Last night was the first time I saw a news bit from a paediatric consultant saying they were gravelly worried about the lack of children presenting to hospital etc. We've all heard that outpatients have been cancelled, no ENT, no dentistry, rehab stopped, operations stopped, chemo halted, lack of face to face GP appointments etc but very little reported on regarding the long term effects of this. Hospitals are having few strokes / heart attacks presenting etc. If you have covid and a stroke you get placed on a covid ward and receive no stroke care. It's just awful. Poor nursing staff can't be jack of all trades and know the intricacies of all client group needs at all times.
In my hospital all of the above have stopped bar high emergencies which could result in an admission. We don't even have an outpatient / ENT / paeds department now because it's been repurposed as the covid entrance / assessment area. Lots of people being redeployed but some are still only in the process of shutting it all down and going through redeployment training. This is in place for the long haul and not just the 12 weeks.
How will the NHS ever go back and pick up the work it was doing? All of the above was stopped to ensure covid patient numbers are kept just under the capacity threshold but that won't go away as long as covid is around and cases still occur. Particularly so when lockdown is lifted. Face to face appointment still won't go ahead as transmitting is still a risk and aerosol generating procedures will still be a risk.
Sorry, very rambly, just surprised there hasn't been more reporting / stories / concerns about this whole side of the pandemic.