Does anyone find sobbing nurses etc in The News every night, in any way helpful?

[Miljea]

.... or does this footage rapidly lose its impact?

I sort of feel 'Yes, we know, and if the first months of footage failed to shock and awe, this won't!'. If anything, all it does is to numb people.

Ditto the non-contextualised rolling statistics.

Do you think it's an actual strategy, to bombard us with this? If it is, I fear it's not working.

FTR I'm coalface, Covid facing, full PPE NHS, tho not ICU.

But I have got up and personal with Covid that is killing people. Including in ICU.

But I don't think the News' blanket slightly blurry footage of HCPs all kitted up going about their business, interspersed with interviews with sobbing nurses- really helps. I have even heard the 'for God's sake, it's their job' remarks (at the hairdressers, when they were briefly open, TV on).

That person was argued with by her mate, but I do wonder whether too much of this sort of coverage makes people weary of it.

'Nightafternightafternightafternight.This evening was The Royal Derby's turn.'

Good. Let's hope it keeps the 'hospitals are all empty!' nutters quiet.

@BurrosTail

I think it’s helpful, actually, because the covidiots who have been sharing vids of “empty” hospitals have finally gone quiet on a couple of WhatsApp groups.

Well, that's okay. That a couple of idiots on local WhatsApp pages have 'gone quiet'.

What about the compassion fatigue being suffered by all the hundreds of thousands of others, as a result of the targeted misery seen on MSM? As acknowledged here?

I don’t doubt it all for one minute but are they being overegged by the government?

'At its least, it gives rise to Compassion Fatigue. At worst, a weird human trait, the kick back.'

Oh people have been 'kicking back' or flouting all year.

At least these recent hard hitting reports may discourage some, those with any intelligence that is.

@Ritasueandbobtoo9

HPC here - for 28 years. What boils my piss is that at one time and another and definitely in some areas there has been issues where hospitals are full, on full alert and no beds. As one example, in mental health, a patient can be sent miles (80+) from their homes or an A&E can have have Ambulances stacked outside. Basically the UK has not enough beds, HCP’s or community services in normal times so why the wall to wall coverage now? I mean I know there’s a pandemic an all but really there has been a pandemic of ineptitude with regards to providing good, person centred, properly focused and well resourced care for years now.

We have less hospital beds per head of population than most other European countries. Winter has always put extra pressure on the NHS and I can remember many in many previous years seeing reports and pictures of patients waiting on trolleys to be admitted to full wards. Prior to this year these reports always focused on the lack of resources and how the NHS was underfunded. Now the cause is us. We are suspected of kissing granny at Christmas, walking too near people in the park or saying a sneaky "hello, how are you" if we see a friend we haven't seen for months in the supermarket. Lots of money being thrown about but most of it ending up in Boris and chums pockets to supply useless asymptomatic testing.

@shindiggery

My Trust is offering a £20 ph uplift to the normal pay of any ICU trained nurse who will work overtime. Best of luck to them, who step up, but if doing so makes you sob... don't.

Yeah, 'cos that's why they're doing it. Nothing to do with fragmenting colleagues, overflowing wards, SOS calls from the hospital for all off-duty staff to return.

It's just for the uplift.

I'm not sure you're the best person to be representing these people.

I can assure you I'm grabbing the £20 uplift on top of my regular salary currently on offer!! Thanks very much!

I also have colleagues breaking down crying, because they're on their knees due to exhaustion. But that would be because you did three rota'ed 13 hour shifts, followed by two voluntary, well-remunerated 12 hour shifts ( which were supposed to be your recovery days off); and are now back on a run of nights.

I'm not 'representing' anyone (other than my union members).

I am not desensitized by the constant reporting, if anything, some of the reports really do show the horrors nhs staff have to deal with.

They are not getting anything like the recognition they deserve, the govt could do something financial for them right now, one off bounty, tax holiday, extra leave but i expect it'll be a nice badge.

Agree no need to manipulate the footage to get the tears.

Laying it on thick? Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable but this has been many nhs staff lives for 9/10 months.

Fifteen years I’ve worked for the NHS it’s hard work every winter. But we get a respite, this is relentless and has been for months. So many staff will quit for their own health after the pandemic calms and there won’t be enough people to replace them.

Doctors and NHS staff asked for this as they were sick of being accused as lying that hospitals were as bad in December. They are far worse now. Everyone is knackered and often traumatised.

Turn it off if you don’t like a news story about a country with nearly 2000 deaths a day due to the pandemic. Just like if a bimb had killed two thousand people that day pretty sure that would be a consistent on going news story.

I’m also sure mortuary assistants are still human and allowed to be affected by months dealing with many more deaths than they usually handle.

What do you want to be first item on the news? A knitting competition? News is meant to be news. If you don’t like it you don’t have to watch.

The only part that is getting to me is the endless “take this seriously” rhetoric. I find the reporting excellent and I feel for the staff hugely. I’m in elderly care and currently in an outbreak. I know they are supposed to be reaching out to those who don’t believe in Covid but really that is a minority. I feel the majority are taking it seriously and are still spreading it through no fault in most cases.
It is getting to me to hear that every night, like all those health professionals must think we are at underground raves or having house parties every day it is insinuating we aren’t trying hard enough.
It could be worded differently and still carry weight.

Yes I do think it's helpful and very sobering. I think we do get a fair bit of coverage on the devastation it's causing to hospitality etc too but obviously not as much. We have to get the public to realise how serious it is, all of it. My partner is a nurse and I get so mad when I see how exhausted they are, how scary it all is and then to have some tosser claiming it doesn't even exist 🤬

@Lastfreakinglegs

There are also actors in the news. That woman that was supposed to be the first to have her covid jab. She had the same Xmas sweater and Cardigan on for her first and second shot.

@Lastfreakinglegs No, she didn't.

First dose, 8 December, blue Christmas t-shirt, grey cardigan.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/08/coventry-woman-90-first-patient-to-receive-covid-vaccine-in-nhs-campaign

Second dose, 29 December, grey striped jumper
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/08/coventry-woman-90-first-patient-to-receive-covid-vaccine-in-nhs-campaign

Try harder with your shitty conspiracy theories.

(As an aside - do you never wear clothes more than once? And given that the blue Christmas t-shirt was designed to raise money for charity, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if she had have worn it again. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-55243602)

Stark comparisons can be made between the blaming and shaming of the public for Covid 19 in 2020s and the blaming and shaming of the gay community for HIV/AIDs in the 1980s. When #ItsASin goes out on Channel 4 this will be brought into sharp focus for many more.

Pity John Hurt is no longer with us (it is actually. I thought he was great) He could have done the voiceover for the "people will die" thing.

Interview with Russell T Davies about Its A Sin in the Radio Times,
Some quotes.

"i think people will watch Its A Sin with the PPE, the masks , the green hospital gowns and will think i did that on purpose, that its a commentary on 2020. But it was written long before Covid 19. Filming wrapped last January. There are some similarities though , in the chatter surrounding both illnesses particularly in the rumour and misinformation about HIV/AIDS and now the coronavirus"

Uncovered by Davies"s research.......a family burning their sons bedding and everything he ever touched on a bonfire after his death because they feared contamination, and the ailing young man detained in a locked hospital ward under a court order.

Davies lost his husband to a brain tumour back in 2018
"Such a bereavement has left him bubbling with anger on behalf of relatives separated from dying loved ones by restrictions and regulations during the current pandemic. Andrew was very ill many times in eight years and if i hadnt been able to visit him i dont know how angry i would be.
We havent begun to cope with this pandemic , the anger of those households, those many thousands of households will echo for years"

No I'm not interested at all. I've stopped watching the news because I cannot take much more

For context: late Dec and start of Jan, there was no coverage of the reality in hospitals and staff were told not to speak and outlets told not to report. I feel that now they’re overcompensating.

I see your point totally but also see why they feel the need to hammer home after a period of blanket coverage.

The ideal would be balanced truth all the time.

Blanket no coverage

@MercyBooth

Stark comparisons can be made between the blaming and shaming of the public for Covid 19 in 2020s and the blaming and shaming of the gay community for HIV/AIDs in the 1980s. When #ItsASin goes out on Channel 4 this will be brought into sharp focus for many more.

@mercybooth we were having this conversation at work this lunchtime.

100% agree

Nope - it does not give me a shred of respect for the government, it just makes them look stupid and desperate. There's no doubt that the government spin machine is hard at work here.

If it was balanced by some reporting on the adverse effects of lockdown on children, and the lasting legacy that this is likely to have, that would be another matter, but the extremely one-sided reporting is oh so clearly government-influenced.

And I bet that a few actors are involved too: it also has the bonus of making the government's employment figures look better, since the government has practically killed the entertainment industry stone dead.

@wanderings

Nope - it does not give me a shred of respect for the government, it just makes them look stupid and desperate. There's no doubt that the government spin machine is hard at work here.

If it was balanced by some reporting on the adverse effects of lockdown on children, and the lasting legacy that this is likely to have, that would be another matter, but the extremely one-sided reporting is oh so clearly government-influenced.

And I bet that a few actors are involved too: it also has the bonus of making the government's employment figures look better, since the government has practically killed the entertainment industry stone dead.

R4 talking about what briefings would look like if they focussed on lost school days / cancelled exams etc

Switched on BBC Breakfast - at it again with crying nurses

I agree with @turtleshelly that there were precious few reports from inside hospitals before Christmas and now there are plenty. A clear change of strategy and not from the media, who would have been clamouring for "on the frontline" articles/ films.

Who was responsible for this change of strategy - government, DHSC, NHS, a combination? Whatever, it seems to me that some, but only some, of the people who previously thought hospitals are empty have changed their minds. The downside is the risk of desensitisation, a point which some posters on here have already reached.

afraid i yelled 'oh piss off' when bbc trotted out a 'covid survivor' to cry about how sick she still is months after catching it, last night.

I'm not a huge fan of people stepping out of their remit. If you're a nurse, that's your job, you're not a politician... it's utterly bizarre and really gets my back up. It doesn't work with me either. I'm aware people die in hospital...they always have done. I'm aware it's not a pretty sight. Dying strangers only upsets me if it's children. Otherwise, I'm quite pragmatic...and no, I'm not going to sit at home sobbing over it.