Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Boris in ICU

999 replies

PicsInRed · 06/04/2020 20:14

Oh Boris no 🙁

OP posts:
Cremebrule · 07/04/2020 10:50

Lougle That’s a helpful explanation- thank you. I’m also a bit curious as to what sort of home set-up the queen might have at Windsor

SwerfandTurf · 07/04/2020 10:53

Doctors in other countries are having to choose who to treat and who to leave to die because they don’t have enough oxygen. We know certain hospitals in this country have run out of oxygen. There are stories in the press in this country about elderly people being denied hospital admission - an MP in Salford is currently making this a big campaign because five elderly people died in a local care home after they were refused hospital admission. The NHS is so under-resourced they are having to play God and choose who to treat and who to not treat, knowing the people they choose not to treat will die.

It’s ridiculous to say Boris isn’t getting special treatment.

bluebell34567 · 07/04/2020 10:55

i hope he gets well, soon. the country needs him as well as his family.

Willyoujustbequiet · 07/04/2020 11:08

The general public would never get an ICU bed as a precaution as Gove is claming.

Oxygen support and CPAP is done on a normal ward.

They cant have it both ways. Either hes getting preferential treatment and taking up an ICU bed when he shouldnt as a precaution or he is really very very poorly and the Government are holding back.

ajandjjmum · 07/04/2020 11:15

SwerfandTurf

What hospitals have run out of Oxygen?

Obviously the useage has increased hugely, so people will be watching it, but I wasn't aware of any hospital running out.

Babyroobs · 07/04/2020 11:17

No hospitals have run out of oxygen, that's just scaremongering . I think there was a problem at Watford hospital the other day but it was just a rumour that oxygen had run out.

Peregrina · 07/04/2020 11:20

i hope he gets well, soon. the country needs him as well as his family.

I hope he gets well.

PMs come and go, so I don't think the country needs him especially.

.... he is really very very poorly and the Government are holding back.

I tend to think this. Yesterday we had a government spokesman telling us how he was working from his hospital bed, which to me implied that it couldn't be all that serious, because if you are really ill, the last thing are able to do is work. Next thing he's in intensive care - well I suppose he could have collapsed suddenly . Now Gove tells us he's not on a ventilator, but is this more spin like yesterday's appeared to be?

QueenofmyPrinces · 07/04/2020 11:21

They cant have it both ways. Either hes getting preferential treatment and taking up an ICU bed when he shouldnt as a precaution or he is really very very poorly and the Government are holding back.

I assume it’s the latter.

Well, I hope it is the latter (not because I want him to be ill) because the idea of him getting preferential treatment because of his status is pretty disgusting.

WhatdoImean · 07/04/2020 11:22

The issue is that the hospital systems that are used to generate the oxygen, and supply it round the hospital are not designed for the level of load they are now under, and some are having problems maintaining pressure.

Hopefully, as a now "known" issue, this is being worked on, but it caused a number of major issues when it was discovered at Watford.

TheMagiciansMewTwo · 07/04/2020 11:22

Boris isn't an elderly person in a care home so there's no relevance to that comparison. And we're also not in Italy.
I know someone who moved from a ward to ICU. They didn't go straight on to a ventilator.
So yes Boris might be getting preferential treatment as the PM but he might not. We don't know his condition or the policies in the hospital or their demand for beds.
l think it's disgraceful that people are speculating and making false comparisons to try to score political points against someone who is seriously ill.

frazzledasarock · 07/04/2020 11:22

My friend was in hospital with covid-19 she was on a ventilator in an isolation pod and medication for a week and then slowly weaned off the oxygen.

What does ‘not on a ventilator mean’, he’s not bad enough for a ventilator but in icu?

alloutoffucks · 07/04/2020 11:25

I too suspect he is on a ventilator. They have downplayed all along all how ill he actually is. Why should it be any different now?

iVampire · 07/04/2020 11:31

What does ‘not on a ventilator mean’, he’s not bad enough for a ventilator but in icu?

Yes - they had an ICU consultant on Beeb this morning, and this is totally normal pathway. Move to ICU at certain level of seriousness, some patients start to mend after a couple of days on the more specialist (but non-ventilation) support that can be delivered in ICU. Others need to be moved to ventilation if they don’t improve. He listed some of the other support ventilated patients need and it sounds gruelling.

And the length of post-ICU convalescence is considerable too

Boris is going to be off work for weeks, possibly only a couple but equally possibly many

sashh · 07/04/2020 11:33

Seriously? Would it really be so hard to just wish him well/a recovery without having to politicise it.

To show I'm not a hypocrite. |His policies have caused serious harm to me nad to others, his policies have killed people and he cheered along with his cronies when they passed laws that would demonise people, hurt them, cause more child poverty and cut education budgets so those poor children could not get out of poverty no matter how well they worked at school.

When I say I would not wish this on my worst enemy, well I really mean that because I don't wish it on BJ.

alloutoffucks · 07/04/2020 11:35

I always wonder in situations like this why politicians think they can lie and lie to us e.g. Boris only has mild symptoms, and then when the lies are exposed expect us to believe what they say next e.g. Boris is not on a ventilator.

knittingaddict · 07/04/2020 11:37

SwerfandTurf

My very elderly MIL died in her nursing home just before Christmas and before covid 19 was a thing.

She died in the home rather than going into hospital because she was very ill and dying. I imagine that's the case with many people in care homes who have the virus. Inevitably the death rate in elderly care homes is going to be high. They will be made as comfortable as possible, rather than left to suffer.

PicsInRed · 07/04/2020 11:40

What does ‘not on a ventilator mean’, he’s not bad enough for a ventilator but in icu?

Scans and blood tests would have been performed on admission on Sunday and it may be that medical staff didn't like what they saw based on known patterns and progression of this disease. He may already be on CPAP.

Ventilation is known to put the lungs under stress, can cause damage itself, and has poor outcomes in covid patients. Patients will be ventilated as the last possible resort at the latest possible moment. He will be in ICU in readiness for that moment, based on the results of tests already performed as well as ongoing monitoring.

It's grim and must be appallingly frightening for all the patients and their families.

OP posts:
knittingaddict · 07/04/2020 11:41

I meant inevitably under normal circumstances without taking into account a virus that can be deadly to the elderly and sick.

renouncefifty · 07/04/2020 11:42

Being in an ICU doesn't equate to ventilator. Victims of this disease once it progresses to a certain stage can crash with ARDS. A friend was in ICU for 7 days and was never ventilated she is now recovering at home

EvilPea · 07/04/2020 11:46

@pocketem
I thought it was bollocks too, until I read it in the NY times, which as far as I’m aware (happy to be corrected) isn’t known for peddling conspiracy theories.

www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-malaria-drug.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Peregrina · 07/04/2020 11:48

l think it's disgraceful that people are speculating and making false comparisons to try to score political points against someone who is seriously ill.

Most of us are wishing that he recovers.

It doesn't alter the fact that many of us think it was disgraceful for his party to clap when they refused nurses a pay rise, and who now think their behaviour clapping for NHS workers is just a tad hypocritical. We also think it's disgraceful that a deliberately underfunded NHS is now on its knees.

esjee · 07/04/2020 11:51

@Peregrina all valid concerns/points. But absolutely none of them are relevant to him being in icu nor do they belong on this thread. Go air them sonewhere more appropriate.

Shmabel · 07/04/2020 11:51

Quite a few people complaining "why do people have to say you don't agree with his politics/dislike him?" etc.

It isn't any different to "I've always liked him" in that people have come to say what they feel. Being honest. Dont want to be hypocrites. Wouldn't want to be mistaken for general supporters etc.

Whenever something bad happens, you'll often find in parliament that the opposition say "even though we disagreed...". It's meant to highlight our humanity and sense of community (that we come together in bad times).

Save policing for actually unpleasant or remotely controversial contributions.

pocketem · 07/04/2020 11:57

@EvilPea the conspiracy theory isn't that he owns Sanofi shares, it's your insinuation that this is the reason he is pushing hydroxy chloroquine - "No wonder he's pushing it hard." There's no suggestion of that in the nytimes article. It says he owns mutual funds (which invest in a collection many shares) of which Sanofi is one company. Millions of other people own Sanofi shares too - if you have a pension invested in the global stock markets you probably own some Sanofi too. The article never outright claimed that Trump's pushing of hydroxychloroquine was financially motivated

Hairwizard · 07/04/2020 12:09

So am pretty sure on our local radio station news on the hour she said boris IS now on a ventilator?!
The kids were playing loudly so almost missed it. Looking now online to check if thats right. Poor man. Genuinely rooting for him to come through this. Even though i dont know him personally.