The hospital I work in is so quiet

[QuietHospital]

London hospital.
Half empty. Some wards have less than a handful of patients, some wards are closed. Most staff have been moved to wards so are falling over selves. While their regular work goes undone.
A&E very quiet. I’ve sent patients there who are seen immediately. The heart attacks, strokes and appendicitis cases are presenting too late. People with covid are waiting too long to present. If you get breathless then for goodness sake come in. I’m so cross at the initial advice to stay home until struggling.
Had a look through covid ward lists and vast majority patients are aged over 70. Hardly any patients under 60, those who are have underlying health problems for the most part. Lots more men than women affected.
It’s just a snapshot but echoed by colleagues in other hospitals.
I think we can / should start to move back to normal life soon for the well young people among us. I fear for the short and longer term economic hit. It’s crazy to have all these young well people furloughed or made redundant.

The message to wait (too long in some cases) has been very much drummed in to people. We should look at Germany on how not to kill people off at home.

That’s exactly why there are staff at A&E stopping people with suspected Covid from entering. Your need for help doesn’t trump the safety and health of others.

And then conveniently die at home - don’t get included in the numbers. I wonder exactly what the death numbers are. Well over 20 and on the way to 30k maybe? Horrible :(

So with no help, you’d choose to die at home then? Or your family member? Ok we get it. Good on you.

There are specified channels for seeking help if you have suspected Covid, and there are staff preventing you from using alternative channels in order to prevent you from putting others at risk

I understand the point you are making but disagree with it due to there being specified channels for helping cv19 sufferers but they are not helping sufferers either so what can they do other than try alternative channels?

That’s exactly why there are staff at A&E stopping people with suspected Covid from entering. Your need for help doesn’t trump the safety and health of others.

So what do these “selfish cunts” do then when no one is helping them through proper channels and they can’t breathe? It’s just OK for them to die is it? Or do you think that’s not happening?

The failing is in the NHS at that point, fobbing off someone turning blue and at risk of death. Not then”selfish cunt”‘desperately trying to stay alive.

There are specified channels for seeking help if you have suspected Covid, and there are staff preventing you from using alternative channels in order to prevent you from putting others at risk

But the "channels" are telling people who are obviously struggling to breathe to stay at home and meanwhile the wards are empty. What's that all about?

There are hospital nurses and doctors allover social media either complaining about how stressed they are, how they have no PPE, blaming the government while posing and dancing in photos like it's all a big game. What's the message here?

I have a friend who works in a care home for elderly people. They have had covid cases and have had residents die. People they have looked after for years. They have no PPE at all and are just getting on with it quietly behind the scenes, no media attention for them. What are they supposed to do to if one of their residents is struggling to breathe. Do they ring one of these 'channels' only to be told not to go to the hospitals? Because that's what's happening to others

And what does this even mean?

...Your need for help doesn’t give you the right to risk the lives of multiple others

There are specified channels for seeking help if you have suspected Covid

Those channels are telling people to stay home until they are blue, and because of that people are dying.

Your need for help doesn’t trump the safety and health of others.

It does if you would die without that help.

Isn’t this the pint of lockdown and means it’s worked? To save the NHS from being snowed under and keep Wards with covid patients functioning? Other wards will surly be closed to stop other non covid patients from getting infected in a highly infectious area.
If non covid eaters were open and taking patients as normal then those patients got it then ICU would be inundated as the virus spread through the hospital.

I think this is the crux of the problem with the NHS; this country would rather blame people for wasting GP's time, going to A&E unneccessarily, being a "burden" on the health service....when in fact it is the fault of the government for not funding and running an adequate health service.

It's akin to saying the fire brigade is only bad because there are so many people calling them for fires, and if only there were less fires so we could "save" the fire brigade!

I’ve fixed my typos. Sorry..

Isn’t this the point of lockdown and means it’s worked? To save the NHS from being snowed under and keep wards with covid patients functioning? Other wards will surely be closed to stop other non covid patients from getting infected in a highly infectious area.
If non covid wards were open and taking patients as normal and then those patients got it, ICU would be inundated as the virus spread through the hospital.

There was a hospital I think in Scotland on bbc news at ten today, reporting unceasing new waves of Covid admissions and staff feeling the day when it gets better or slows down never comes.

I liked your typos Kylie

It’s just OK for them to die is it?
The NHS can’t sacrifice multiple healthy people to save one sick person. I appreciate you won’t be happy about that if you’re the sick person.

Your need for help doesn’t trump the safety and health of others
It does if you would die without that help
No. You don’t get to kill someone else so you can live.

In my area of the UK we are seeing an increase in Covid positive admissions and insufficient PPE so we don't want the country trying to get back to normal yet.

The NHS can’t sacrifice multiple healthy people to save one sick person.

But it's not just one person is it? It could be countless numbers of people who are dying because they aren't being given access to hospitals. There is no record.

WTF is the point of a health service if it doesn't treat people who are at risk of death??

I think this is the crux of the problem with the NHS; this country would rather blame people for wasting GP's time, going to A&E unneccessarily, being a "burden" on the health service....when in fact it is the fault of the government for not funding and running an adequate health service.

Exactly. Like people are castigated as murderers for walking a dog twice a day or buying sweets and wine in the shops whilst the failings of the government in managing this whole shitshow go unchecked

The NHS can’t sacrifice multiple healthy people to save one sick person. I appreciate you won’t be happy about that if you’re the sick person.

But they wouldn’t need to do that if people were actually admitted to COVID wards after calling 111/999 when they can’t breathe rather than being fobbed off

I think this is the crux of the problem with the NHS; this country would rather blame people for wasting GP's time, going to A&E unneccessarily, being a "burden" on the health service....when in fact it is the fault of the government for not funding and running an adequate health service.

Absolutely. Makes you realise what a number the government have done on us by putting the blame for overcrowded A&E departments on patients for years, instead of just bloody funding GP surgeries and hospitals so that they could actually treat people as they are supposed to do.

I suppose one thing that may come out of this is that as it's a global pandemic, there will be lots of other countries to compare our health service to and nowhere for the government to hide if our numbers are worse than other places, although they're certanly seeming to try their best to fudge the records.

Yes definitely Kylie Without lockdown things would be indescribably bad. It's bad enough as it is with some hospitals quiet - because people are being left to die at home.

I worry the failure to include non hospital deaths in the official figures is an attempt by the government to manipulate people. Government will say lockdown can end (too early) because deaths are going down. Fast forward a few weeks and we'll have huge increases in deaths and an even more buggered economy. The government should remember the tortoise wins the race.

You're so right Beijing We shouldn't be blaming each other for the decades of mismanagement and underfunding of the NHS by all political parties. All emergencies should be seen. Covid patients shouldn't turn up at A&E but neither should they be turned away by 111 and told to wait until they're blue in the face (and possibly dead).

Someone’s pulled a doozy when someone actively admits they’d stay at home and die over using the incorrect pathway.

What I would like is for earlier oxygen intervention to be investigated (see Germany)

I don’t think anyone thinks people with COVID should just wander into A and E willy nilly but nor should they be left to wait at home unable to breathe until someone who probably isn’t even a doctor or nurse decides they deserve treatment

And if the log jam is ambulances and 111 then create a better method to letting people access care if they can do it.