Five years ago, the NHS shut down. Does anyone else remember?

[Kennobi]

Because I do.

In fact I have several quite specific memories from that time. The time when we were all supposed to "stay the fuck at home", "protect our NHS" and read that fucking kitty O'Meara poem.

I shall share those memories with you here. Please add any similar.

1. My good work friend, a young man in his twenties, realised his flatmate had covid and was struggling to breathe. He dialled 999 and the operator talked him through how to find and use the nearest defibrillator, at the co op shop, half a mile from his house. No, they weren't sending an ambulance and yes he was required to activate a defibrillator, on remote instruction, for a woman who wasn't his wife, or sister, or child and as far as the NHS was concerned that was it, job done, they wouldn't be sending medics to an address where there was covid in case they caught it.

1. My cousin, a man in his fifties, caught covid. My auntie repeatedly rang for emergency assistance as his lips were turning blue, was told to monitor him each time, he died.

1. My best friend caught it, again struggling to breathe, they asked her can you breathe? No. Are your lips blue? Yes. Are you able to watch a TV programme for five minutes (ie basically are you conscious)? Yes. Ok fine you can maybe see a doctor tomorrow. Saw a GP in a car park, wearing a mask, who confirmed she wasn't dead, and sent her on her way. She now has long covid and it doesn't look like she'll ever get her life back.

It seems to me that at the time we most needed our health system it was unavailable to us.

Do others have similar stories?

Thank you @PerkingFaintly

i love my job and have the most amazing colleagues (some are arseholes but percentage wise 80% are awesome) but feeling a bit sensitive this week with the DM tribe who seem to think doctors and nurses can run the nhs single handedly - never met one who wants to. “Hi Dr James, I know you’re about to go into clinic but could you first write a business case to save money and improve efficiency, plus the car park contract needs to be renegotiated and there’s no managers left to do it.” Sigh

Appreciate it’s not everyone’s view - thank you for reminding me.

You’re dead right op. The whole thing was a fiasco

They did the best job they could, with the resources they had, and risked themselves doing it. I admire the frontline staff immensely.

@WetBanditsthank you for all you and your colleagues did. It was a horrific experience. The OP obviously has some
issues but blaming you and your colleagues is outrageous

Actually that is entirely untrue. The government were repeatedly and officially warned that the country was not in a position to manage a serious pandemic of much smaler proportions than that cause by Covid. The NHS was nearly crippled by Swine Flu, and had been in a serious state of emergency over ordinary winter flu for a number of years.

If you want to find someone to blame, the government was to blame.

Well I suppose you’ll just have to stay angry then.

You can’t/won’t comprehend the wider perspective and think that faceless strangers should have prioritised what you individually prioritise. The rest of the population and the professionals themselves be damned.

It’s only you that kind of anger will eat away at.

Should men only use defibrillators on females if they’re their wife, sister or child? I wasn’t aware of that particular limitation.

We didn't know our arses from our elbows at that time. I set up a brand new service within a week, changed everyone's working hours and days, had staff totally stressed and we didn't have the correct PPE. We all thought that we were going to die in our role.

We were inundated with hundreds of patients, some that we just could not deal with because they were too poorly or because we did not have the resources. We had staff off with covid, stressed etc.

We heard that people were sat at home having BBQ's and drinking all day whilst we worked our assess off, frightened to death that we would also become a death statistic.

It seems to me that at the time we most needed our health system it was unavailable to us.

Oh god we were working. We worked every hour god sent and kept turning up every day. However, there was a pandemic happening where an unprecedented amount of patients became unwell and the system was unable to cope, because we don't have staff waiting about on the off chance that hundreds of thousands of patients become well.

I'm beyond fuming at your post. Your reflection is based on an event that you couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors of.

Why are you so angry. It was uncharted territory and we didd the best we could. I'm sure you got to enjoy the lovely weather. Most NHS staff didn't. We were treated appallingly

Exactly

Registered nurse who worked in a nursing home during COVID. Plenty of ambulances called who attended and took patients in if clinically appropriate. I never once disagreed with their opinion to keep comfortable in the home if that is what was decided.

Everyone was trying their best, mistakes were made of course but it was uncharted territory. The ones on the ground weren't running scared, we were trying our best in difficult situations.

My own brother almost died of COVID, ITU were fantastic and he recovered. Not fully, still on O2 5 years later but he survived when we really did not think he would that night. Sats of 42% when the ambulance arrived (within 15 minutes of being called).

Tbh, I think the state of NHS is far worse now then during COVID. Hours wait for ambulances for critically unwell patients. My daughter with appendicitis was left waiting 9 hours before being seen in ED. It's a broken system which is slowly breaking the people working in it.

The NHS was on its knees during covid, as was every other health service in the world. Remember those awful videos from Italy?

People were bound to die. It was tragic.

I know several people who "turned blue" and ambulances DID come and take them to hospital to get appropriate care. One did die unfortunately but he had another health condition. My Mum broke her hip and got excellent care during Covid as well
I have no memeory of The NHS " shutting down"

I can’t remember a single person I refused to treat…

I do remember being called a fucking cunt, though.

Oh, and spat on.

"Hospitals were not overwhelmed".

Don't you remember watching the many news reports and documentaries about it? The staff were at breaking point, low on equipment and getting ill themselves.

I have a friend who is a paramedic. She was working flat out at that time, often transporting patients with covid. My next door neighbour was a ICU consultant. His stories of having to choose who to treat because resources were so stretched were horrific. I live near a major hospital and remember the air ambulance going back and forth all day because they were moving people around the region to where there were beds/vents.

My 99 year old great aunt died of covid, as did her son in law in his 70s (some months apart). Ambulances came to both of them.

Nightingale hospitals 😣what a waste of money

The data did not stack up to a serious pandemic from very early on. Statistically very few people.died compared to those who caught covid and most died with not from covid.

I remain surprised that the intellectual elite, the doctors in the NHS, did not recognise this.

We should not have locked down. We should have safeguarded the vulnerable.

I know three people who died with covid. A 92 year old man who had a stroke, caught covid in hospital and then had another stroke.

A 38 year old man who had terminal cancer and was receiving end of life car. He caught covid and died ten days later.

An 83 year old who fell, broke their hip, had a hip replacement, caught covid and three weeks later died from a hospital transmitted infection.

My brother is an anaesthetist and intensive care consultant. All the ICU beds were full, and they turned operating theatres into intensive care beds too. He, like many colleagues worked crazy hours and most caught the virus too. PPE was shite and not for for purpose, research in hospitals all but stopped as the research teams were re-purposed to Covid wards. The NHS were there but they were struggling to manage

as far as the NHS was concerned that was it, job done, they wouldn't be sending medics to an address where there was covid in case they caught it.

Thats a load of bullshit. My nephew is a paramedic and went to plenty of calls where the person had suspected or confirmed Covid.

And yet parts of the NHS weren't overwhelmed for which I am very grateful.

Routine breast screening continued. I was diagnosed in lockdown, saw my surgeon within two weeks and was in surgery within a few days more. I went through eight months of diagnosis, surgery, chemo & radiotherapy without it being delayed by covid.
The pandemic was not allowed to get in the way. Grateful thanks to all at NHHNHST ❤

I remember how at the height of the pandemic my early womb cancer was diagnosed, and I had surgery for it within 4 weeks. The service and care I received was excellent.

None. It's history. We've moved on.

@HansHolbein So sorry you had that happen to you.

There are few excuses for such awful behaviour

I remember having a mole I was worried about and getting a gp appointment very easily. It must have been at the beginning as they said I’d need to cover my face and I didn’t have a mask at that point. The doctor was in scrubs and had a mask on and that I found most bizarre as she looked like she should be in an operating theatre , not examining my back.