Costello's tweet re Whitty & lockdown Now retracted *edited by MNHQ at OP's request*

[mac12]

Anyone heard anymore on this? Apparently amid the testing chaos, we’re now thought to be at 38,000 cases a day & CMO wants a 2 week national lockdown
twitter.com/globalhlthtwit/status/1306351773356118022?s=21

All Nightingale hospitals have been on standby since March. That's why they were built.

No, on standby since May I think.
Not built, they used existing buildings (conference centres).
Still ready to go (just need someone to work in them who isn't already working elsewhere).
Will most likely be used in near future, if only to keep Covid-19 patients out of normal hospitals so NHS can carry on.
It is good that they are on standby because it took quite a few weeks to set up each individual one last time (provisioning and organisation).

They may be on standby but who’s working in them if their needed? In my area there are no spare nhs staff to work in ours.

@SockYarn

All Nightingale hospitals have been on standby since March. That's why they were built.

From Monday, it can be ready to go within 42-72 hours.

It had previous been "mothballed" which would've meant it'd take a week to set back up.

No, I don't know where the staff would come from either.

Yes, the nightingales know they have a massive staffing problem.
Guess whose government spent zero time planning for this all summer

Imo we need to put NHS staff on emergency contracts that allow them to be moved around the country at 48 hours’ notice.

We should be running NHS capacity hot and using every single bed and every single staff member before we even think about devastating the economy with another lockdown.

It makes no sense having nurses sitting idle in Plymouth when they could be staffing a Nightingale hospital in Newcastle.

And living in cupboards meanwhile?

@borntobequiet

The government could easily utilise hotels that are currently closed as NHS staff accommodation. They should also sort out and fund things like transport and childcare.

There should be a demand-responsive system effectively like Uber where staff go where they’re needed. The government should be able to say move 100 nurses from Southampton to Sheffield.

NHS staff should be told that it is their civic duty to play their part in keeping the economy open and they are tantamount to soldiers on the frontline against this virus.

The only thing when faced with this wave is to keep under NHS capacity

We can’t get rid of it and can only do the above. Otherwise trying to suppress it will cost more than we gain.

The government could do loads of things, like implement a working track and trace system or plan properly for the opening of schools instead of relying on imaginary bubbles and inadequate social distancing.

NHS staff, particularly nurses, are generally female with children. Are you really suggesting they should relocate at short notice to the other end of the country? Would you do that?
There are a number of reasons why my mother’s generation of nurses left the profession on marriage, but one of them was because marriage meant children, and no mother wants to bring infection home to her children. Recently antibiotics have mitigated this risk, but now we have something for which there is no magic bullet.

I know that NHS staff are largely wonderful people, but if I were NHS staff and the government tried to change my contract and ship me god knows where at a moments notice after they’ve fucked me over royally for years, especially after the year they’ve had, I would quit.

@Ecosse are you for real or taking the p*????

You seriously think we should be dispatching healthcare workers across the country on demand, for perhaps the toughest job healthcare’s seen for decades?? You do realise they are people with children, families etc

Good god!!! I despise the character of many in this country whose true colours this Pandemic is highlighting.

I can’t believe your suggesting that @Ecosse, these are the people who may one day save your life and you want to treat them like a commodity to do whatever is demanded. They have families and commitments, when you join the armed forces you know what is expected of you; nurses did not sign up for this. They have already put themselves on the frontline when others stayed safe in lockdown and now they may need to do it again and they will in an instant but not to be transported about with 48hours notice.

their civic duty think this is a bit rich given they are only having to do this because so many people, including our esteemed prime minister, have spent summer in denial.

[quote Ecosse]@borntobequiet

The government could easily utilise hotels that are currently closed as NHS staff accommodation. They should also sort out and fund things like transport and childcare.

There should be a demand-responsive system effectively like Uber where staff go where they’re needed. The government should be able to say move 100 nurses from Southampton to Sheffield.

NHS staff should be told that it is their civic duty to play their part in keeping the economy open and they are tantamount to soldiers on the frontline against this virus.[/quote]
😂😂😂

Wait.
This is a SERIOUS suggestion? 😲😲

I’ve realised there are a good number of people who seem to think to prevent their lives being affected huge sections of society should be locked away or nurses should be transported across country 😳

It’s a real eye opener it really is.

@DonnaDonna01

There are lots of similarities to a war situation here. In a war, you want your soldiers on the front lines, not sitting idle hundreds of miles away.

There are always going to be local outbreaks and local pressures on health services. It makes no sense having doctors and nurses doing nothing in Exeter when there is a shortage in Sheffield.

Clearly it’s far from ideal but it is what has to happen if we are to prevent a catastrophic national lockdown, in the absence of a working track and trace system.

@Ecosse go and have a long hard think about your views.

It would be far easier to set up a working track and trace system than to move thousands of medical professionals around the country at short notice.
Other countries have done it. One example nearby - Ireland.

@Ecosse There are lots of people in this country doing anything but what is required of them but the ones who are saving life’s get throw under the bus first. I worry about a second lockdown, it’s not what I want but I don’t think your idea is a fair/reasonable solution either.

No bloody way will I lockdown again it's pointless - covid is here to stay for a while so we need to crack on in our new Giiead state with people wearing their masks

Ah yes - because wearing a face covering to protect others is so Gilead

Talk to the hand only if you wash it first.

My favourite post of the thread

Clearly it’s far from ideal but it is what has to happen if we are to prevent a catastrophic national lockdown, in the absence of a working track and trace system

It was the government's role to put systems in place to protect all of us.

This doesn't make sense anyway as cases are rising everywhere currently, in a few weeks nurses will be needed countrywide, sadly.

The circuit breaker lockdown is now being seriously considered to avoid a full national lockdown. Who knows whether snap lockdowns even work? I would like to see the evidence that it is likely to work, and work well otherwise what is the point?!

I don't envy anyone in government right now. Hard decisions need to be made.