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.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

If that is the full story (assuming you haven’t missed out the bit where they offered you a video appointment and you turned it down), then you need to complain to the CCG in the first instance, and switch GPs as soon a possible

The CCG have already been contacted, Change, and moving GPs is in progress

And no, I've not missed anything out from my perspective, though it's perhaps worth mentioning it was the GP who recommended being seen F2F rather than me somehow demanding it

[wanderings]

Incidentally, there's a "survey about the BBC" (Google it.) I've used it to make my views on the crying party known, and the BBC being used as a tool of government propaganda.

[Indecisive12]

@Puzzledandpissedoff

GP’s are open, if yours aren’t you need to be asking direct questions

When my GP rang back I did ask questions, and the answer was that I could only see him privately

I've mentioned this on here before and been called a liar for my pains - which is unfortunate, but doesn't change the facts

I can only imagine they don’t feel they need to physically see you and feel a telephone or video consultation is enough. I’ve only been seen when I need to be physically examined and even then it’s after a lengthy telephone call to minimise the time in the surgery.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

I can only imagine they don’t feel they need to physically see you

That's what I thought when the private appointment was mentioned, as in "It's not needed, but if you insist on a F2F you can only have it that way"
But I wasn't insisting - I'd have been perfectly happy doing it remotely - and it was the GP who maintained I needed seeing in person
And after all he's the doctor ...

[ketosavedmylife]

The CCG have already been contacted, Change, and moving GPs is in progress

And no, I've not missed anything out from my perspective, though it's perhaps worth mentioning it was the GP who recommended being seen F2F rather than me somehow demanding it

@Indecisive12 see @Puzzledandpissedoff's comment above.

[Indecisive12]

You definitely need to complain to the CCG, that is absolutely awful. Please report!

[BungleandGeorge]

@CherryRoulade

GP surgeries are being used for Oxford vaccination. Obviously they cannot be used for Pfizer. If GPs spent all day vaccinating who would do the GP work?
Video consultation is an appointment.

At their practice the senior partners drove in their own time to collect vaccines so they could offer their usual work and vaccination as an add on.

Yes they’re giving the Pfizer vaccine. It is labour intensive but why wouldn’t they be?

[LetItGoGo]

A family member has had Pfizer from GP.

[CherryRoulade]

BungleandGeorge Because of the storage requirements for Pfizer.

[BungleandGeorge]

@CherryRoulade

BungleandGeorge Because of the storage requirements for Pfizer.

It gets delivered from the deep freeze on the morning. They then need to make sure there are enough patients booked in within the short expiry and ensure the cold chain. They can’t place orders it’s allocated at reasonably short notice, so people might be contacted a day or two before to book. It’s very labour intensive but that is what’s happening. They’re doing an amazing job to get it to patients, it’s not a easy! Not sure if it’s been announced how much AZ vaccine is in the system but not much being given at the moment I don’t think

[Jellykat]

Pfizer at my GPs too, thats why my housebound 89 yr old friend cant be vaccinated atm.. she cant get to the surgery, and they cant get it to her without wasting the rest of the phial.

[BungleandGeorge]

You can’t move the Pfizer vial either as it has a maximum number of journeys it can do. Incredibly difficult from start to finish! The AZ one has restrictions about taking it in a temp controlled container and taking it out and putting it back in if you’re driving between houses too. Nothing is straightforward but she will get one soon

[Sunshine1235]

A few weeks ago I deleted all my news apps and started switching the radio off when the news came on. It’s really helped my mental health so would highly recommend.

[formerbabe]

Currently watching BBC news....more crying nurses...

[Rah88]

@Beachcomber

I watched the BBC report last night and I was really appalled by the levels to which they have sunk.
It was not news it was propaganda.
We were shown a male nurse breaking down on being made to remember how he felt like he was dying when in the grip of covid infection. Bodies in a morgue and a close up of a muddy grave being dug then panning back to show a large muddy graveyard with open prepared graves no doubt there in readiness for You, The Viewer. All this was accompanied by a voice over narrating these images of doom.
Cut to Our Only Hope - a brave but exhausted doctor in scrubs urging us to have the vaccine.

The whole thing was sickening. It's not news or journalism. It's heavily scripted and directed propaganda designed to scare the population into obedience. The crying nurses are being cynically filmed to guilt people into compliance. Surely nobody actually believes that the government or the BBC give a shit about overworked, underpaid, exhausted nurses?

I was really shocked to see this blatant propaganda on the BBC and no matter what I think of covid, vaccines, the way the government has handled things, the NHS, etc, my main takeaway from the whole thing is that I find it deeply disturbing to have it demonstrated so obviously to me that the BBC is an untrustworthy propaganda machine for the government.

A free press is one of the pillars of democracy.

I'm in no way saying that I don't believe covid to be a serious problem or the vaccine to be untrustworthy (although I do think it is under rested). The BBC report did scare me but not in the way it was intend to! It didn't make me more scared of covid it made me worry about how the media is increasingly being used to manipulate public opinion on all manner of subjects and how they aren't even attempting to be particularly subtle about it.

Wow. The level of ignorance on MN is really worrying. The BBC is not the government. There is A LOT of tension between the BBC and the government. It is not the governments mouthpiece.

What would you be saying if there was nothing in the news about how much the NHS is struggling? You would be saying there was a cover up and blaming them for people not realising that the NHS is on its last legs. They can’t win. This is an unprecedented event for the NHS and everyone who works there. If you need them at the moment for any reason you may not get the care and attention you would expect because they are struggling.

There are also large sections of our society who are rejecting the vaccine. There needs more voices shown from diverse backgrounds to encourage this sort of thing.

The BBC is well know around the world for its responsible ethical journalism. ie having to make sure all stories are credible and to have various corroborating sources before going on air or to print. Journalism is not just printing what you like or think or the government tells you - it’s properly researched. Also remember just because you read something on the internet does not make it true.

The BBC is not just the main news stories, there are loads of other news programmes and radio programmes as well as podcasts where a range of views is discussed. I agree that we should see other people at the front line and more people who are struggling as they’ve lost their jobs, for balance on the main programme but if you were a medical reporter what would you be reporting on right now? If you were being told by medical experts and NHS chiefs that hospitals were struggling what would you report? Personally I hate and abhor seeing mortuary’s and grave digging but it does give me a glimpse into what people, yes fellow humans, are going through each day. And I turn off or over if I don’t like it.
Go and live somewhere like China or Russia and then come and complain about free press. I honestly don’t think you have the first clue about the ‘pillar of democracy’. If the BBC were to stop existing, a pillar of free speech would be lost in the UK and around the world.

[Bluethrough]

Wow. The level of ignorance on MN is really worrying. The BBC is not the government. There is A LOT of tension between the BBC and the government. It is not the governments mouthpiece

A few months ago BBC political reporters were telling us all that Johnson and Biden wouldn't get on because of his friendship with Trump & that no10 would perhaps prefer a Trump win, esp as DT wants to break up the EU, now the narrative is that no10 are welcoming in Biden as more stable and more inline with the PMs thinking on (& this really gets me) on international organisations and climate change!!!
Its as if the last 4 years of BJ's support for Trump, Brexit never happened.

So i also think the BBC are more than capable of coming to the Govts rescue.

Hugh Pimm may as well work for the govt.

[Splodgetastic]

Maybe I am not very empathetic but when I see doctors and nurses crying I tend to think they are in the wrong job rather than it having the intended propaganda impact.

[Rah88]

@Bluethrough

Wow. The level of ignorance on MN is really worrying. The BBC is not the government. There is A LOT of tension between the BBC and the government. It is not the governments mouthpiece

A few months ago BBC political reporters were telling us all that Johnson and Biden wouldn't get on because of his friendship with Trump & that no10 would perhaps prefer a Trump win, esp as DT wants to break up the EU, now the narrative is that no10 are welcoming in Biden as more stable and more inline with the PMs thinking on (& this really gets me) on international organisations and climate change!!!
Its as if the last 4 years of BJ's support for Trump, Brexit never happened.

So i also think the BBC are more than capable of coming to the Govts rescue.

Hugh Pimm may as well work for the govt.

The BBC are reporting the turn around by Boris Johnson and the turn around by the Government. It is not their turnaround, they are simply reporting it. PM’s used to go on to BBC programmes to be scrutinised (Today on R4 especially). BJ refuses to do this. Not the fault of the BBC. Unfortunately BJ is just like DT in that he will lie and lie and speak untruths - it doesn’t seem to matter and people believe him. When people (often journalists) call this out it is too late and the damage had been done.

That said - I was spectacularly disappointed with Laura K’s questioning of Cummings. He definitely seemed off the hook.

But this is about COVID...

[Emeraldshamrock]

Maybe I am not very empathetic but when I see doctors and nurses crying I tend to think they are in the wrong job rather than it having the intended propaganda impact Yes your right you're not empathetic enough, Doctors and nurses are humans with emotions.

[CherryRoulade]

@Splodgetastic

Maybe I am not very empathetic but when I see doctors and nurses crying I tend to think they are in the wrong job rather than it having the intended propaganda impact.

It would be a real problem if any doctor or nurse who had cried at work gave up. I’d worry about those who so lacked empathy and humanity that they never cried.

[GreenlandTheMovie]

@Emeraldshamrock

Maybe I am not very empathetic but when I see doctors and nurses crying I tend to think they are in the wrong job rather than it having the intended propaganda impact Yes your right you're not empathetic enough, Doctors and nurses are humans with emotions.

There must be hordes of us who lack the "right kind" of empathy then.

The first 2 or 3 times I watched the now near daily bulletin on crying and emotional nurses and doctors, I took it in. But then I began to wonder why there were no similar reports on crying business owners who had lost their businesses, crying unemployed people who had lost their jobs, crying cancer patients whose surgery had been cancelled, crying families of people who had committed suicide due to lockdown, etc..

Is it unfortunate that my particular empathy cones with a questioning mind that looks fur the bigger picture?

I don't watch the BBC or itv news now because it's always the same - voice of doom, reports of crying nurses, warnings of more impending doom. Very little factual news, too many reports on very specific personal responses. I want to see whats going on outside hospitals and outside the UK. I want to hear the average age of death of covid patients alongside the daily death figures. I want facts, not personal stories ad infinitum.

[Janegrey333]

It would be a real problem if any doctor or nurse who had cried at work gave up. I’d worry about those who so lacked empathy and humanity that they never cried.

Crying for a camera is another thing entirely.

[TorringtonDean]

If you don’t like the news you don’t have to watch it but responsible people like to stay informed.

[formerbabe]

@TorringtonDean

If you don’t like the news you don’t have to watch it but responsible people like to stay informed.

wtf

[SuperbGorgonzola]

I wouldn't agree that a doctor or nurse who cries at work is in the wrong job. Covid aside, I couldn't be a midwife dealing a stillborn baby or a nurse trying to treat a dying child. These people have always, and will always have my utmost respect and I think they're only human to process these emotional aspects of their job with tears if it helps.

I do however agree that the Covid coverage is de sensitising and possibly unimaginative journalism. As others have said, there are many groups of people who have been affected and deserve attention, not to feel like their loss and experience is nothing because they don't work in ICU.