To think that nobody is going to want to volunteer to help the NHS

[Cinammoncake]

With coronavirus Government saying this morning on the radio that they'll ask people to volunteer if necessary. People have been saying for years the NHS is underfunded. And who are all these people free to work for nothing. I think the Government is deluded to think there will be volunteers for this.

Saying that, I already work FT as a public servant so it would depend on whether my boss was ok with it.

Also I would be put off volunteering if it caused my family anxiety (if my kids were worried I could die). But I suppose I’d only be volunteering if things had gone seriously wrong and the country was in dire straits (which i think/hope is highly unlikely!)

I expect covid19 is going to spread widely.
On that basis... I kind of want to get it sooner rather than later.

Get it over with.
I'm not about to endorse deliberately trying to get sick.
I'd rather have it behind me, anyway.

No thanks. It’s not a world war requiring VADs.

But you’re not volunteering to help the NHS or the government. You’d be volunteering to help unwell people, surely?

Tsarina Alexandra of Russia and her daughters worked as nurses during WW1. Surely, the young, fit royals could volunteer in hospitals as nursing auxiliaries?

I have a full time paid job, I already volunteer in a primary school. I have no inclination to mop floors etc for free in the NHS.

Current volunteers aren’t risking their lives. They’re rarely exposed to disease. I doubt there will be many volunteers to work with contagious patients who could pass on a virus that could kill them.

@PlomBear I doubt the current royal family will do anything to help the plebs. Maybe a few speeches about how terrible it all is while stopping public engagements and keeping the public away.

I would volunteer, I’m still young and in good health, I’m lucky that nobody I am close to is in the at risk category so it would make sense to.
I think we will all need to pull together, check on extended family, friends, neighbours and people we know who live on their own if it’s going to be as bad as predicted. I can’t see it happening though, too many I’m alright jack, fuck everyone else types around.

I spoke to my mother who is a private healthcare nurse about what if the government commandeered private nurses and facilities...when they realise that using retired NHS staff is the worst idea ever. She worried that though it may look selfish, many private nurses picked private care for a reason and as she is nearing retirement, she would also be high risk. We simply do not have the human resources that China has ...

I don't have children and parents both dead, and I will volunteer if the need arises.
I have zero medical knowledge and am 62, so obviously will be limited in ability, but would certainly do what I could.

We simply do not have the human resources that China has
or rather we dont live in a surveillance state where citizens are forced to obey!
Who knows what really happened in China, it's all about propaganda & keeping up appearances whilst covertly performing forced organ transplants with live and conscious donors

I kind of want to get it sooner rather than later
I can see why you'd want to get it out of the way, I'd prefer to get it later, viruses tend to reduce in harmfulness as they spend more time adapting to the host. At least I'd want to avoid being one of the early human hosts.

The government would only be asking retired staff to return to the NHS on a voluntary basis if the U.K. had reached worst case scenario, the regular staff were off sick in large numbers, and the numbers of patients were swamping the available facilities. In other words, a major crisis. I hope that all of us would do the decent thing and help, given the circumstances. I retired from the NHS 3 years ago, but would go back if needed.
A rusty doctor is better than no doctor.
It would be unchristian to refuse to help save lives - how would you live with your guilt afterwards if you refused and left family, friends and neighbours to die?

Volunteering in a hospital is no different to volunteering in a charity shop. Plenty of amazing people give up spare time in different capacities because they believe in what they are helping with.

I work full time in the NHS but if they needed me to work more hours as a volunteer then of course I would, as would most of my colleagues I imagine.

I’m a retired nurse and I think I would volunteer, not as a nurse but as a Hca.

But they had better not charge me to park in the staff car park!