Hospital staff, tell us the reality

[Ihateme]

I’m am so fed up of seeing people comment on here that schools should be going back, that people should not be reporting mass gatherings in tier 4, how dare people begrudge a child their birthday party etc...

The hospitals are in a worse state now than they were during the first peak. Would any doctors or nurses care to confirm this? Maybe then these Mumsnetters will get the message.

Autocorrect is more polite than me. I said twats not rests.

MNHQ won't delete though honey - they say it's instructive to see other posters countering the idiocy. Why the board is still full of posts with all this 'plandemic' -adjacent shit

But then sadly people do believe it and spread the whole lot of bollocks around further :(

Yes, we must keep calling this out. I am very weary of it :(

I hope those on this thread who are frontline workers are coping ok. Thinking about you

A really close friends cousin (aged 45, no medical conditions or notable previous medical issues), finished work on Xmas Eve and was due back on the 28th. He was perfectly well when he finished, so his colleagues messaged and rang him when he didn't turn up, no reply so rang the police who broke in and found him collapsed, he passed away (from COVID), in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

It's not only people who are elderly or susceptible in other ways who are affected.

Oh sorry you're getting the helpful for idiots to be robustly challenged crap too. We've had the same on school threads with the it's only a cold why would we need mitigation types.

Personally think leaving that post is properly dangerous and irresponsible and guessing a glance at the posters history should be enough. I haven't looked but I'm guessing it's not someone who normally posts on chicken keeping or style and beauty.

strivingforjustice that is just rubbish. Proof of any of it from a bonafide source please?

In your conspiracy theory world, what is the actual motivation of anybody behind this so called pack of lies? Why would any government willingly destroy its own economy and likelihood of re-election?!

@strivingforjustice are you aware what underlying conditions are counted
Excess death rate is also high

This is something strange to me:
My step mum's pal is going for an eye operation on Monday and being tested for Covid today. What if it comes up negative but in the time between today's test and the op she gets Covid and is asymptomatic (so spreads it at hospital)?
I dont understand this.

Risk minimisation Gingas. Your step mums pal will be required to completely isolate (and her whole family if needs be) between test and operation. They can't guarantee 100% she will be covid free, but they are trying to minimise the risk of her bringing covid into hospital.

I don't understand why they can't stop non Covid patients from being infected by Covid patients, do they put them on the same wards together?

livinginthecity
It’s a capacity issue, combined with the fact that people carry covid asymptomatically (so come in with an unrelated problem) and the fact that it takes up to 48 hours to get a swab result. When an individual comes in, they receive a swab. If they are known or suspected covid, they will be isolated to a covid ward. However, a not insignificant number of people come in with no symptoms of covid and are ‘low risk’. These people are cohorted together and often put onto wards where people are negative. There are not enough beds to have separate wards for those definitely covid negative and those likely to be negative, particularly at the moment.

Some of those cohorted on the ‘negative’ ward will have initial swabs that later come back positive.

Essentially, if you are unlucky enough to come into hospital at the moment, you have to assume you could come into contact with covid. This is why people are being advised to stay home - not necessarily to avoid catching covid, but to also avoid other illness / injury / accidents that could land them in hospital. Some hospitals have managed to have separate wings that are ‘clean’ for elective procedures but this is logistically difficult and even these places are now having to convert those areas to covid areas due to the sheer number of patients coming in.

Im on a specialist ward but we have a covid bay and end up with people who aren't even our speciality (a bit harder for the nurses and takes them longer to see a doctor) just because its the only place with a bed. I'd say at least every 30 minutes were getting calls from a and e or ITU nagging if we have any beds. As soon as someone is discharged or stepped down I have to drop whatever I'm doing to clean the room and bed becauae someone will be up immediately. We sometimes have people waiting in beds/trolleys next to someone elses bed waiting for them to leave. I can't speak for what its like in ITU, A and E or red zones though as I haven't actually been down there.

New statement re discussions around resource allocation today

www.nuffieldbioethics.org/news/statement-the-need-for-national-guidance-on-resource-allocation-decisions-in-the-covid-19-pandemic

I'm on a cardiac intervention ward and the past ten months have been hell-caring for patients who should be in ICU but are transferred out for Covid patients. We are caring for more patients than normal and with a skeleton staff because we are covering Covid unit staffing. The patients are more anxious due to no family visiting and anxiety is manifested in more neediness both emotional and physical. I'm getting calls from anxious,crying family members and frequently multiple members of family. The patient acuity has increased. This week due to cardio thoracic and thoracic surgery ICU step down unit is now Covid only I'm caring for complex patients with chest tubes,feeding tubes,etc. I've been a nurse almost 23 years and we are on our knees. (I live in the USA and work at a premiere hospital that does specialized cardiac procedures that most places don't)

For those NHS workers who are on Covid wards - if you have protesters outside your hospital demonstrating because they believe Covid is a hoax - how on earth do you stop yourselves from grabbing them up and marching them into a Covid ward? I don't think I would be able to stop myself.

Thank you so much for all that you do.

Gotcha, DavidDuchovnysRedPants. Didn't realise they asked her to isolate until the operation. Of course. That makes sense.

There are more than double the number of Covid+ patients in our hospital than, there were at the first peak in April.

Our ward is supposed to be covid-free due to the nature of the conditions patients are admitted with making them vulnerable (respiratory with a High Dependency Unit) but we've been having regular outbreaks.

Direct quote from my sister whose not a member but I asked her tonight and this was her text to me. She's Working on COVID ward in Midlands.

"1 or 2 deaths a day, it's really bleak and bone breaking busy. But also seeing lots of people 90+ in some cases, walking out fine, that happens more than the deaths but not reported.
Then in two weeks time they can drop with a heart attack and because they had COVID in last 28 days it's counted against stats. (Shrug emoji)"

@Saxineno if your sister is a medical professional, she would know that covid causes clotting like problems to the heart and other organs and issues and people are dropping down dead when they seemingly are well enough to leave hospital. Also a lot of these people are dying after 28 days after they tested positive so no they aren’t counted. Especially the younger ones who ITU try to save them for longer than 28 days.

1-2 deaths a day for any ward really is horrific and everyone is seeing that, trying to down play the deaths of those with covid complications after discharge isn’t helpful.

On my daughter's 30 bed Covid ward, 12 patients died over a 36 hour period last week.

Some of her nurses did two 12.5 hour shifts during that period. That has to be traumatising.

So you accept the severity of the situation but still have to squeak in a conspiracy-theory denial - WTF is wrong with you Crap-Heads. FFS!

I was working in out patients so far from covid , we are quiet as either appointments cancelled or patients don't show up.
However we are loosing staff to other departments to cover sickness and that fear of being redeployed is worrying some people to the point of making themselves unwell.
This includes me , I start new role but I have a fear I'll be sent else where ,which will impact on my home life.might sound selfish but my priority is my family .
I'm already loosing out , within 1st year of being a nurse you should have preceptorship that isn't happing due to covid.
Within my new job people are starting without doing manual handling or life support training , something they never used to let you start without.