Getting fed up with the Government daily briefing

[jenganinja]

It feels like they are fobbing us off a bit now? I'm glad they do the briefing but who are these people today? and they just repeat the same waffle about tests and ramping things up but they are still not testing frontline NHS staff, just talking about doing it.

The point isn't that we can just not watch the programme - it's about the government being accountable, and doing what it said it would do.

Intersting backintime I wonder whether that's the aim - to make the programmes so bland and uninformative that we just don't care when they stop it. It ties in with getting just a couple of non high profile people in today.

If the government can't provide PPE to front line NHS workers then they need to be held accountable and they need to say why they can't deliver and when they will sort this out.

If you think back to Wuhan, and what the medical staff were dressed in when we saw them on TV, that's quite different from what our NHS have been given. We saw that in January. It's now April.

If the government can't provide the tests because of reagent or because of swabs or whatever, then they need to be upfront and say what the new plan is and how and why they failed to do what they said they would do. Obviously that won't happen. But the public and journalists are allowed to question it, because people are dying, and people have to work in hospitals and deserve answers.

I think they should be having daily briefings, but ones that actually convey clear information. I'm not just having a moan, they are really, truly shite. They should be accountable and that means responding to decent probing questions from journalists without resorting to spin and platitudes.

The fact that NHS workers are having to beg for supplies from schools, universities, people who own 3D printers etc etc actually sickens me.

'When you have NHS trusts begging the public for spare PPE on their official Facebook pages - I’m afraid I don’t believe the government one bit that there’s plenty to be had and trusts just need to call a special telephone number to order it.'

I totally agree^^

'If the government can't provide PPE to front line NHS workers then they need to be held accountable and they need to say why they can't deliver and when they will sort this out.'

I also strongly agree with this^^

@BasinHaircut having worked in procurement for nearly 2 decades I do understand supply chains, the buying processes, and limitations. There will be lower level staff that won't be involved in the strategic, big scale contracts, in fact they're probably being done centrally, whilst most is still done locally. They could easily be sat with ease buying with a gov card. Some even work from hospitals themselves, it wouldn't be impossible to arrange delivery and have it delivered and distributed as it's just small amounts.

All that is certain is that our economy is going to be in serious trouble

I think you’ll find that thousands of deaths are a certainty.

Because this lot couldn’t organise a party in a pub.

China gave us the opportunity to prepare, we didn’t because we ‘othered’ them & didn’t think it could happen HERE

JFC we could have had manufactureres making ventilators, PPE, 70% alcohol hand gel for months, I mean JFC even if it hadn’t come here like this, that duff would hardly go to waste.

But no, we fiddle while Rome burns & allow the fire to kill thousands if people, including our frontline NHS staff 🤬😢

They’re all full of shit now. The constant swerving of questions and lies. It’s tiring. Just be honest. Say youve fucked up with testing and be done with it

Well exactly @Marieo. The central and local action as and arrangements are 2 different things. The daily briefing is not going to be reporting on Susan in the local NHS Foundation Trust with her corporate credit card buying up PPR on eBay, and neither are the central team going to be coordinating it.

That’s kind of my point.

How dare they use the briefing to mouth slogans at us. Yvonne Doyle should be utterly ashamed. STAY AT HOME Yvonne Doyle. You are not trusted or wanted.

Larry doesn't live there any more does he?? I thought he'd been usurped by Dylan the Dog.

Think I saw him being let out the door a couple of weeks ago, maybe they've brought him back as cover staff for when the last few still standing fall ill - he'd probably do a better job of answering the journalists' Qs.

@BasinHaircut no, you said it wasn't worth anyone buying bits and bobs. It is. And it is perfectly possible given the structure of NHS procurement, without detracting from the national effort. In fact most isn't centralised, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a cross government team anyway doing most of the legwork, plenty of scope for some COTS buying.

They’re all full of shit now. The constant swerving of questions and lies. It’s tiring. Just be honest. Say youve fucked up with testing and be done with it

Yes this. In normal times the lies are all we expect, but to be doing it now adds insult to injury .

@Marieo I meant the efforts being put into getting the supply chain in shape (central govt responsibility) shouldn’t be diverted to buying odds and ends. We are talking about what those giving the daily briefings are addressing aren’t we? No one is stopping local procurement teams from buying what they need (and I’m sure they are trying) which aren’t going to be what the daily briefings cover.

But the idea that it’s going to be bought and shipped somewhere central, then distributed out again is not a small task when you are talking about servicing every health institution in the country, and one that certainly doesn’t just involve one person with a credit card.

But no, we fiddle while Rome burns & allow the fire to kill thousands if people, including our frontline NHS staff.

This.

We knew it was coming but what did BJ say? “I think we need to take it on the chin”. Hardly a fucking strategy.

I used to find them helpful, now it's the same old waffle and just kicking the can down the road.

My household are abiding by the rules and will continue to do so, but how can the government expect the population to keep to the regulations when they appear to have no plan and no answers.

Trust is crucial because people are being asked to give up their livelihoods or even risk their lives. In return the government has to say what they are doing and not just keep repeating the same old flannel about how important testing is while at the same time hardly doing any testing weeks later.

At least we got Matt Hancock today

Todays message: testing is important. We are going to be doing more testing. More by the end of April.

At least he didn't say 'ramping up'

They also put that chart on of how much the cases are rising and while it's on they tell us how well it's all going

Same questions every day from journalists. So frustrating!
I understand there are important questions about testing however this is all they ask and there is more information the public want 😫

They're always going to do things, rather than actually doing them. It hasn't been satisfactorily explained why our testing is lagging so far behind other countries'.

I stared in disbelief when Hancock started talking about PHE's 'world leading' work on testing.

He started sweating through his make-up at 17.55.

I don’t get why people are asking for tests that are shown to be unreliable. Admit it, you just want to feel that they are doing something, even if scientifically that thing is a load of old bollocks.

I think the government people are doing OK. It's the journalists' inane and repetitive questions that are getting on my nerves. Some of the medical experts need a medal for not rolling their eyes.

What is it you want to know that you're not being told OP? I think they've answered what they've been asked pretty comprehensively.

You might not like the answers but they are giving answers.

He did look quite anxious. I imagined Boris had rang him and told him he'd lose his job if he doesn't get on today and give excuses about the non testing fiasco. (obviously just what I dreamed up not true fact )

I think today's briefing was pretty clear tbh. They have a plan in place, they're going as quickly as possible. There's no magic fix of any of this.