How are things in hospitals?

[lingle]

I realise I can watch the news but you get truer reports here I think.

Tia

@Drogonssmile

I'm in a North West Tier 3 hospital and below is our update from yesterday. We are on "yellow alert" (one step up from green but below red and black which is the worst and this is a measure of capacity). The hospital covers a population of around 300K.

Covid-19 patients in critical care diagnosed within last 14 days 5
All patients in critical care due to Covid-19 7
Covid-19 patients admitted/diagnosed over the past 24 hours 13
Covid-19 patients discharged over the past 24 hours 14
Covid-19 patients on wards/intermediate care beds 55
Overall Covid-19 patients 60

Thats definitely not the worst in the Nw. You are probably doing better than most.

@Ecosse

The vast majority of hospitals are no fuller than they were this time last year. Treatments are continuing as normal and COVID outbreaks are being managed effectively on a local basis when they do occur.

Except in the North of England. Which are now in a situation worse than usual...

... The joys of averages and how they hide the truth.

@Ecosse Please substantiate your assertion. My local hospitals are now cancelling elective surgery, I know this as it directly affects my family.

Sheffield have put out a statement to say they are coping quite well, numbers are up but manageable at the moment. But the city has two large hospitals including a specialist and long established infectious diseases unit so it does tend to cope pretty well. A lot of the recent positives in Sheffield have been students who will most likely not need to see the inside of a hospital due to having Covid.

it's very very complicated.

Is there a general consensus amongst those working in hospitals that we can't just rely on "herd immunity" or "sheltering just the old" [etc].

I have been pointed at something online called the "Barrington Declaration" signed by some epidemiologists saying "go back to normal". But I think it is months old now....

.... I suppose I tend to believe people who are advising against their own interests. I never thought I would trust Boris Johnson with anything. But I do trust him not to make harsher lockdown laws than are necessary because he has literally no upside from doing so. Not even the April popularity thing - that's all gone.

@lingle, unfortunately I haven’t saved any links but the debunking of the barrington declaration is very interesting.

I believe anyone quoting it as science should be well versed in both sides of the argument since that’s what science is about - questioning the statement in front of you until there’s enough evidence of fact. As I understand it the barrington declaration doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

Interesting thread. Thank you to NHS workers and sorry about your gran @ShinyGreenElephant
It is useful getting inside information.

Ours is full. Just had a second cancellation of my son's urgent, but not life threatening, operation. They said they don't have another date. Could be weeks, could be months

@lingle

it's very very complicated.

Is there a general consensus amongst those working in hospitals that we can't just rely on "herd immunity" or "sheltering just the old" [etc].

I have been pointed at something online called the "Barrington Declaration" signed by some epidemiologists saying "go back to normal". But I think it is months old now....

www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-barrington-declaration-an-open-letter-arguing-against-lockdown-policies-and-for-focused-protection/

acmedsci.ac.uk/more/news/navigating-covid-19-through-the-volume-of-competing-voices

I'm so sorry to hear that trev. that sort of thing is more familiar to me so it brings it home more iyswim.

is he in pain or just hugely frustrated?

@trevthecat

Ours is full. Just had a second cancellation of my son's urgent, but not life threatening, operation. They said they don't have another date. Could be weeks, could be months

I’m meant to be having an operation next month, fully expecting it to be cancelled. It was cancelled in March. I’ve been in severe pain for 23 months now. Barely able to walk some days. I feel I’m wasting the best years of my life but what can you do!

thank you coffee.

it was never going to be that simple was it? I suspect the original authors will have moved on in their own thinking too.

Our local hospital trust has announced today it’s converted an old chicken farm into a major health clinic, outpatients site. Apparently 8 weeks ago it was literally abandoned chicken sheds.

Which is great.....as long as they have the staff to man it.

there was a story in the Nottingham post about how the hospital is cancelling non-urgent surgeries ect, loads.of people on Facebook commenting its quiet/empty/nurses twiddling their thumbs so who knows what to believe

The head of public health for a Newcastle was on local radio earlier saying it’s fine for now but the people who are testing positive now take a few weeks before they need hospital help and then another couple of weeks before they need ICU and/or die so hospital capacity and deaths aren’t the best measure.

"Which is great.....as long as they have the staff to man it."

Maybe the Hens will volunteer?

I work in a community hospital with 2 Rehabilitation Wards for patients.
No covid cases on any (although there was during March/April)

Yes I had a major op cancelled in June because of covid and it's just been cancelled again - covid. In a tier one area :-(

I work in a London Hospital. We currently have 4 covid positive cases. Elective surgery is continuing at the moment.
We never re-started allowing visitors in.

I've had outpatients appts cancelled in the last week. Letter says due to covid and they will get in touch.

The media are odd. It wasn't until the pandemic and brexit I realised that it appears we don't have a free news media. Or am I getting cynical in my old age?

Local large hospital - 12 in critical care, 6 of which are on ventilators (as of yesterday) not sure how that's fits as part of the bigger picture though.

I live overseas, but regularly watch the ITV and BBC news. What I have found very odd and fascinating since the start of this pandemic, is the British media’s dramatic and sometimes upsetting capture of images from the very coalface (ie Covid wards) of overseas hospitals, but they never (or very rarely) do the same from the U.K. wards. When they are filming at a U.K. hospital, it’s nearly always broadcast in much more measured tones from outside the hospital. It’s weird.

DH had his elective surgery today. So probably not that bad, or they’d have cancelled it.

feesh that's because hospital staff abroad have much better ppe as standard than in this country. Plastic pinny/bin bag and surgical mask are all we get in NHS hospitals unless dealing with a ventilated patient.