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.

BovaryX The hospital I work in is back to 96% capacity so definitely not closed 🤣🤣🤣

I'm glad you think it's so funny. But Professor Sikora isn't laughing.

Some estimates say a few thousand cancer patient lives could be lost. I think you can easily multiply that by ten,” he tells me via Zoom from his garden in Buckinghamshire. “It’s far worse than people appreciate.”Studies suggest that more than a decade of progress in saving lives will be wiped out this year. “We have almost certainly caused the death of something like 30,000 patients,” he says. “I think it’s going to end up in that sort of number . . . 30,000 who would have probably been cured if it hadn’t been for Covid. I’ve seen a lot in my half a century in medicine. I’ve never been more worried about cancer care than I am now. This is an unfolding disaster and so many aren’t seeing it.” His advice for patients? “Don’t get cancer in 2020

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/saturday-interview-karol-sikora-zr3qxsn6f

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'how do you know that he will be on his laze arse during his quarantine Ironic user name, under the circumstances'

Well quarantine by its nature means people are housebound and therefore not seeing patients.

There are soo many threads on mn about the nhs needing to get back up and running and here we have a load of people approving of a skiving Dr! He has gone knowing he has to quarantine.

I get that all the time about my name btw. Not very original

Have you ever heard of the internet, and the telephone? Being unaware of either seems the most charitable explanation for your assumption.

I have not RTFT but what has whether the department is short-staffed, or what his pay grade is, have to do with his leave entitlement? Whether you are well-paid (for a very hghly skilled job) has nothing whatsoever to do with your entitlement to take leave as per your contact, and the short-staffing is the organisation's problem, not his.

What a surprise to see @BovaryX on a thread bashing the nhs. Not everyone has good health insurance.
Once again, the nhs is not abs was not closed. You seem to like posting links, have a look at all the evidence which demonstrated the high risks or surgery if you had covid.

He's entitled to annual leave like anyone else. You are jealous.

BTW I am also a medical consultant and I am very much seeing patients (remotely).

@BovaryX People like you are the useful idiots of the big US healthcare companies, who want to see the NHS privatised, so that they can exploit it for profit. The Telegraph is the leading cheerleader for NHS privatisation.

Ultimately, if the NHS goes, we will all still have jobs because demand for skilled HCPs outstrips supply. It is the public who will suffer.

There is lots wrong with the NHS, but the idea that it is closed is just idiotically wrong and an insult to everyone who is working phenomenally hard in difficult circumstances.

There are countries with better free-at-the-point-of-access healthcare systems than the NHS, but they pay a lot more tax to get them. In 2019, the UK spent £2,989 per person per person on healthcare, France spent £3,737, Germany £4,432.

I'd bet good money the OP is one of THOSE people I've worked with that are incredulous and outraged that I, someone without children books leave during the school holidays

If he is taking the time from his annual leave, I think that it's his right - so long as he does obey the quarantine rules, and does not risk other people's health. If he's taking extra time off for the purpose, then it is unfair to his colleagues and patients; but I would doubt that he is.

He complains each time we see him of how patchy his service is, of having clinics cancelled because of lack of support staff and so on. His speciality is one where the likelihood of people dying and he recently told of us of three deaths which ought to have been preventable. But he's made a choice that will put him out of action for another fortnight.

Surely by this logic he should never take any holiday at all? Is he allowed weekends, given that he could use the time to save more people?

@kumquat365

I'm amazed at the responses. He could have had a cycling/swimming holiday here. In fact the pair of them had been offered someone's nice holiday home on a Scottish loch as an alternative last week. I mentioned it wasn't a family holiday to indicate that he wasn't constrained by obligations to a partner or children.

He complains each time we see him of how patchy his service is, of having clinics cancelled because of lack of support staff and so on. His speciality is one where the likelihood of people dying and he recently told of us of three deaths which ought to have been preventable. But he's made a choice that will put him out of action for another fortnight.

Does it not come out of his holiday allowance?

It's not the job of individual consultants to solve the problem of a decade of under investment in the health service. If you think he isn't entitled to a break, then perhaps you are part of the reason we have this problem in the first place.

Teacher-bashing, medic-bashing - is there anyone in the public sector that MNetters don't want to aim a kick at?

'Doctors are human beings too.'

Yes they are. However they also have jobs to do. I await a thread in the next few weeks 'my poor dm finally got her opa to then find out it's been cancelled as the consultant went away knowing fine well he would have to quarantine on his return'. Not that they'd be told that of course.

Would people really say mind your own business, he deserves his holiday plus a bonus 2weeks off?!

It is better he takes time off now that become unwell and ill for overworking/ estress.
Yeap it would be better if he stayed in UK.

@BovaryX

BovaryX the nhs is not “closed”

So Alison Pearson's article is a lie? All the people in the comments describing cancelled operations and appointments are lying? Professor Sikora is lying when he expresses his ongoing concern about cancelled cancer treatments is making it up? There are no problems or delays with accessing medical care? Is that what you are saying? What colour is the sky on your planet?

Oh I see. You equate cancellations with closure! No. It’s not closed and FYI cancellations happen all day every day, pandemic or not. That’s due to severe underfunding and cutting of services by subsequent governments that do not value the health care we should be providing.

Yes I will freely admit, I spent four days in the middle of March calling a caseload of 400 patients to tell them the particular team I work for was temporarily suspended due to staff being re-deployed. However within 6 weeks all but one of my colleagues had been allowed to return to the team. During the initial six weeks of lockdown I was still fielding patient calls, referrals, questions and very busy trying to set up virtual clinics for when my colleagues returned. From June onward we have been running the best we could whilst not actually being allowed to see patients face to face, which I’m sure you can appreciate is difficult. My colleagues now see patients face to face and have been for about 6 weeks. We’re playing catch up and are extremely busy. I don’t know of a single department in the NHS trust I work for that is “closed” and not running in some capacity as best they can.

Iirc you are not in the U.K.? (Btw the sky is a lovely dull grey today, thanks for asking) I think we have disagreed on the fairness of the USA medical system before. I struggle to believe the exact same issues haven’t happened world wide, with cancellations, slow downs and problems with accessing medical care in the middle of a pandemic. And hey, at least our rural communities aren’t missing out on medication because the postal service is being fucked over!

[quote MissLucyEyelesbarrow]@BovaryX People like you are the useful idiots of the big US healthcare companies, who want to see the NHS privatised, so that they can exploit it for profit. The Telegraph is the leading cheerleader for NHS privatisation.

Ultimately, if the NHS goes, we will all still have jobs because demand for skilled HCPs outstrips supply. It is the public who will suffer.

There is lots wrong with the NHS, but the idea that it is closed is just idiotically wrong and an insult to everyone who is working phenomenally hard in difficult circumstances.

There are countries with better free-at-the-point-of-access healthcare systems than the NHS, but they pay a lot more tax to get them. In 2019, the UK spent £2,989 per person per person on healthcare, France spent £3,737, Germany £4,432.[/quote]
@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

You are incapable of replying without being abusive. If you are actually in the NHS, I feel sorry for your patients. The NHS is failing its patients. And it is run for its employees. Your attitude epitomizes its self serving contempt for the people it is meant to serve

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a thread to say their op was cancelled and they are outraged because the consultant died from covid.

Doctor here. I'm surprised so many people feel like they own us, and can dictate our lives and what is done on our annual leave.

Like most doctors, I had my annual leave cancelled over covid. The doctor in question is mostly likely just using his accrued annual leave. If not, it will be unpaid leave, or working from home.

Doctors are not the reason the NHS is understaffed. Poor working conditions and pay, plus constant devaluation of staff is the reason. Plus the scrapping of the NHS study bursary.

'It's not the job of individual consultants to solve the problem of a decade of under investment in the health service. '

It is everyone's job to have take some responsibility and not to go to places that require quarantine that will leave others struggling. Whether that is in the nhs or costa it doesn't matter. Unless he's booked a month off to cover the quarantine but it reads like he's happily leaving patients and colleagues in the lurch.

OP you've got a terrible wedgy from your judgy pants.

I struggle to believe the exact same issues haven’t happened world wide

That shows your ignorance about the standard of functioning health care in the developed world. It is really bizarre, this refusal to acknowledge that the NHS dysfunction isn't replicated elsewhere.

OP is clearly the type who think that single people shouldn’t get any annual leave in school holidays because why do they need it?

Shocking thread. I would much rather my medical staff were well rested.

The fact the NHS can't hire enough people is not his fault. Is he supposed to forego all his leave because we can't either pay enough or organise visas for the NHS staff we need? He will need a holiday one day. So what if he takes a longer one, he probably has enough annual leave backed up to cover quarantine. And probably won't take time off later, when he'll be needed to deal with the backlog caused by six months of the NHS cancelling pretty much everything.

The NHS is failing its patients. And it is run for its employees

that last sentence is one of the most laughable things I've ever read on here.