Why isn't there any discussion about starting to get the NHS back to normal?

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BBC News - Coronavirus: Cancer surgery delays risk 'thousands' of deaths
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52722150

Stories like this are terrifying and then there all the less life threatening things, that have been delayed, that still lead to significant pain and reduction in quality of life, like dentistry and hip replacements, plus all the routine screening that's not being done. My smear has been postponed indefinitely, I'm not particularly worried but presumably they're usually done to the timescalefor a reason, so some important things will be missed or found too late.

Unless I've missed it there doesn't even seem to have been a suggestion regarding when or how things might start returning to normal.

I just can't imagine being in a situation where you or a loved one are waiting for cancer surgery atm

There is. Extensive.

Where?

Obviously you'd hope there was a discussion but there's nothing in the news?

My friend is a nurse. Plans are in place. It just isn't making news.

There is.

It's just not on the news because every different trust is working out their own way of starting things back up depending on priorities, what stopped and how to get the staff who were redeployed from where they work to support covid19 back to where they need to be.

It is starting. I had a phone appt with one speciality last Friday, and am due another this Friday. My mum had a screening ECG done yesterday at the hospital.

There has been - on the daily briefings & in the news. I also saw quite a lengthy piece about it the other day and how/why it's not as easy as all that.

It concerns me also. I am due a routine mammogram around this time. Just one example but I will have to be very vigilant with self examination

My partner is a surgeon in a big city hospital. There have been plans to 'get back to normal' for weeks now. As Northernsoullover says, it's just not being reported on. Maybe different trusts have slightly different plans dependent on case numbers etc which obviously would affect dates.

But why isn't it making the news? Plans for every school are different but there's still plenty of discussion

Why aren't government even suggesting a timescale to the public? Why are "we" more concerned about getting children back to school (or not) than restarting cancer treatment?

There is, I work for the NHS and Clinics are starting to run again from next week, not fully e.g only a few patients but this is the start of getting it all back up and running.

This worries me too. I've had an important investigative procedure cancelled and I'm really worried about it. Matt Hancock said something weeks ago about getting normal procedures up and running again but I'm not sure how quickly that is happening.

Why are "we" more concerned about getting children back to school (or not) than restarting cancer treatment?

I think because more people feel like they have an opinion to wield about the former.

Has cancer treatment been stopped? It's not been stopped in my partner's hospital, nor in the specialist cancer hospital in the same city? My FIL has suspected skin cancer where investigation have had to be put on hold which is quite worrying but as far as I know, surgery and treatments such as chemo are still happening. Many clinics are done over the phone at the moment so again, it's not like they've stopped, just been changed in how they happen in order to reduce risks for patients. I'm no expert though.

With regards to the comparison to schools, I might be being cynical but there isn't really an economic link with restarting services in hospitals.

I too don't understand why it's not making the news. It should be pivotal and being discussed.

I honestly feel that people are dragging their heels here. I'm sure for a long time now, many Meetings could have been held.

Not everyone has support. But many do. So if elderly person was told by the doctor I can only do a zoom call then I'm sure the persons daughter would get it installed and help them to facilitate it.

Not everyone. But it would have been possible for 1000's. I just think it's bollocks and there are lots of GPs and dentists and other healthcare professionals could've been and should've been having meetings along long time ago.

Plans are in place at the trust I work at. A lot of the clinics have been over the phone. They do have a back log of patients to be seen. The issue though not many patients actually want to come into the hospital even with social distancing etc.
Cancer treatments still been done and certain screenings, still can have ultra sounds , ct, mri.
Children's clinic either over phone or can be done face to face.
We have no maternity services at the moment and it has been moved to a neighbouring trust. This is due to the anaesthetics been with covid patients so can not always be available if emergency c- sections are needed.
But emergency operations been done ie appendix etc but electives on hold. So in some trusts it's sort of business as normal , slowly but surely.
It's not making news though as different trusts are making different choices regarding services.
Also it's the teachers turn (again) to be bashed on the news.
Back to bashing nhs in a couple of weeks.

My DH has had melanoma twice, and is meant to be checked over with a magnifying glass at the hospital after six months. Now changed to a phone appointment. How is that meant to work? I had surgery for breast cancer a few days before lockdown. No one has seen me since.

Things are starting up again. I had calls from our local dentist yesterday and hospitals are getting back to non Covid business. It’s a clinical decision so I’m not sure what I could add to the discussion?

Not in news bc No one can commit to a timetable until the govt presses the GO button. After that the govt can press the STOP or REVERSE buttons at any time. It's a waste of effort to plan too much, not knowing which buttons will be pressed when.

btw, Kids not back in school means delayed or very delayed creation of doctors in future. Getting kids back in school IS about supporting NHS.

There have been plans and discussions the whole way through. Lots of trusts have been doing some cancer ops in local private hospitals or on a "clean"/non-acute site if they're split site trusts, so it's not true that nothing is happening, though it's significantly below normal capacity.

I've seen a set of guidelines for criteria for returning to normal operating lists - lots of considerations like staff, equipment, drugs, post-op wards/recovery/ICU space, all of which are still being affected by Covid 19. Every case in theatre takes significantly longer due to PPE requirements, so we can do fewer cases per day. Even though we have coped pretty well with Covid so far, we are a long way from being able to return to normal.

It may well be a new sort of normal. Plenty of discussions going on.
Some elective work being outsourced to independent sector but they are very limited in who they can offer to.
A lack of ITU capacity is still impacting on most higher risk elective work.
You can’t magic up staff. The hospital Covid rate is still very high.
There is also likely to be greater use of video consultation and telephone calls for some considerable time, if not permanently.
There will be more restrictions on what is offered as essential healthcare moving forward.

I think it depends on area. My treatment wasn't cancelled. I've still been going to hospital Monday to Friday for the last 4 weeks.

My last bit of treatment is currently not being offered at the hospital due to covid.

However this week I found out I've been out sourced to a private BMI hospital for it by the NHS.

I do hope all areas can get back to doing things soon though. Some of the stories I've read on here have been heart breaking ☹️

It’s not going back to normal - there will have to be (even more) formal rationing of treatments to even begin to address the backlog which is only going to get worse as all the missed diagnoses become apparent. Waiting lists will be immense for years.

Here - SE trust - screening zilch, paeds nothing, gynae nothing, physio nope, ENT trying to restart but they’ve advised even video appointments may be cancelled at very short notice.

But anything other than total adoration as we sit at home getting sicker is NHS bashing.

It varies a lot between hospitals, but things are getting up and running again, some things never stopped, I've got a routine treatment appointment in a neurology dept next week and its happening as usual.

But why isn't it making the news? Plans for every school are different but there's still plenty of discussion

Because NHS starting to resume normal services isn't such a 'good' story as "thousands of cancer patients could die early".

The media isn't a public information service, it thrives on sensationalism and worst case scenario reporting.

There's lots of reporting about schools opening but focusing on concerns that it's too early, too dangerous and too difficult to maintain social distancing.