To find the early COVID era nostalgic?

[Acco]

I’m mostly talking about the pre-lockdown and lockdown 1 era mostly but just 2020 in general to a lesser extent (but not 2021, I still hate it and it doesn’t seem that long ago). I haven’t thought about COVID for ages but I was taking about the toilet roll hysteria with my in laws tonight and then I saw a TikTok throwback to all the 2020 trends and sounds and it gave me a warm feeling inside. It’s an era I’d never want back but I remember the lovely sunny days in the garden in April and May 2020.
Anybody else feel this?

Absolutely. You were the only sane person with a mind of your own and capable of critical thought. That certainly shines through every word of your post. 🙄

I was in a car accident, my doctors refused to see me and said they had no appointments and to go to A&E, I wasn't seriously injured but needed checking over as the bruising across my chest that appeared the next day was horrific and I couldn't sit down without pain. I called 111 and the lady there was gobsmacked and basically said they had lied to me as she could see they had appointments and that I was right not wasting A&E's time, I knew I wasn't seriously injured as I was walking about and doing normal things.

Saw a lovely doctor(no one else there so really not busy or fully booked) who said I had whiplash and nothing was broken. Even he was shocked they had refused to see me.

There is literally no way 111 would know if the GPs had any appointments the day before. No appointments is different from saying no we won't see you, shockingly it means there aren't any appointments left as they've been booked- they offered advice on where to be checked out. Honestly there was lots of fucked up things about access to healthcare during covid but people's ignorance towards the reality of how it works doesn't help.

Lol. So who were the ones saving people’s lives then? Oh right, the NHS as well? SO CRINGE to show appreciation for people who were trying to do their best in unprecedented circumstances at the risk of their own lives, even if the system isn’t perfect.

Seal clap for the idiocy on display here.

I found the tiktok videos from nurses and doctors a bit cringey. I doubt they would have been taken instead of caring for patients, and probably done to boost morale in their break times (yes, we are entitled to breaks despite many of us working through them)

I was in working in a busy NHS department (oncology) and our service carried on as normal, so from my point of view people who think we sat on our arses enjoying ourselves or dancing around are very wrong.

I was in different hospitals during the plandemic and the a and es were empty,literally, 2 or 3 people inc myself there. Mid day middle of the week one of the largest hospitals in the north was completely empty- i took pictures of the empty corridors,empty main reception etc it was surreal.

now some people are paying for nhs coming to a full on stop, annual death rates and excess deaths are higher than before

our local dentists still have 2 year waiting times to just get a check up, swedes did not do lockdowns, no excess deaths during plandemic or after,in fact- they had lowest death rates in europe

Plandemic, how pathetic. I can see why people criticise lockdown, but to question the pandemic itself is pathetic.

Embarassing and distasteful more than cringey, if they were truly busy there would have been no time and energy to practice dance routines,or did they stay back after a 12 hr shift to dance?

It was annual viral illness season, every year different strains of flus and yes,coronaviruses kill people. During the covid years flu deaths were 0-never happened before in history. I called up gp as one of my children had viral symptoms and high feber more than 3 days,for advice- she asked if other family members had same symptoms,of course we all had it at different degrees- she said she was going to put as all down was having covid (extra money for go surgeries for treating covid patients). I was expecting and had a fever too- she asked to take the wholle family to one of the car parks where they did testing, i asked what difference does the result make- there is no treatment for covid19,same as usual-rest keep hydrated take ur vitamins especially c and d, throat pastilles whatever makes it easier to let the virus run its course and immune system do its job. She could not give me a reason why should i get myself and my feverish children dressed,stress and upset them when they are ill by making people stick things up their noses. Some “proud” parents i know posted on fb tho,heroically,holding their sick distressed children down for a nose swab- no idea what for

God no, I absolutely hated it, couldn’t go to the office, DS’s GCSE’s cancelled, kids stuck at home for months on end, not seeing any family as they live 5hrs away. Nothing nice to remember and I feel like it’s taken some of my kids childhood away

You obviously weren't working in health or social care then. That's all I can say, because otherwise I'd be ranting.

@Bingsbongs

i can assure you that on oncology we were busy ( in some patient groups even more so, I.e. lung cancer patients as there were no surgical beds so they had to have alternative treatment)

it was an absolutely horrendous time to be working in the NHS, I am still quite mentally scarred from some of it.

@Bingsbongs

During the covid years flu deaths were 0-never happened before in history.

Well, not really. Deaths from influenza did decrease dramatically in 2020, though. Is there one factor you can think of that may have influenced this decline? And then, thinking it through further, what made flu cases and deaths spike again in in 2021 and 2022? Take your time.

Right. Sure. And why do you think some departments in some hospitals were empty? Because the NHS as a whole thought “oooh a pandemic, time to take advantage and put our feet up!!”. Obviously they were preparing for the worst, but in such an unprecedented situation it’s difficult to prepare perfectly.

Honestly. Do people truly think the NHS had a laugh during the pandemic being lazy and practicing dance routines whilst ignoring patients? Seriously? So many people died trying to just do their job.

They weren’t learning the intricacies of the Argentine Tango

They were 20 second dance videos that you could take one look at and copy instantly on your break. No need to practice.

As a dentist we did not stop during covid . From 27 of March to 6 June 2020 we were in every day , still seeing emergencies although we could not use a drill. I also spent all day,every day when not dealing with patients trying to source and buy PPE that was non existent or prohibitively expensive , training staff in the new ways we were going to have to work , training as a mask fit tester and getting everyone in my practice and surrounding practices fit tested and evenings and weekends spent supporting colleagues who were financially, emotionally and physically drained.

From June 2020 we worked extra days, hours and weekends because the new , safe ways of working meant that although we were working longer hours we were seeing far fewer patients due to the strict hygiene and fallow time rules we had to follow but also because we had vulnerable staff who couldn't work and people isolating with covid we were constantly short staffed.

The precautions we had to take for covid changed but lasted well into autumn 2022. These precautions meant that although we were working harder than ever before we were seeing far fewer patients and that backlog has never been caught up because staff are now leaving because they are utterly burnt out and dental nurses earn more , with less responsibility and risk , working in Aldi. Dental laboratories have shut down as the finances of covid were the final blow to a precarious financial situation.

Long covid has affected female health care workers , disproportionaltely and many dentists have had to retire early because of this and other health problems.

Waiting rooms were empty because we were not allowed to use them. People had to wait outside until we phoned them and brought them straight through to the practice.

Ignorant and clueless, let me guess you're not a fan of science and don't work anywhere near healthcare.

I appreciate your experience but I know a lot of dentists and they all tell me they had it very easy and largely shut up shop and directed even emergencies elsewhere- furloughed everyone and had a good few weeks of doing nothing until very slowly moving to re open with precautions.

myself and all my family pay for expensive dental plans and received no rebate whatsoever despite getting either no cover or only basic phone advice for months. That money was still going somewhere.

I do not think private dentistry has covered itself in glory in many ways over the last 15 years and covid did not change my opinion

The only dentist I know who shut up shop was diagnosed with lung cancer and kept working until a couple of weeks before he died. Unfortunately it was a single man practice and the paper work could not be done to keep it open.

Many practices could not use all their surgeries because they could not be made compliant with ventilation requirements.

I was the chief organiser for most of the local private practices. If you look at the statistics you can see that private practices managed to get going quicker for aerosol generating procedures than mainly NHS practices and opened quicker because they could act quicker on buying the necessary equipment.

The dentists you knew must have been very fortunate because most dental practices were not eligible for financial help during COVID, many owners took on five figure loans to keep going and pay for air purifying equipment erc, and for some the financial hit was part of the reason why so many practices have closed post covid.

Our dentist basically shut up shop during the height of the pandemic, but they had previously forced most of their patients to sign up for Denplan or Practice Plan, so I guess that that paid their wages.

It used to be a regular NHS practice, until the older partners retired. After the youngsters took over, the whole ethos changed. Patients were informed that they would only provide NHS treatment to those on certain benefits. An elderly relative with no teeth whatsoever had to agree to set up a Direct Debit for nearly £5 a month in order to pay for their annual gum check and to stay on their books.

They don't provide any emergency back-up outside normal hours or over the Christmas period. Patients are instructed to phone the NHS for an emergency appointment...

The payments from denplan/practice plan might, just about, cover the fixed costs ie finance for equipment, computers, mortgage, student loans ,business loans, but would never be enough to pay the dentists anything .

Especially is they are young owners the debt they would have to service is enormous .

I am surprised about on-call as part of your payment for denplan/practice plan is an insurance which pays the cost of call out and emergency treatment and denplan insist on emergency cover being available as part of their practice inspection process.

Thanks, Lollygaggle.

I say 'youngsters', but they've now been in charge for some years. (I've been with the practice for more than 40 years.) I thought that the Denplan emergency cover was only for when you were away from your home area?

A few months ago, I got a letter saying that the practice was cancelling Denplan and switching to Practice Plan for all customers. Went into the practice and that was when I discovered that they had sold the practice to another company.

My Denplan used to cover all treatment apart from additional hygienist appointments and crowns. I recall that my late husband used to have to pay extra on Practice Plan. It occurs to me that I'd better check precisely what is covered. (There's been no change to the amount I pay and I was faced with a fait accompli.)

Discovered on social media last month that they're combining two practices in the area, but supposedly keeping on all staff - they're moving to another town, so I'm guessing that that is them shrugging off the last of their NHS patients and many of their older patients. A new NHS practice has opened up, so I expect that they've already lost patients to them. The building that they're moving into is the surgery for the other practice, so I suspect that it'll be a case of Box and Cox - most of the staff at my practice only work there two or three days a week.

No Denplan and practice plan emergency cover covers you for all emergencies , at home as well as away from home, plus trauma cover.

Most practices subsidise their NHS patients from private income , but finances have now made even that unviable. In general a fully private practice will only want to keep a third of its patients as more time is spent delivering private treatment.

Dentistry is very expensive to provide , a room in a private practice will cost upwards of £180 an hour to run so it makes sense to combine running costs from one practice as dental inflation is running at over 10% a year, utilities even more .

Most younger dentists now want a portfolio career ie instead of working full time in one practice most will split their time between a couple of practices , or post grad training, or working in hospital or community. It helps to defray the stress.

The rising cost of providing dental care is why so many practices have closed recently. Bupa has just closed 85 practices , including quite a few private practices.
The loss of income over covid period , the debt taken on during covid, the loss of staff completely burnt out and leaving the profession , and the rising costs of providing dentistry have been the final straw for many .