NHS consultant flies to Greek island despite quarantine

[kumquat365]

Name change for this. DH and I have a friend who is an NHS consultant at the top of the pay scale whose service is short-staffed and has spoken to us about the unnecessary deaths caused by lack of cover in his speciality.

He's a keen swimmer and cyclist and booked to go on an activity-style holiday with a friend. He's not married and has no family: this wasn't a family holiday. They were booked to go to an upmarket activity holiday centre on a Greek island that in the last few days has been put on the quarantine list by both Scotland and Wales. The flight was due to depart late yesterday afternoon. Our friend's mate, who is a medic based in England, decided not to risk it and dropped out. Our friend, who works in one of the countries that had declared a 14-day quarantine on return, went in the knowledge he'd have to quarantine on return.

AIBU to feel shocked and disappointed? He's complained so much about shortages of staff in his specialism and he's just taken a decision that will mean it's even worse.

I'm with you op. For anyone, regardless of their job or marital status, to go abroad knowing fine well they will leave an understaffed department struggling and therefore cause more stress for colleagues by having to quarantine seems a bit shit to me

By that rationale, no one in the NHS would have any holiday ever. We are always understaffed.

There is already a huge problem with presenteeism in doctors - not taking sick leave when they need it, because they know colleagues will have to cover their work. It is not safe- for doctors or patients. Now, apparently, they're not allowed to go on holiday either. That will definitely reduce burnout, won't it?

do you know his plans should he require to quarantine op?

I think you need to keep your nose and your judgement out of other people's business when it doesn't directly affect you. This is his choice to make, not yours.

You sound very bitter and nosey tbh.

How is under staffing his responsibility?

He’s allowed to go away. Give him a break.

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'He is entitled to a holiday. The risks are virtually non-existent anyway'

Of course he is. If he'd have had the quarantine rule imposed while there then fair enough. He knew before he went though.

All the doctor cheerleaders on here Don't his patients count? Don't his colleagues who will have to pick up his slack?!

We have no idea what speciality he is in; it may be he can still consult with his patients. We have no idea how his colleagues feel or what their own plans are.

Because it's none of our business.

He's a human being going on a holiday. Last I checked, doctors are human beings, too.

I've just spent a week away in the countryside walking in the woods, watching birds and horses, being surrounded by nature and just being away from home. I feel like a massive weight has been lifted from me and feel almost euphoric for just having a change of scenery.
I have a very non-stressful job and happy home life and I still really needed it.
Your friend who has a massively stressful important job also needed a break (probably a lot more than me), and must have made an informed decision that it would be safe.
So I say let him have his adrenaline rush and exercise, and come back to work feeling as refreshed and recharged as I do.

I think OPs point is that he has gone to a place where restrictions are in place for quarentine. I dont think OP is begrudging him some time off, just a more thoughtful use of his time off.

There is a great article in The Telegraph about the unfolding scandal because the NHS is closed. Where is the media outrage about its ongoing failure? How many people will die because of cancelled cancer treatments? Cancelled appointments? Nowhere else in the developed world is pulling this stunt. Nowhere.

The NHS looks like a heartless behemoth which is deaf to the people’s suffering. One podiatrist says that he normally refers diabetics to a consultant if their circulation has deteriorated. He is desperately worried that many will need amputations when – if – hospitals finally agree to see patients again. Why in the name of God is there not a greater sense of urgency about this unfolding national tragedy? Why is the Prime Minister not telling hospitals and surgeries that they have a “moral duty” to fully open as he did to schools? A letter from NHS Chief Executive, Sir Simon Stevens, sent to all NHS trusts, GPs and Primary Care Networks, adopts a leisurely, almost languid tone: “Over the next six weeks and beyond, we have the opportunity to begin to release and redeploy some of the treatment capacity that could have been needed while the number of Covid-19 patients was rising so sharply.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/nhs-looks-like-heartless-behemoth-deaf-peoples-suffering/

As a consultant he can do a lot of his work on the end of a phone/laptop.

Are you sure he has to quarantine? Even lawyers like me don’t if we have court hearings, so I would be surprised if medics have to

how many weeks is he allegedly away in Greece?

YABVVVVVU

I hope he has a wonderful holiday and returns rested and ready for the winter pressures.

I have 2 friends who are consultants in the NHS. It’s not a life I’d chose personally. The mental stress is wrecking them.

@crystaltips98

I think OPs point is that he has gone to a place where restrictions are in place for quarentine. I dont think OP is begrudging him some time off, just a more thoughtful use of his time off.

The OP's point is the epitome of sanctimonious, judgemental, meddling bollocks, outing AF, too. Poor guy. This is no one's business but his and his employer's.

Surely the problem here is that if he worked in England he wouldn't have to quarantine but because he works in another part of the UK, he has to? (that's if he's subject to quarantine at all, most HCPs aren't). Doesn't that highlight to you how utterly pointless and arbitrary quarantine is? Especially as a lot of people will come back from Greece and just not bother to quarantine at all.

His patients have died needlessly due to this covid nonsense. I wouldn't blame him at all if he thought 'fuck it I'm not going along with this bullshit.' Why should he? It's all a bunch of pure bollocks anyway.

The short staffing is not his problem to carry. The more people carry the overload of work the more they are taken advantage of.
I would want my doctor's and nurses and support staff to be able to take a proper break from work and have a holiday. Their marital status etc is completely irrelevant

Bovary
no doubt meetings are being held.
redeployment, covid secure areas are being sourced.

No individual doctor can make any difference to decade of under-resourcing, stealth privatisation of the NHS by various UK governments.

If he is on a standard NHS contract he has 6 weeks pro-rata annual leave. In the health board I work all bank holiday, all annual leave was cancelled from the end of March.

He is much more likely to provide a good and safe service if he gets to take the leave he has chosen to take.

You have No Idea what arrangements have been made at his place of work to accommodate his 2 weeks quarantine on his routine.
I am saying this as an NHS doctor how worked v hard during my quarantine which was enforced while we were away.

Make your own decisions as you see fit and stay out of other people's.

Anger should be directed at the Tory governments we have had over the last decade who have used austerity to destroy the NHS and created chronic underfunding and staff shortages which cost lives.

If lives are lost due to one staff member being unexpectedly off for two weeks, then the system is broken and you need to turn your fury upon those who have run it into the ground to suit their own ideology and political agenda in order to profit personally from human misery and suffering.

He could get hit by a bus, he could decide he hates his job and leave, he could get sick or any number of things which would prevent him from working for two weeks at little or no notice. He is not responsible for people’s deaths because of this. It is the politicians who balance the NHS so precariously on the edge so that it only takes a tiny wobble to collapse it.

'Now, apparently, they're not allowed to go on holiday either'

Oh stop being so dramatic. They are allowed. Just not to places that need quarantine on their return.

'By that rationale, no one in the NHS would have any holiday ever. We are always understaffed'

Well let's make it worse by having a Dr sat on his arse for an extra 2 weeks after his jolly!

Just because his specialism is short staffed doesn't mean he isn't entitled to a holiday or a break.

You sound bitter and judgmental.

And the comments about stress....well that just make you sound ridiculous. If you met me you'd probably think i'm never stressed but i'm just really good at hiding it.

Gawd help us all when Fluvid season fully hits.

he's made a choice that will put him out of action for another fortnight

As people have said, consultants can do online appointments.

And he could have decided to leave medicine altogether, like the guy who was a paediatrician and did Masterchef and now makes cakes for a living. Should he have had to stay in medicine until he retires (and not early)?

Just because people are in those sorts of professions doesn't mean they don't have the same rights to a holiday as everyone else.

That said, I am surprised the NHS allows people to go to (known in advance) quarantine zones.