Healthcare staff are people, not heroes, and we are exhausted

[hibbledibble]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54623919

This summarises it perfectly. I could have written nearly everything in this article.

I'm currently having treatment for PTSD, following traumatic events during the first wave.

So many of my colleagues are also struggling with mental health at present as well.

In order to keep the NHS going, we need to value the staff.

This has important consequences for the second wave, so I'm surprised that no one is interested. Bumping a final time.

I guess there have been so many stories and pictures of empty hospitals - also many patients have been unable to access medical care for life-threatening conditions as the NHS was not providing for them.

There were a lot of Tic Toc videos of NHS workers performing well-rehearsed dances in empty hospitals which also upset people.

OP, firstly thank you for all that you do. I hope you're being looked after In your treatment too.
We need to value the staff in our NHS and we need to respect the rules however batshit they seem. The public need to accept that life is not what we would like it to be for now. Stop trying to find loop holes and do as we please. Stop. Spreading.

I don't think those of us who have not worked in a corona ward have the freedom of speach to criticise those who have.

I wouldn't have wanted to leave my family, not see my kids for weeks to nurse in a high risk environment.

My personal opinion is that I would fully understand any medical staff who don't want to nurse through a second wave. Why should they risk their health again to look after feckless individuals who ignore the circuit breaker and lockdown restrictions?

I wouldn't want to work in a hospital environment these days. But I am grateful there are those less selfish than me.

Thank you for doing what you do.

The problem is that there are so many scientifically/medically illiterate people both in RL and on MN who have convinced themselves that “it’s just flu” or a conspiracy or fake news etc. So many are not taking this seriously. But they’ll expect you to pick them or their friends and family up if they’re hospitalised by this nasty virus.

I’m not sure what we can do other than continue to encourage more people to understand science and research and what’s valid and what’s not.

I really hope the next few months are bearable and manageable for you and your colleagues

I think our government has shafted our NHS and its workers. I'm aware that we would be fucked without you. I've worked in the NHS in non patient care roles and have seen firsthand the dedication of many clinicians, nurses and other carers. To my shame, I don't know what I can do to help. I would vote those Tory bastards out in a second but I'm in Scotland so my vote doesn't really count.
I would just like to say that I really appre. ciate the people who work in the NHS. It wouldn't be popular but I think you should strike for more pay and more support. If they can vote themselves a pay raise they can do it for you too.

I appreciate the NHS staff, like many many thousands of other people do. I cannot imagine how stressful it must be.

OP I hear you!
My OH has been recently redeployed again to ICU. I’ve been shielding and never really came out of it as the numbers shot up again so quickly. I dread the effect it will have on their mental and physical health, covid aside. I also live in fear of them bringing it home to me. We dont have alternative living accommodation for them or me should they get covid. They’re worried about having to have a fortnight off in an under resourced second wave if they catch it. I have a severely Compromised immune system and am worried I might die if I catch it from them. It makes for a lovely environment to live and work in. The stress for my OH is huge. That’s a huge burden to bear just to earn a pittance nurses wage.

Empty beds, where?! That's certainly not a narrative I recognise locally. We more than tripled our ICU bed capacity, by turning theatres and recovery into overflow ICU, yet still ran out of beds. People were dying waiting for ventilators. Dance videos were done by a small minority.

Yes, sadly some outpatient clinics (not all) were cancelled. This was due to the staff who would normally run them, being redeployed to covid-19. Yes, it was terrible, but this wasn't the fault of the staff: rather it was a system that was overwhelmed.

I guess the first post shows how willing some are to criticise HCPs, without understanding the conditions we have been working on.

Tom sorry to hear that. It's really hard for those who have a relative who should be shielding. I'm lucky that my family are healthy: they already caught it from me, but fortunately were not severely unwell.

Really sorry to hear you are struggling so badly. You are very much appreciated and I hope you get the support you need.

I'm glad some staff did tick roc! They need to keep their spirits up! Gosh a few moments in long shifts!
Op thank you.

Tick toc honestly if only we really got paid to do that! You need to go and volunteer yourself in the hospitals @FreshFreesias

I never understand the criticism of the Tik Tok videos. Do people honestly think the staff were making them when they should have been working. They were more than likely done during break times or at the end of a shift. It's not rocket science to work that one out. And as op said it was a small minority who were making them anyway.
Thank you for all you and your colleagues do op.

@hibbledibble Where do you work, where patients were dying waiting for ventilators? That's not a description I recognise, as a fellow healthcare professional. Although some hospitals, in some regions, got very busy during the first wave, I'm not aware that there was a single avoidable death due to ITU services being overwhelmed, anywhere in the UK.

I’m very grateful to you all.
I want you to be protected- practically, mentally, financially, emotionally, physically.

I’m also exhausted. Has my year been as hard as yours? No, nowhere near. But I don’t know what you want us to do or say. I’m so tired.

While I believe individuals like yourself work very hard and have made sacrifices, I am not impressed on the whole.
I live in a very low infection area. My daughter has some health issues and her last consultation was by phone, even though the paediatric ward was in another building at least 100 m from the main hospital and there were no beds taken by anyone with Covid. Then he said she needed a blood test, our local clinic is shut (due to covid) and so we had to go to the main hospital anyway. She has had to wait nine months for other tests.
My GP wont see anyone, but when I went to request a prescription (it's on repeat, chronic illness), they got it wrong three times as the two people I spoke to were not qualified in anything.
It's when things like this happen that make me think the NHS is not very well run or organised and could be doing a lot better.

stone cold one of the worst effected in the country. Unsurprisingly, it's not a narrative that is shared. However, colleagues and I saw it happening, with patients deteriorating on the wards, and no ventilators available. I recognise that the situation was variable between hospitals, and some were a lot worse effected than others. I don't feel able to post the name of the hospital here, but you can pm me if you are keen to know.

I agree op. Things are going exactly as I predicted way back in spring.

Everyone clapped and felt they did their bit. Now everyone is fed up, the routine procedures need doing, the media are focussing on the tragic cases that have been missed or delayed because covid took over. They (quite rightly) won't be cancelled again as there would be a public outcry.

Patience of everyone has run out, both staff and public. In imaging we will suffer more this time round I think as we will have the covid workload which is increasing again but we will have the routine stuff on top alongside lack of space for waiting in and out patients due to social distancing rules. Appointments either take longer due to cleaning procedures or the cleaning doesn't get completed thoroughly due to volume of patients. Its stressful, sickness is rising, mental health is suffering, isolation for symptoms is also depleting the workforce. My own household has isolated twice this half term already both of us tested were negative though. But me and teacher dh were at home while our colleagues carried our workload.

With no end in sight I dont think I want to do it anymore

I feel so much for healthcare workers right now OP. If I was in government, I'd be temporarily doubling wages for any nursing staff at the moment, along with others being impacted the most by this. Those bearing the brunt of all this should be protected and rewarded as much as possible. Look after yourself as best you can, won't you? This won't last forever.

There’s no end in sight. The people declaring that they’ve done everything by the book, so they are going to have their normal Christmas, are going to contribute to the long hard winter the NHS staff are going to suffer through.

I sympathise OP

But then my best friend is an A&E doctor and she said she and her colleagues were literally twiddling their thumbs and fighting over who was going to take the very very few patients they had. She said it was utterly boring and so not in keeping with the newspapers etc. And her colleagues in other hospitals were also having similar tumbleweed experiences

@Sodamncold obviously a local thing because the ICUs in my region (and the wards) were very busy. We had to expand into 3 extra wards, use theatre ventilators and many staff were redeployed to our area because physically we couldn't have done it. Even then we still had ICU nurses looking after 2 level 3 patients at once and supervising others who had very little crit care experience. We had at one point 28 covid level 3 patients when usually we only have 8 ICU beds. We are busy again now although not to the extent of nack in march/april.

Large urban hospital in SE

Carers get £67 a week for 35 hours and are exhausted constantly. No breaks, no holidays, no days off at home. Its 24/7 work. Imagine!!

@FlatScreenTV01

Carers get £67 a week for 35 hours and are exhausted constantly. No breaks, no holidays, no days off at home. Its 24/7 work. Imagine!!

Is this benefit for family carers?