To ask what NHS frontline staff think of Breathtaking?

[CloudyYellow]

I have watched all 3 episodes. I worked on the frontline during Covid. I found it very triggering and my fury is back.

@wlv12 I am so sorry 💐

I feel so ignorant, and for that I am so sorry- I never really thought about drivers. I guess I was in my NHS bubble, but those workers also need highlighting.wasteful, unnecessary deaths that should not have happened. The whole pandemic was a fiasco in this country when they had ample warning to prevent many of these deaths as they saw what had happened in Europe and other areas of the world. We are a bloody island- we could have and should have shut down borders and quarantined far earlier. Not rocket science.

There was a point in late March/early April where we were admitting tonnes of patients exactly the same - I could practically cut and paste my clerking.

Black male bus driver or taxi driver, late 40s/early 50s, bit of high blood pressure on ramipril, caught covid 10 days ago, told to stay home by 111/999, and they had conscientiously done as they were told and avoided coming to hospital, up to the point where they keeled over. These young fit men were being brought in moribund, shut down, in multi-organ failure - I had literally never seen anything like it in anyone under 80.

Loads of them died immediately, and most of the rest died in ICU over the following weeks. It was absolutely horrific.

That aggressive messaging to stay home and protect the NHS was completely fucked up and wrongheaded - if those patients had presented 2-3 days earlier they might well have lived.

We also saw people failing to present with acute heart attacks and strokes because of fears of coming into hospital, or feeling like they weren’t supposed to bother us.

Thanks @Hotsausage2 . Many keyworkers died, though the NHS took the biggest hit. I work for the Tube, we lost a few people, but the buses were hardest hit. People always think only NHS staff were affected but many others in the police and fire brigade passed away too. Plus all the council, care workers, anyone who worked in enclosed spaces or closely with the public.

Can’t bear to watch.

I live in NZ, and it was shown on TV here last month, and honestly it was a real eye-opener. I feel so very sorry for those of you who actually lived it.

Bloody awful and made me cry lots. I’m in awe of the nhs and front line workers I look back and feel guilty as I enjoyed lock down of course we knew a little of what went on but the true reality wasn’t broadcast in real time.

I'm not NHS, not heard of this series before this thread but don't think I could stomach it from comments so far!

Would just infuriate me

That aggressive messaging to stay home and protect the NHS was completely fucked up and wrongheaded - if those patients had presented 2-3 days earlier they might well have lived

I work in an ICU and nobody can bear to watch it. Haven't read the book either. The trauma's too recent.

@NoMoreFalafelsForYou whether you watch it or not please DO be infuriated- we need to be angry and call those responsible to account.

I wasn't planning to watch it, mostly because I want to forget Covid ever happened, but I feel cowardly now reading the comments so maybe I will watch after all. I'm not NHS or a keyworker and it feels wrong to purposely close my eyes to what you all went through, everyone should know what you went through for all the reasons mentioned in this thread. I will watch, and I hope the programme generates some sort of positive effect.

I’ll have to give it a watch - I saw some coverage in the right wing papers linked to on some junior doctor forums that implied it was going to be anti-doctor/we should have been sacrificing ourselves which put me off (and I’m not a big fan of Rachel Clarke) but sounds like that was a complete mischaracterisation (also didn’t realise Jed Mercurio was involved who has written some of the best and most realistic medical dramas).

Not sure how I feel about digging up all the memories though. I was working on a care of the elderly admissions ward and for some reason it was decided we didn’t need full PPE. Patients would come from ED (where staff had PPE) then wait with us to get their positive test result when staff in PPE would come and take them to the wards. We were expected to just get on with it. Unsurprisingly our staff infection rates were huge. I’ll never forget one of my consultants (who was from an ethnic minority background) putting on ‘illegal’ PPE and sadly telling me “I need to think about my children” then getting bollocked by the managers as setting a poor example to us. I’ll also never forget the patients - I had one day where my entire list passed away. We did our best (iPads, handholding, relaying messages from loved ones) but it just felt awful - they didn’t deserve to die with strangers.

I’d love to think those in charge would be held accountable for their actions but we all know that will never happen.

Not NHS
Not in the UK

But my mother was, before also dying and being buried alone.

I don't know if I'll watch it.
Not sure how much anger I have left, but it's never stopped. I'll never, ever forgive.

Thank you all of you for what you did, and do.

I'm front line NHS staff and got redeployed to ITU. I agree with all the above sentiments and wish I hadn't watched it, the awful, bad memories came flooding back. I will watch the 3rd episode, but I also hope lessons are learnt and we never have to go through this ever again.

I watched it all last night and then couldn’t sleep.

Not NHS but a teacher and I remember the fear in the week up to lockdown. Each day would log onto SIMS and see hundreds of Xs and we eventually closed before lockdown as so many staff were ill or isolating.

The scene where she is scrolling through Twitter hit me. I remember doing the same - reading the hatred for teachers but I just couldn’t stop, like picking a scab.

I started taking anti- anxiety medication through lockdown (luckily off now!) due to trying to teach live with a 7 and 4 year old so I can’t imagine what would have happened to me if I was facing the experiences of those depicted in the drama. I am both in awe of your bravery and sickened by this Government.

I have 3 family members in the NHS, one made face shields for the ward as they didn't have any. A colleague of a family member died after contracting COVID on the ward.
I was a keyworker (not NHS) at the time and the senior manager 'Mike' in the programme reminded me so much of my manager at the time who would respond to any questions with 'The Policy says ....'. I questioned the use of hot air hand dryers in the toilet which would blow the virus around - especially as the NHS used paper towels. But no - the policy says its safe.

It was horrific. Dh was an NHS doctor at the time and we decided for the safety of our family that he would move into a friend's caravan to reduce the risk of infection at home whilst he was spending so many hours at work. There was very limited PPE, people were dying, we had children and so little was known about the virus. I was able to move to a non-clinical role and stayed at home educating the kids whilst Dh lived in a caravan or in the hospital for 4 month. Our kids didnt' see their dad for 4 months and colleagues died due to lack of PPE yet the Tories were partying it up.

Although this is about the chaos within the NHS I too would like to acknowledge all the other people continuing to face the public with fear, poor PPE, and losing colleagues. Care homes in particular in our area we're unsupported.

However, what happened was different occupations started to fight for recognition and in doing so denigrate the experiences of others. We were all let down. All of us.

That aggressive messaging to stay home and protect the NHS was completely fucked up and wrongheaded - if those patients had presented 2-3 days earlier they might well have lived.

This. This. This. Its still happening today. So much money spent telling people to avoid seeing their GP or going to ED. Because we haven't funded those services enough to cope not because of misuse. Blaming GPs or ED staff ...whilst many are leaving because of their trauma and the service is even more struggling. The govt is responsible. Don't be directed to blame anyone other than them

I have seen all 3 and after watching this and also Partygate on channel 4 it just makes me so unbelievably angry and I despise anyone who can think that the Tories should still be in power

This should be having the same if not more public outcry and reaction as the post office scandal show did but it doesn’t seem to be and it’s making me wonder why (although I probably know the answer)

I have NHS family members, one has now quit altogether and another has PTSD and has had several periods of being off long term sick.

The comments around not knowing how many health care workers, outside of doctors, had died was sickening and I didn’t know that before this

I work on issues around social care. I remember being sent the guidance from Dept of Health around discharging patients to clear hospitals in readiness for Covid19 from colleagues asking for my thoughts

I remember reading the plan to discharge patients to care homes without testing and emailing back saying (paraphrase) ‘that is madness, they’ll discharge old people with covid into care homes and it’ll cause carnage’

many ppl working in social care desperately tried to amend the plans around care homes so they at least tested first but it was a flat no. The result was thousands of older people dying needlessly in care homes

im still boggled that that was allowed to happen

It's a dramatisation of a book an NHS doctor found time to write during the pandemic! I'm sure the series won't document how NHS staff were given free food, free takeaways and discounts, and propelled to the front of every supermarket and petrol queue, whatever their role in the organisation 🙄

I am a doctor in NZ … we actually saw this programme in early Jan in NZ… I wondered if your are seeing later because powers-that-be wanted to keep quiet during early days covid inquiry.
I feel so devastated for my British colleagues…like lambs to slaughter well those in charge parked. It makes me sick to the pit of my stomach… and of course Boris and Hancock et al will never be made accountable.

I was wondering how accurate NHS staff would find the programme.

My mum was in hospital for several weeks over one of the lockdown periods - not with Covid - and we couldn't visit her which was upsetting, but we of course respected this. Then it came out that the Tories had been partying away without a thought ...

Well you’d be wrong on 2 counts thete @peakygold the book was written from notes made during the pandemic that the doctor had kept as a way of processing what was happening - this is a very common coping technique in stressful jobs and secondly in the very first episode they do a whole thing about all the free things the public are sending in