We are now in disaster medicine mode. We are no longer providing high standard critical care, because we cannot

[hepatocyte]

twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1344701745130254343?s=20

Leaked email from Dr Julia Patterson, founder of campaign group EveryDoctor (you can see her tweet history re this on her Twitter account @JujuliaGrace*)

Published in the times too but behind a paywall.

I don’t understand why people are still denying there’s a problem :/

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She says it's unsafe; I hope she manages to work out her notice period before cracking up completely. My son's a nurse, he was nursing covid patients before Christmas and now he is ill himself so he is another with covid who is off sick. He'd been working 60 and 70 hr shift to cover for other's who were sick so he is exhausted and probably not in the best condition to fight the infection. It is a disgrace and what were my neighbours doing at Christmas, except for us and one neighbour the rest all had visitors staying, one had three extra cars on his drive so there might have been 20 in his house. These people loved their Thursday nights clapping for the NHS.

There isn't much point in activating the Nightingale in London when they can't staff the normal hospitals

I know last time the hospitals were told they had to send staff with any patients they sent over - hence none were sent.

My youngest said tonight she had spoken to him this afternoon when I was at work and she’s worried for his mental health.

I worry so much about him.

I’m fed up of “oh hasn’t this reset been wonderful got to spend time with my children and make memories blessed” shite.

Sorry. I’m rambling. I’m worried sick.

NHS are talking about calling in army reserve except of course they usually work for the NHS when not on secondment to the army/services. Army nurses working in the north/midlands are being requested to go to London - its like moving pieces round a chess board to where the situation is most critical & moving really sick patients miles out of London to wherever there is a specialised bed I'm in Devon, local news has reported very sick people from Essex have been transported to Plymouth and Bristol.

Sorry. I’m rambling. I’m worried sick. I am too, my son is too far away for me to even drop some food off for him. I want him to be well but then he will just be thrown back into it.

ancientgran sorry about your son .

More than half dd's team are off sick or self-isolating. I think if tonight is like Boxing Day she might just walk off the ward. She is getting to the stage that she just can't do it any more. In normal circumstances she would be signed off with depression/anxiety/PTSD/exhaustion.

She isn't the only one. She says there are few shifts where most of them aren't crying at some stage with frustration and fear of disaster caused by inability to cope with the workload and number of patients they are meant to be looking after.

She shouldn't be in work.

[quote hepatocyte]@DianaT1969

Quite a large proportion of the general public no?? If not, why is there so little support of lockdown policies and reluctance to be vaccinated?[/quote]
There seems to be a fair number of people who are abiding by lockdown and other policies. Good overview of various studies and surveys:

blogs.sussex.ac.uk/crowdsidentities/2020/12/27/mitigating-the-new-variant-sars-cov-2-virus-how-to-support-public-adherence-to-physical-distancing/

It’s very much dependent on where you are in the country. My medical friends are fine at the moment, but I’m sure they’ve got hell coming their way.

I know the numbers of infections and deaths are huge, but in my area, I directly know of no-one, nor do most of my friends, of anyone who has been affected/bereaved by covid. This has sadly led to a real complacency amongst acquaintances (I can’t call them friends now) who break every rule going.

for everyone with medic dc. It’s intolerable. I’m so sorry they are having to deal with this situation without the resources and staff they need. Have written to my MP, for all the good it’ll do.

I’m a trained icu nurse. 20+ years in the trade.
I left last month.
What I have witnessed, situations I have been forced into were intolerable.
I could not go on.

It is much much worse now.
My colleagues and friends are desperate.
All beds are constantly full. Death rates very high.
Nursing and Dr staffing levels are so low they have been forced to start to close beds and turn patients away. They are actually turning patients away & sending them to other hospitals. It’s happening.
This is so rare, in over 20 years, I have never seen this happen. Ever.
The other hospitals are in the same boat.

This thread is so sad, l am so sorry for all your heroic sons and daughters who get up and take on this immense task daily....whilst some other idiot moans and frets about Christmas being cancelled.
Or tries to justify seeing others unecessarily......

The Government has been pretty useless at handling this, but ultimately we should be staying away from others, not because there is x or y rules in place but because we all know that every meeting or visit to a public place puts people at risk.

Complaining about the Government is a poor excuse for lack of personal responsibility....and hospital staff pay the price, not to mention any of us who are unlucky enough to require hospital treatment.

Why oh why are people so selfish?

Oh yes, the irony of conspiracy theorists calling everyone else sheeple.

@Pickypolly

I’m a trained icu nurse. 20+ years in the trade. I left last month. What I have witnessed, situations I have been forced into were intolerable. I could not go on.

It is much much worse now.
My colleagues and friends are desperate.
All beds are constantly full. Death rates very high.
Nursing and Dr staffing levels are so low they have been forced to start to close beds and turn patients away. They are actually turning patients away & sending them to other hospitals. It’s happening.
This is so rare, in over 20 years, I have never seen this happen. Ever.
The other hospitals are in the same boat.

It's very sad that you were forced into this situation but I'm glad you were able to leave.

I am so sorry for those working in these situations.

I am in the extremely clinically vulnerable group and I am terrified. Absolutely terrified.

@hepatocyte Not everyone who is anti lockdown is right wing and/or a Covid denier. These accusations are used to try and silence people. Im left wing, I voted Remain, Ive never voted Tory and ive not been abroad since 1986. I live in social housing. Lockdowns have been very damaging. I was affected mentally by the guilt tripping and emotional blackmail over family Christmases. A sedate teetotal Christmas dinner being labelled as a "party" or a "free for all" Seriously? There wasnt half as much focus on NYE I wonder why.

SAGE had plenty to say about the risk of households mixing at Christmas Kept on about it for weeks. Full on guilt tripping and emotional blackmail. Ditto Independent Sage.

But not one word. NOT ONE about the huge health hazard when the lorry drivers were stuck in Kent with no toilets and no way of washing + the risk of a Covid spike so a double whammy. But not one word NOT ONE about something that was ACTUALLY happening at the time V. households that may or may not mix. Told me all i needed to know.

And like a PP said people are fed up with the bloody lies.

A friend of mine works in the NHS as a hospital cleaner. The front line staff are fantastic. Its the bloody management that are the problem not the skilled people on the front line.

I am a doctor in a hospital in Northern Ireland. 12 hour waits in A&E to be seen and talk of us facing to close to new patients. No beds. Ambulances queued out the car park. This shit is real. People are dying. Tough war time medical decisions are being made as I type this after a 8 hour shift that lasted 14.

Wear your mask and stay at home please.

@Justamumofadoc I do hope he and his colleagues are aware very many (though sadly bot all) of us are to them. They are truly heroic (and that's not a term I throw around likely). They must be so tired and heart sick and yet they still keep on going.

I think the fallacy of "underlying conditions" has a lot to answer for - the idea that those who get really sick and die are probably not long for the world anyway/bullshit statistic / bullshit statistic. That COVID is something that happens to other, lesser people.

I don't think people are in denial or uncaring. I do think the unrelating, steady drumbeat of doom in the media on a now daily basis has just left many people desensitised and numb to it all. Not a day goes by without reports that "today has seen a record number of new infections.." and after a while people just tune out.

Reading that 1000+ people have died from COVID in the last x days no longer alarms anyone. It has all just become numbers and stats and the R number and data and on and on..

None of this is to say the NHS isn't overwhelmed and we shouldn't feel worried about it. I just don't think many of us have the bandwidth left to worry.

Unpaid family carers save the system £132 billion a year. i have a support bubble because im a carer.

@MercyBooth dont follow you. What lie do you think we are bring told?

@Dragongirl10 I know right? We should be so much more selfless. Like Cummings and Jenrick And Toby Ellwood and his "business" party attended by 27 people. The skiers who did a runner from quarantine in Verbier

Post about these and the thread struggles to get to two pages. But post about someone not wearing a mask in a supermarket. or daring to want a visit a relative and the thread takes off into the stratasphere.

Protect the NHS..................but only if you are working class. No wonder people are pissed off.

We were told this would be over in 12 weeks.
No social distancing by November
The November lockdown is to save/enable Christmas.

Id rather be told straight than , at best nudge theory or at worst, lies.

I don’t understand why medics are not being vaccinated first. Much as they might not always be the most clinically vulnerable, if they are unavailable, it kills. It makes no sense to give this to the very old just yet.

I honestly think if it was killing children and young people, society would take more notice. Because it’s mostly killing the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, people aren’t as scared.
Not saying that’s right, but I feel that’s the mentality, it’s a biological thing, survival of the fittest. The weakest are seen as disposable...which is entirely wrong, but that’s how it’s viewed. However If children were dying in droves, it would be a very different story.