When Boris went into ICU

[sleepyhorse]

Do you think Boris was more poorly than what we were being told when he went into ICU? A lot of people seem to think his condition was being played down so as to stop the nation panicking?

Yes, I think his condition was far worse than we were told. On Monday night when he went into ICU Dominic Raab and some news reporters including Laura K were visibly moved/ shaken. I was convinced I was going to wake up on Tuesday to hear that he’d died.

Someone on another thread claims that he was sedated.

We were being told he was in hospital for “tests” which was clearly underplaying the true picture.

However, I think that he was less sick than most people are who are taken to ITU. I read that the usual threshold for ITU is having needed 15 litres of oxygen but that the PM had needed only 4 at that point.

(Absolutely fair enough to take him to ITU early in my opinion).

Applejax- oh really? It’s interesting isn’t it. Why wouldn’t they just tell the truth though? It’s not like PM is in any state to be making big decisions right now anyway

Well, he's out of ICU now so hopefully the focus can move onto more pressing things.

They played it down because people would panic. Or they thought people would panic.

Yes. I assumed he was desperately poorly. He won't be right for a long time. I hope he looks after himself (first time for everything) and doesn't try and rush back.

Definitely. They don’t just admit you for the heck of it. I’m guessing it was pretty bad, since he had been suffering from it for 10 days or so at that point with no improvement.

I watched the Gove interview on GMB and he was obviously shocked and rattled. He admitted it had taken then by surprise. So I’m not sure they intentionally played it down. I suspect they though BJ would just get better and then everything moved very fast sod caught everyone on the hop.

And

I wonder if he got the slightly precautionary treatment that everyone should be getting, but aren't because of limits and lack of doctors.

I suspect Boris thought he was invincible and could just carry on in until he got better. But people considerably younger than him and in far better health have died from it so no one should ever think that.

I think he was very ill. As pp have said Gove, Kuensburg, Raab et al were pretty shaken. Thank God. I’m not a fan, but I was surprised at home disturbed I was too.

However, I think that he was less sick than most people are who are taken to ITU.

I think this. I think there was an ICU bed /room prepared for him the moment he set foot in hospital. If not before.

Why would people “panic” and what form would that “panic” take? What would the panic be about?

It sounds like he has been one of the luckier ones. I thought I was going to be waking up to bad news when we heard he’d gone into ICU. Piers Morgan looked really choked up on GMB on Tuesday and I think everyone thought he wasn’t going to make it. But then during the daily briefings it was very much played down.

Wards have patients on much more than 4 ltrs fio2 , up to 12 ltrs. As above poster surmised, the bed was ready for him as soon as he stepped into hospital. The covid wards are really struggling, short of staff and equipment. There’s no way he’d be left on there the way things are.

Bluegrass- that’s what I couldn’t understand either. Surely the cabinet would have just stepped in (like they are doing now) to make decisions going forward

I also read he wasn’t/isn’t on a normal ward but that a bed had been made up for him in a deserted wing for privacy (again, fair enough).

Having the head of government out of commission during the arguably gravest emergency since the Second World War is unsettling. Frankly if you weren’t worried on Monday you weren’t thinking it through. Suppose something happens requiring another serious curtailment of our rights? Or more of the cabinet falls ill? Or numbers spiral up for some unforeseen reason? At times like this you really do need to have one person who is ultimately in charge and takes responsibility for very difficult decisions. Cabinet government only works up to a point.

Abraid - yeah that makes a lot of sense

I just hope he realises he had special treatment, and doesn't assume that everyone gets the same.

Really genuinely I hope they all start to value the NHS more.

He looked gravely ill and on the verge of (if not already at) the point of hospitalisation at the last Thursday clap. Many, many people noted that at the time. He looked altered and it was clear his condition had markedly deteriorated.

He wasn't put on a ventilator as he hadn't reached that last possible moment - research shows that ventilators in themselves put significant pressure on lungs and can cause lung damage, particlarly in covid19, so really wouldn't be used until it's that or death. Approximately 50% to 70% of those ventilated (for covid19) will die.

He wasn't given preferential treatment, he would have been given good, prudent, highly specialised NHS care, operating to the latest treatment guidelines.

I think those who question the integrity of the entire medical and nursing team of St Thomas' Hospital should remember the aspersions they have cast, each Thursday that they mingle with their neighbours for a good old clap.

I can understand people feeling unsettled, that’s understandable (regardless of where you stand on the significance of his contribution).

But to suggest the British public would panic...that seems quite insulting.

Having said that, given some of the reactions I’ve seen so far maybe that’s true and I’m just overestimating people’s resilience.

Really genuinely I hope they all start to value the NHS more.

I don't think he will.
I doubt very much he was on an ICU ward with other patients and I also guess that he had a group of doctors /nurses caring fore him more than the 1:1 standard care.

A far cry from the treatment available to Joe public.
ICU nurses/doctors are having to care for several patients at at a time at the moment when they usually have a ratio of 1:1.

BJ won't have a clue what it's really like on the wards. He'll have his own private room.