London Hospital declares Major Incident.

[RubyViolet]

This is frightening, and it’s not the hospital that l have heard about earlier today. This is in South London and l am hearing about a hospital in North London.
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-london-queen-elizabeth-hospital-oxygen-b1779468.html

What happens next ?

This is not just because of Covid!!! It is a frequent occurrence this time of the year,every year!!!

The NHS is underfunded and has been for many years.

@RubyViolet,what happened to you is happening all the time,nothing to do with Covid,we are just hearing about it because of Covid.

Nurses are always short of equipment,from high tech things down to linen.

And lockdowns,masks,social distancing etc.etc. will not stop a virus.

Sick to death of the drama about this,our NHS is not fit for purpose.

Just one example of a major incident being declared because of dwindling oxygen supplies should be easy to rustle up if it happens every single year, right?

I am in tier 4 London and as for what more could be done....quite a lot really. The crowding when trying to get out for a walk the last few days has been terrible. Even in the major parks no control of numbers is being done on the gates, and people seem to have abandoned the idea of 2m. Joggers are meant to give way, they don't and they aren't restricted to one time zone or area. There is lots of traffic about...it isn't like the big lockdown we had last year. It will annoy me greatly if we go straight from a free for all in outdoor spaces to not being allowed out at all, without actually trying to enforce some safety measures in between.

I have been in a major London hospital a few times over the last few weeks and frankly they were cutting some pretty alarming corners with Covid and hygeine too.

Things are really bad here. The ambulance service is not coping at all. Queues of ambulances outside our local hospital and huge waiting times for ambulances to attend.

Maybe everyone needs a wake up call that neither the NHS or schools are fit for purpose, COVID or no COVID. And it isn’t just down to the Tory Government this has been down to many years of underfunding and mismanaging of funds.

Everyone bleats on about how the NHS can’t be privatised but something needs to be changed, and if that means some element of privatisation/insurance then that might need to happen. You just can’t keep throwing funds at an antiquated system.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

The underfunding doesn’t help. But it’s probably a less significant factor than you think, IMHO.

The reason the rest of the world is attempting to control the virus is because their healthcare systems will get overwhelmed if they don’t. This is not an NHS specific problem. Germany has much more capacity than we do and they’ve been very clear that increasing cases will overwhelm their system. That’s why they extended their lockdown.

I think France are considering a new lockdown because their new cases are now around 15,000 a day. Ours are 41,000 and still rising. lack of funding is not what is going to cause any difference in health outcomes. It’s a criminal level of inaction.

Interesting and astonishing figures of beds pers capita below. Germany 8 beds per 1,000 people. ICU beds 36.6 per 100,000.

U.K. 2.54. beds per 1000 people .
ICU beds 6.6 per 100,000 .

Yikes !

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_hospital_beds

Yikes !

@LittleSpyintheSky I followed your CPAP thread and so glad you are home.
Why do people argue and deny? I just don't understand. The saddest thing is, they will still feel this way when it affects them personally.
We do need to take action now before it gets worse, stay safe all.

Everyone bleats on about how the NHS can’t be privatised but something needs to be changed, and if that means some element of privatisation/insurance then that might need to happen. You just can’t keep throwing funds at an antiquated system

Actually I agree with this, though it is massively unpopular.

@Bluewavescrashing

This is very worrying to me as my DS has been admitted several times to children's ward via 999 and A&E for asthma. Blue lips, gasping. It doesn't bear thinking about.

As horrible as it is, they would take an oxygen tank from an elderly person and give to the child. There's no way any hospital would let a child die when a 90 year old is using up the resource.

This particular hospital is often overstretched. They tried to turn me away 13 years ago whilst literally about to give birth in the waiting room.
The press are picking up on all these stories as it makes news. You would need a reliable source on the ground to confirm what the situation is really like. Is it the hospital not being prepared for this type of oxygen need (old pipes etc) or is it genuinely too many patients who really can’t go to another hospital. As I said, the whole area has been short of beds for many years (they closed another hospital in the borough 10-15 years ago).

@480Widdio

This is not just because of Covid!!! It is a frequent occurrence this time of the year,every year!!!

The NHS is underfunded and has been for many years.

@RubyViolet,what happened to you is happening all the time,nothing to do with Covid,we are just hearing about it because of Covid.

Nurses are always short of equipment,from high tech things down to linen.

And lockdowns,masks,social distancing etc.etc. will not stop a virus.

Sick to death of the drama about this,our NHS is not fit for purpose.

So RubyViolet’s husband’s not seeing his oncology consultant face to face since February is nothing to do with Covid?

Dear God, you’ve got a cheek.

@480Widdio

This is not just because of Covid!!! It is a frequent occurrence this time of the year,every year!!!

The NHS is underfunded and has been for many years.

@RubyViolet,what happened to you is happening all the time,nothing to do with Covid,we are just hearing about it because of Covid.

Nurses are always short of equipment,from high tech things down to linen.

And lockdowns,masks,social distancing etc.etc. will not stop a virus.

Sick to death of the drama about this,our NHS is not fit for purpose.

This needs repeating over and over, especially our NHS is not fit for purpose

I’ve just had a call from the hospital where my Mum is in with a stroke to say that she now has tested positive for Coronavirus. She’s been there for 3 weeks so caught it in hospital - no visitors allowed. She’s 91.
Dad’s in a different hospital with a heart attack and is currently on oxygen.
It’s all a bit shit really.
Just wanted to vent.

@ineedaholidaynow

Maybe everyone needs a wake up call that neither the NHS or schools are fit for purpose, COVID or no COVID. And it isn’t just down to the Tory Government this has been down to many years of underfunding and mismanaging of funds.

Everyone bleats on about how the NHS can’t be privatised but something needs to be changed, and if that means some element of privatisation/insurance then that might need to happen. You just can’t keep throwing funds at an antiquated system.

Privatisation isn’t the answer. Look at privatised Power, Telecoms, Transport... nothing works smoothly and we still pay through the nose. Investment in our public services is needed. If we hadn’t cut to the bone the NHS and schools would have had a better chance of coping but we are working on the idea that any of the current MP’s and Ministers know what they are doing. I don’t think they do. The current Education Minister is an ex fireplace salesman. How does that qualify him to run Education ? We need people who are fit to lead their departments, people with life experience.

Just to clarify before all the hoaxers get on it. A CPAP machine for snoring at home just gives pressure on air. If you are on similar in hospital (probably actually a slightly different version) for COVID you are likely on it with a lot of oxygen. In fact it uses WAY more oxygen than a ventilator because of the way it works. So yes having lots of people on a machine which does similar.

Open your eyes people. Look at the USA. People are just being given a bottle of oxygen at home and left to it because there is no point in moving them. That’s what is coming because you really fancy a new pair of jeans in the sale or a ski holiday or to see your friend who is “probably” not infected

@Whatevergetsyouthroughthenight

I’ve just had a call from the hospital where my Mum is in with a stroke to say that she now has tested positive for Coronavirus. She’s been there for 3 weeks so caught it in hospital - no visitors allowed. She’s 91. Dad’s in a different hospital with a heart attack and is currently on oxygen. It’s all a bit shit really. Just wanted to vent.

I'm so sorry that really is bad. You must be so worried about them both. 💐 for you Take care and I hope they will both be well soon.

And as PPs said this is a major incident like no other. There is nothing above a major incident or it would have been called!
At some point they will run out of ambulances because they are all sitting outside hospitals unable to unload.
The level of denial on this board is amazing from the outside. Truly amazing in a terrifying way

Usually if it happens to a hospital in winter there is another within a reasonable radius that has capacity, and usually it's not for a prolonged period. For a large swathe of hospitals to be overwhelmed with numbers expected to rise, that's a different ball game to EvErY wInTeR. Also winter pressures usually peak Jan/Feb, so fuck knows what state we will be in then.

This happens every year. Also we have the balance wrong with the measures - we are causing more damage than good by the lockdowns.

People in South East London are driving a lot, out in the parks etc- it seems the fear factor is gone. It is almost like everyone has decided to do what they can/push the rules a bit. If the government goes for an even stricter lockdown I just don’t think many will respect it, unfortunately.

It is unfair on the elderly and we are nearly there with the vaccine but human beings are inherently selfish and fed up and it seems most have decided that Covid is not a big risk to them personally. This government won’t put the army on the streets. I think further lockdowns are pointless. All the government can do now is bring on scary stories of the NHS being overwhelmed. So sadly, some people will not even believe those (unless they happen to know someone they trust speaking out). So I think we need communications from MPs, local GPs, local hospital CEOs directly to the public on social media.

@RubyViolet
The NHS has been criminally underinvested in during the last 10 plus years of austerity. The’ W stripped public services down to the barebones and now we find ourselves here.

Granted funding could be improved but the finical waste and fraud in the NHS is staggering . You could throw money at it all day long but you would not solve the problem .

Again if people took some personal responsibility for there own health and lifestyle where it comes to smoking,drugs,achol and diet. the demand would be significantly reduced . Everything I listed is directly responsible for a % of the burden on the NHS .Which would in turn leave more funding for people who have sadly succumbs to illness through no fault of there own rather than poor lifestyle choices conditions.

41,000 new cases today, 30,000 yesterday and 36000 day before. In two weeks time I wouldn't be surprised if this was the norm in many of the UK hospitals.

@Mrbob

And as PPs said this is a major incident like no other. There is nothing above a major incident or it would have been called! At some point they will run out of ambulances because they are all sitting outside hospitals unable to unload. The level of denial on this board is amazing from the outside. Truly amazing in a terrifying way

i believe LAS have already said they are no longer guaranteeing ambulances to homebirth emergencies.

[quote Hollyhobbi]@Passmeabottlemrjones a Cpap machine only needs an electrical source not oxygen. It uses ambient room air, the same air we all breathe in. My dad uses a Cpap machine at night and it probably saved his life back in March after he caught Covid.[/quote]
I'm sorry, but this is misleading.

For sleep apnoea, the breathing problem is caused by the tissues at the back of the mouth collapsing when they relax, so the throat gets blocked. CPAP uses ambient air and supplies just enough pressure to keep the throat open.

For covid, where the lungs aren't working properly and the patient is starved of oxygen, a slightly different CPAP machine basically blows high pressure oxygen into the lungs. It uses oxygen - lots of oxygen - much more than ventilation, because it's a very leaky system.

With ventilation, the patient is sedated and a tube put down into their airway. The tube is connected to a ventilator which breathes for them. This also uses oxygen, but less than the CPAP, because there aren't so many leaks.

More info at coronavirusexplained.ukri.org/en/article/vdt0008/

@Whatevergetsyouthroughthenight

I’ve just had a call from the hospital where my Mum is in with a stroke to say that she now has tested positive for Coronavirus. She’s been there for 3 weeks so caught it in hospital - no visitors allowed. She’s 91. Dad’s in a different hospital with a heart attack and is currently on oxygen. It’s all a bit shit really. Just wanted to vent.

I really feel for you. Hope you are managing to look after yourself through this.