To wonder where the clap is for the rest of the key workers

[Pat123dev]

I fully support the NHS. But where's the clap for the supermarket staff slogging their guts out completely at risk. The delivery drivers? The teachers the utility workers, police and every one who so far is bearing to brunt of this crisis. If you're one of those other keyworkers....I applaud you too, as much as the NHS.

Maybe we could clap Mondays for bin men, bang drums Tuesday for supermarket workers, and so on. We could show our collective arses for the NHS on Fridays. Would that work for you?

My point being I'm not one for over dramatisation over sentimentalisation martyrdom and victimhood. Oh and sensationalising. Let's keep it real. As a nurse here's what the public can do to help... Use A&E for emergencies. If your relative is in hospital and awaiting care - look after them until its sourced in the community don't leave them rotting in a vital hospital bed.

@Daffodil101 I've got to be honest that did make me giggle

I don't have Facebook so was oblivious to the 'clap' bs. We wondered what the hell was going on when fireworks started going off and shouting/screaming started from nowhere.
Had my DP been at work today he'd have been expected to have been filmed on parade, dressed up and all for a bloody video of them clapping to support a different emergency service. I'm sure they won't be clapped themselves even though they're stepping in to help the nhs on a regular basis and will be stepping in more and more as the crisis wears on.

Wouldn't it have been more helpful to donate money instead of clapping? Or volunteer for a couple of hours? Not quite sure what clapping was supposed to achieve .....

@stuckinthemiddlewithtwats well durrrr... To look good on Facebook posts obvs?

I clapped for everyone facing danger by continuing to work to keep the wheels turning.

Except Steve the postman.

Fuck you, Steve.

@demelzaa can you add my postman who walks all over my lawn and chucks parcels through my window? Never mind a clap. He needs a bloody clip

to you OP.

I am really grateful to keyworkers , I really am .

But being a keyworker is not the same as being in the NHS right now .

My colleagues have had a "horrendous" week - they are "petrified" to go to work ( their words).

They work anything between 12-48 hours at a stretch , wearing very uncomfortable respirator masks which dig into their faces - leaving red sore marks on their skin.

They have to live alone away from all loved ones for the duration.

They finish work traumatised by what they have witnessed- they then try to get food in NHS hour and nothing is left .

Before Covid 40% of staff in my Trust had symptoms of PTSD.

Most of the staff treating Covid patients will go on to suffer from PTSD .

My husband is also a keyworker - but he would be the first to say he is sacrificing nothing on a par with the NHS staff.

The media wont tell you everything but we are literally seeing our colleagues- doctors & nurses dying from this .

@limpbizkit we're taking precautions too but, if I forget to antibac when I come back from the loo, or if there's a hole in my latex glove when I open the post, the risks are a lot lower than if I did it in ICU while treating someone who was confirmed to have the virus. Nurses are also going home and taking with the the memory of watching someone's loved one die alone, I'm going home wondering if the bank will send me the statements in time for me to complete the year end accounts next week. Play it down all you like, I think you're bloody fabulous.

@HoobleDooble you're a very kind lady

@limpbizkit That sounds like Steve, up to his usual tricks.

Fucking Steve.

YABVVU.

Doctors and nurses are literally risking their lives. I think that’s worth a clap.

I feel sad as I thought the clapping was for dh remembering to put the bins out.

I was clapping for ALL key workers.

I'm a Phlebotomist at Salford Royal Hospital. This past week I have entered the rooms of a number of confirmed Coronavirus patients wearing just vinyl gloves, a plastic apron, and an ill fitting paper mask. I am putting my own and my Son's life in danger (I'm a single Mother, my Son has nowhere else that he can stay). I have every respect for every key worker that's keeping the country from collapsing, but unless you are a hospital worker at this moment in time, you can not comprehend what we are going through and the pressure/stress we are experiencing. The applause tonight was wonderful and much appreciated, I personally stood on my windowsill hollering out of the window! This post makes no sense to me. Surely we all appreciate every key worker that's still out there doing their job? To get your knickers in a twist because tonight's applause was aimed at the NHS just seems mean spirited and nit picky to me.
Myself and my colleagues are about to go through absolute hell on earth in the coming weeks while you stay at home with your family.... Don't begrudge us a cheer and a clap.

@IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls your heart is most definitely in the right place. However... If nurses are 'petrified' and 'traumatised' and experiencing 'PTSD' symptoms whilst on shift something is going badly wrong. If I was feeling all of those symptoms I would consider my health, mentally, was not adequate to fulfill my duties at that time and would take care of myself by taking time off sick. If I was expected to work without PPE (which is adequate protection) I wouldn't be working. It's inhumane. As for feeling deeply saddened by deaths... That's a tough one. I've often said a little prayer to myself. Had a quiet tear session on the way to my car and realised I had to stay strong and focused ready for the next shift. I never forget those folk though....

Because the NHS has been used and abused for years now. Yes so do others but not to the extent of the NHS staff. Most A&E’s are currently empty, that shows you how many idiots use it unnecessarily on a daily basis.

Every human being should be appreciated but for fucks sake let people who are risking their lives have a minute without you trying to take it away from them

@DollyDaydream70 then you stop putting up with it. You demand the appropriate PPE to walk into those rooms. You are legally entitled to. Don't risk your health or that of your son. If they cannot provide you with the equipment that ensures your safety then you ensure you don't do your job. They'll come up with the goods. We must stop the martyrdom

amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/as-if-a-storm-hit-33-italian-health-workers-have-died-since-crisis-began?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true

@limpbizkit I'm on annual leave tomorrow, back in work on Monday. By then I am hoping to have calmed myself (after a week of absolute hell, no one seems to know what they're doing) enough to have a very serious conversation with our manager and Infection Control. I feel we are being lied to when we are told that the paper mask, pinny, gloves protection is enough. We are being told that unless there is an 'aerosol procedure' taking place in the room at the time, we are ok. I have been into rooms with patients who are confirmed and coughing, to take bloods (therefore bending over and very close to patients faces). Information is now filtering down that other trusts phlebotomists are wearing long sleeved gowns and visors!! How dare they put us at risk like this, we just blindly believed them like a flock of sheep, and now I fear it's too late, we're probably all already infected.

@isthepopea terrible stuff. It was a lack of PPE. hence why I'd refuse to work without it.

Likely as they aren't directly saving lives.

@limpbizkit vicarious trauma comes along with the job im afraid - therefore so does the high rate of PTS .

If you asked every traumatised staff member to stay off work you would very quickly have no NHS .

On my ward the clinic room is also known as the "crying room" - i have seen all manner of staff in distress from student nurses to Lead Consultants in tears through stress.

Re PPE - there is woefully inadequate PPE . If we walked out because of this again who will take our place ?

@limpbizkit im not talking about just nurses - im talking about doctors who have been petrified this week.

Im talking about doctors & nurses having PTS ... i have been doing my job 20 years and i have never seen doctors feel so vulnerable & petrified.
What they are facing with their Covid patients is harrowing.

@IfOnlyOurEyesSawSouls Unfortunately everything you've said is true. Sending a message of unity and strength for the coming weeks to you and all of our fellow NHS workers x