MAtt Hancock now

[SouthWestmom]

Wanting NHS volunteers to help with delivering meds etc.

87 more people died overnight

Lots of people signed up through the returnees scheme

I have no problem volunteering as I'm in school a couple of days a week (so therefore honestly I'm bound to catch it) and have loads of free time and a car to do this

I am an ex nurse. 20yrs in hospitals and almost ten in community. I will not be returning. I have a 19yr old disabled son who relies on me. A husband with diabetes and I’ve a lovely L4 and L5 slipped disc/trapped nerve. Ten yrs ago I’d have been there. Now, it’s simply impossible. But I do admire the volunteer spirit.

Does anyone think the Tories have some brass neck suddenly singing the praises of the NHS they have devalued and derided for years?!

@gypsey ... absolutely. As I said upthread, they’re bloody lucky there are so many amazingly selfless people about.

They’re asking people to RISK THEIR LIVES for nothing but doing good.

Thank you to all volunteering. You are awesome human beings.

@TheLadyAnneNeville And yet people will STILL vote them in!

I have signed up ( only left the RN register in Oct 2019) and last nursed approx. one year ago. I don't particularly want to do it but the way I look at it is how would I feel if my dh or elderly dad or teenage sons needed care and there was no-one to give it ? I honestly could not live with myself if people died in large number ad I did not offer to help when I have the skills ( with a bit of updating) to do it. I could work on a cancer ward or an older people's ward or a Nursing home to free up others with ITU experience or more recent experience. If the horror stories coming out of Spain are true - elderly people found dead or dying through lack of staff in Nursing homes then this is truly horrific. We think it could never happen here and it wont if people help where they can.

@picsinred I also answered your post in my earlier post - there has been a lot of explicit info around over last couple of weeks. It is why so many people have said they felt as tho' they were living in a parallel universe when so many people were flouting the keep 2 metres apart/stay in if possible rules

We have been in lockdown for a week, in france, went out today in car and the majority of people were respecting the 2 metre rules - limited numbers of people allowed into shops, queues outside with people keeping 2 metres from each other, makeshift perspex barriers in shops to keep shop people safe, old people nattering on streets but all 2 metres away from each other - quite sweet to watch - it wasn't like that on day 1 so it takes a bit of time for people to get used to it maybe

UK has said that they have ordered in many more ventilators

When lungs turn to mush ventilation won't work.. you need an ECMO unit. We have four I believe. Italy have hundreds, if not thousands. I hope this crisis passes quickly, but two decades of our NHS treading water progressively could be very nasty.

They are also getting as many final year medical students in work in the next few week. They can take up some of the lower competencies and let F1 and F2s move up a bit. Doctors who are in non-urgent areas and with academic posts will also be redeployed where possible.

15 according to this article. Only suitable for some cases.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/27/coronavirus-england-only-has-15-beds-for-worst-respiratory-cases

Not sure why your tone is quite so gleeful at how badly prepared you think the UK is.

When lungs turn to mush ventilation won't work.. you need an ECMO unit. We have four I believe. Italy have hundreds, if not thousands. I hope this crisis passes quickly, but two decades of our NHS treading water progressively could be very nasty.

Can I ask where you got those numbers from? I’m far from an expert, but according to this the uk has 15, which could be increased to 28 in an emergency. I can’t find any numbers for Italy, but as these machines require specialist teams of up to 14 people I’d be very surprised if they have 100s or even 1000s. Like I said though, I’m no expert so happy to be corrected.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/27/coronavirus-england-only-has-15-beds-for-worst-respiratory-cases

I also found this article, it’s about Russia but it appears to say that Italy has fewer ventilators per 100,000 population than the uk. Again, happy to stand corrected, it was just a quick google.

meduza.io/en/feature/2020/03/21/the-ventilator-problem