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.

It's not just about Covid - this sort of thing happens with other things as well. Think of adverts pleading with you to give to charity - you'll hear a sob story, possibly with a few sniffles to be heard, and if it's on TV, puppy-dog eyes and sad face. These things make me more determined not to be swayed. I remember noticing when my parents put on the "faux enthusiasm" to try to persuade me when I was a teenager.

Also, in a tangential example, I remember a documentary from the mid 90's about malicious phone calls. Yes, very upsetting to be on the receiving end of these (it has happened to me), but that documentary really went overboard on the interviews with people crying.

Panorama is notorious for one-sided reporting - I remember one programme which was shamelessly demonising working parents.

What a very cold and unfeeling lot you are. I hope nobody ever sniffles over you!

@JanetheObscure

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.

One of the things really bugging me is this government’s propensity to swing wildly between two extremes. I wish they were honest about the reality, about this being a long haul, where we all need to keep each other safe, and have personal accountability every day for possibly years, rather than this on/off switch thing they’re doing. I still can’t believe they weren’t sure there’d be a second wave. Blind Freddie and all that. It’s a virus, it wasn’t magically going to disappear without the sort of hardcore, all borders closed approach of NZ.

It’s a function of Boris’ personality I suppose. Reckless, boosterish, overly optimistic.

There was a clip on the news yesterday of a person in my frontline NHS profession yesterday and she cried. To be honest, I couldn’t think of anything else but how I feel exactly the same way and I had a cry myself.

Although I am a very critical thinker, I’m not sure I can bring myself to see it as manipulation by the media/government just yet. My SM accounts and people I know are so full of either denial or complete ignorance as to what’s going on inside the hospitals at the moment and sometimes I just want to shake them and yell in their face. So I was kind of glad to see true representation of my profession at least, shown to the country yesterday. Having said that, not one single person that saw it contacted me (and they usually do when they see something to do with work I do, it’s a bit weird). So maybe you’re right and it doesn’t get through.....

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.

We are affected. Honestly, I cannot put into words how much. It’s not just the COVID deaths we see, we see all the collateral damage too - the rise in suicides, drug ODs, alcohol related deaths, consequences of drug and drink driving. We see how desperate people are with and without COVID and frankly, for us right now (and I’ve spoken to a very many), it feels like a bottomless pit of there not being the right answer. Whatever happens now, whatever decisions are made, it’ll be the wrong thing. That, and the fact that we can’t do the bits of the job that we really want to do, the caring properly for COVID patients and offering chapel of rest appointments to relatives to help them with their grief.

Guess I’m going to have to name change now...

This is sort off off-topic, and not aimed at Turquoise, but I get a bit 🙄 about exhausted NHS staff who are leaping at the extra cash being thrown at us to do overtime, then fall apart witnessing heavy duty stuff, sobbing.

I think I’ve missed some posts whilst I’ve been skim reading...
Just wanted to respond to this.

I do regular overtime and on call. Right now it’s not because of the money. It’s because if I don’t, those deceased patients aren’t going to be dealt with. If I care about my job (I do, it’s a vocation) and don’t want to put even more pressure on my very limited amount of colleagues to the point where they break, I need to put the extra in right now.

I'm so sorry @EloraaDanan, that sounds so very hard.

The BBC don't just report on the state of hospitals. For those on this thread going on about how they never, ever report on lockdown effects on people, you're wrong.

Eg this, just today.

BBC News - Covid: Young people asked how pandemic has affected them
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55739974

I don't think it is helpful and i think it is very unprofessional actually.
In the first lockdown we were treated to footage of dancing nurses, this outbreak, it's sobbing nurses

Perhaps we should balance the crying nurses with the story of the nurse that we're 90% sure gave my niece (working from home in the house they share) covid.
This nurse has been constantly having friends round, staying at other friends, staying with boyfriend, visiting his family, her family etc etc.

They have more staff off isolating this time around , so it's bound to be much worse.
I am not condoning the dancing nurses at all , but that was made in about five minutes.
It can't be brought up as a reason not to feel for them crying over deaths on tv. It's bound to have a huge effect on them and their mental health.
It must awful that they can't save people when there usually can.

No, it doesn’t help. It’s embarrassing that they should do this when it’s their job to work stoically with the sick.

@Fatandfifty49

I must admit, I agree. I'm not denying it is bad or that it exists or that it is tough on HCPs.

I'm just tired of the media taking every second to scare the shit out of us.

It's not just the rule breakers who are catching or spreading this. They are in the minority. Most people I know are following the rules - even the teenagers.

As an essential worker, I have no choice but to expose myself to a higher level of risk every day and so, for my mental health, the last thing I need is the threat of Covid shoved in my face over my morning cup of tea. We know.

Most people I know gave caught it 'legitimately ' with the rules. It's just a terrible virus. I am getting sick of the notion that it always has yo be someone's fault

Agree with this... most people are doing their best, obeying the rules and fulfilling their work commitments to keep a roof over their families heads, keeping away from the doctors, not being a burden. I have maximum respect and sympathy for nhs staff but every time “the public” is blamed, shamed and criticised as an amorphous group, it feels like they’re blaming ordinary people for it all. Similar to XR types making you feel guilty for having central heating.

YY @Fatandfifty49 There was a nurse on ITV News earlier this week saying its because people wont stay at home.

What like the supermarket workers where she buys her food or the people who provide the hospital and her home with water and electric.

And you just know the same ones will be moaning about the drugs/drink/ weight problems they will be dealing with as a consequence of these lockdowns.

Sorry but the blame rhetoric has really got my back up

@tatutata

I don't think any rule breaker is sitting and watching the news. So I'm not sure what the point is. Its not really like reporting from a war zone, where some first person Intel might change our knowledge of the situation. I also don't really like the fact they're always keen to find HCPs crying. It would have much more impact if they got, say, an anaesthetist to calmly break run down the realities for us. They are the guardians of our lives on the operating table every day, and not given to any display of emotion - which I always find far more cutting.

I agree with this. If the BBC are really churning out endless coverage from covid wards, along with crying HCPs, just to convince the frankly very odd and weird minority who believe it all to be made up and/or exaggerated, then that is wrong of the BBC! To the vast majority who do our best and live within the guidelines and stay as safe as we can it's just like a shovel banging on top of the head all day every day. So I no longer watch the news.

@Janegrey333

No, it doesn’t help. It’s embarrassing that they should do this when it’s their job to work stoically with the sick.

All I can say to this is ODFOD.

If you could see just a fraction of what I see in an average day, you’d probably never want to open your eyes again. You can afford me a weep and for me not to pretend that me or my colleagues are ok living like this.

This is a 1 in 100 years thing. This was never meant to happen. When I took my role, it was a never event.

Thankyou @Madhairday.

I agree with this. If the BBC are really churning out endless coverage from covid wards, along with crying HCPs, just to convince the frankly very odd and weird minority who believe it all to be made up and/or exaggerated, then that is wrong of the BBC! To the vast majority who do our best and live within the guidelines and stay as safe as we can it's just like a shovel banging on top of the head all day every day. So I no longer watch the news

Yes, I totally agree.

I have a hard core Covid denier at work. He thinks the BBC should be defunded as it’s a “mouthpiece for socialist propaganda”

He thinks the BBC is broadcasting fake news and is brainwashing the masses and that we are all sheeple who need to do our own research and open our eyes.

He’s getting his news from Facebook or YouTube. He shares links on Facebook with his likeminded friends who also think the BBC is broadcasting fake news so they share the links, etc, etc.

He’s not watching crying nurses on the BBC

From an outsiders point of view, the NHS looks like a war zone right now.

We acknowledge and are encouraged to 'help the heroes', to honour the patriotism of soldiers and to thank them for their service and sacrifice. Even though it's their job, that they willingly decided to do. We know that PTSD is real and can't imagine the horrors they have seen.

Meanwhile healthcare professionals are dealing with a once in a lifetime pandemic, stretched to the limit, dealing with death and disorder everyday and they have to deal with people willingly and sometimes gleefully breaking the infection control rules. Plus deal with people saying 'it's your job so put up with it'.

So being reminded that there are human beings struggling to do their jobs right now as a consequence of our collective actions is a good idea to me.

I agree we should know what is going on; but I also agree that too much of this weakens the message - we just get inured to it.

I do not in the least criticise the staff for being upset - you can be professional and have human feelings too - and show them. But I do find the programme makers irritate me when they dig and dig till they get the interviewee to cry - real finger-down-throat stuff - they should not do it. It demeans both.

It’s not so much the deniers that I’m thinking about but all the ordinary people that may or may not be sticking to the rules that still feel entitled to a gold standard service from the NHS right now. All I see is complaints about GP surgeries (although I admit at times feel they could be doing better), complaints about routine hospital appointments being cancelled, complaints they can’t visit, complaints that they can’t just pop in to use the Costa and dare I say it, constantly being compared to other professions when there just isn’t a comparison. People begrudging NHS staff getting regular testing and then later, vaccines or priority slots at the supermarkets. It’s those people who I want to see what’s truly going on.

FWIW I don’t think the problem is people breaking the rules and I don’t know any colleagues that do. What this is down to is the governments chronic underfunding of the NHS to start with and then then the mismanagement of the pandemic. I just hope to God people can see that.

I've no wish to argue with you Elora, but as you said this is a once in a 100 years thing. Surely none of us would expect the NHS to be funded to have enough resources to deal with a disaster like this every year when it only happens once in a lifetime? Of course HCP are bearing the brunt of the miserableness that is Covid, along with everyone who has lost a loved one. I am really not sure what the BBC reporting is hoping to achieve.

I don't watch the news on TV very often but I do listen to the radio all day. Even on a light entertainment station like Radio 2 the top news story of every hour for most of the past year has been a different angle on how the pandemic is even worse than anyone thought. You tune it out eventually. When 13 year old Oliver Stephens was stabbed to death (thought to be by a group of 13 and 14 year olds) it barely got a mention on BBC radio news.

@LivinLaVidaLoki

www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/2021-01-16/russell-t-davies-its-a-sin-big-rt-interview/

We never watch these reports. DH is a frontline NHS worker working with Covid+ patients. He thinks it is unethical to record the footage as patients can't give truly informed consent. Also for cross infection, only necessary staff should be in a clinical area - not news crews. There is zero acceptable evidence that shows that reports like these change or modify behaviour so on what basis are patients being asked to consent - evidence based medicine, anyone?

He would never cry at work in front of a patient or on TV or go onto social media ever in PPE etc. A large majority of those doing that have books/merchandise such as masks to sell etc - go figure

@Gobbolinothewitchscat

We never watch these reports. DH is a frontline NHS worker working with Covid+ patients. He thinks it is unethical to record the footage as patients can't give truly informed consent. Also for cross infection, only necessary staff should be in a clinical area - not news crews. There is zero acceptable evidence that shows that reports like these change or modify behaviour so on what basis are patients being asked to consent - evidence based medicine, anyone?

He would never cry at work in front of a patient or on TV or go onto social media ever in PPE etc. A large majority of those doing that have books/merchandise such as masks to sell etc - go figure

Your husband is behaving as a lot of people expect NHS staff to behave. I hope the majority are the same.

I have to admit that it was Sonia in eastenders that did it for me.