to see....

You're just a rubbernecker.

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KindKylie · 06/04/2020 09:21

As a nurse I would refuse to work anywhere where they had TV crews filming, and I would advocate that my patients should not be filmed either.

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mumwon · 06/04/2020 09:25

there have been a few short clips on the news with blurred patients but that is surely enough its not a film show

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Lindy2 · 06/04/2020 09:26

Sick patients in uk hospitals aren't filmed.

I can't imagine any medical staff or patients want a film crew in the way. Also wouldn't it be an infection risk?

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Cabinfever10 · 06/04/2020 09:28

On Thursday or Friday BBC Scotland had footage and interviews with covid19 drs from Ninewells hospital in Dundee.
Staff said they had plenty of PPE and spare beds, equipment and staff

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LovingLola · 06/04/2020 09:31

I don't want to be morbid and actually look inside the hospitals seeing sick people.

Yes you do.
Idiot.

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bumblingbovine49 · 06/04/2020 09:32

I hope and assume it’s cultural and we don’t decide to start doing it.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with culture, Italy along along with all of the EU also has strict confidentiality rules (Where do you think GDPR regs came from?!).

Pictures from inside the hospitals only really started coming out, quite late on in the outbreak. It was to do with hospitals and doctors being desperate for people to stay home and abide by lock down regulations. People did not always obey the rules in Italy, particularly in the early days. Also they wanted other countries to be warned and thought they wouldn't be believed without people seeing for themselves what it was like in the hospitals.

As it happens we didn't pay enough attention anyway. We all kept thinking it wouldn't be as bad here.

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bumblingbovine49 · 06/04/2020 09:34

I can't imagine any medical staff or patients want a film crew in the way. Also wouldn't it be an infection risk?

Exactly but Italian hospitals made some exceptions because they were desperate for the message to get out

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RedCorvette · 06/04/2020 09:34

There was a piece filmed inside Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on the national BBC news last week - m.youtube.com/watch?v=p6x-4-Tyhus

It actually paints a very positive picture of staff wellbeing and looks to be a calm environment on the Covid wards.

Clearly that isn’t the case UK-wide but it would be the hospital most of my family would end up in, so it did give me a little comfort to see it’s not a hellhole (yet).

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Northernsoullover · 06/04/2020 09:37

I can't speak for Italy but I remember when the terror attacks happened in Barcelona. We were in Tarragona and the taxi driver was showing us footage. They show bodies on the news. Our media is much more sanitised. Thank goodness

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MumofTinies · 06/04/2020 09:39

People suffering from coronavirus are still human beings with a right to privacy and dignity.

I hated seeing the footage of victims in Italy, so ghoulish.

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Inkpaperstars · 06/04/2020 09:40

There has been quite a bit of footage from NYC hospitals, but not showing patients, more like FaceTime type footage from doctors at desks.

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HoffiCoffi13 · 06/04/2020 09:41

There isn’t enough PPE for the people treating the patients. They’re not going to waste a load on a camera crew, are they?

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NotEverythingIsBlackandwhite · 06/04/2020 09:42

I've seen loads of clips from Italian hospitals where TV crew have been allowed in hospital wards and interviews with frontline staff saying how shit things are / how overwhelmed they feel etc.

But where is the UK footage?
Oh yes, bring it on. Let"s all hear staff saying how shit things are and how overwhelmed they feel. That'll do wonders for morale. There are many people suffering MH issues who don't need their anxiety increased. If you can't tell from the numbers of those infected and the number of deaths and photos of the deceased in the news that this is real, then there is something seriously wrong with you.

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tegucigalpa13 · 06/04/2020 09:43

Privacy

Consent

Infection Control

Staff too busy keeping people alive

It’s actually voyeurism of the worst kind.

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TheFaerieQueene · 06/04/2020 09:43

As family can’t visit dying relatives I do think it is completely reasonable to not allow tv crews into hospitals . If anyone can come up with a cogent and coherent argument against my position, without falling into sensationalism I’m willing to change my mind.

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