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Original poster

To think we just need to use the nightingale hospitals?

305 replies

Mummamama · 11/12/2021 12:46

The (seven I think) nightingale hospitals that were built last year precisely for COVID have barely been used. Why can we not just set these up again and transfer COVID patients to them freeing up normal hospitals for usual things? My understanding was the army was going to he used to staff them, why can this not happen now??
I understand the importance of not overwhelming the NHS but there doesn't seem to be an end game plan anymore, we can't keep having restrictions forever. At some point surely everyone will get COVID and it seems you can get it multiple times. Is it not better then to use our resources to enable the NHS to cope with the inevitable rather than spending huge amounts on lockdowns?

OP posts:
dumdedumpop · 11/12/2021 22:16

@milly74

GPs are not seeing patients, fact
Saying "fact" at the end of the sentence does not make it actual fact. GPs are seeing patients.
DroopyClematis · 11/12/2021 22:22

Well these hospitals were built knowing and expecting them to be used and staffed.
Probably by elective surgery staff as elective surgery is being largely dumped.

jgw1 · 11/12/2021 22:25

@DroopyClematis

Well these hospitals were built knowing and expecting them to be used and staffed. Probably by elective surgery staff as elective surgery is being largely dumped.
Do you mean elective surgery is being dumped now, or during the first lockdown?
AndreaC67 · 11/12/2021 22:28

@DroopyClematis

Well these hospitals were built knowing and expecting them to be used and staffed. Probably by elective surgery staff as elective surgery is being largely dumped.
Nope, those elective staff were always used to look after CV patients, plus, none, not one of these hospitals have suitable or enough equipment in them.

Pre CV, NHS has 110k staff vacancies, now, far more are off sick and long covid, more have also left for better paid jobs in private sector.

bringmelaughter · 11/12/2021 22:34

@milly74

GPs are not seeing patients, fact
And this is one of the reasons why there aren’t enough health care professionals.

People who have not a clue say untrue things or are abusive to people who have been traumatised or are stressed through trying to make sure that people get healthcare through a pandemic. Many healthcare professionals are leaving and many more are likely to leave.

Look up the levels of workload for GPs, talk to healthcare professionals, go volunteer in a hospital then maybe you’ll have at least a little understanding.

There lots of other reasons why there aren’t enough clinicians but the unkindness and blame from people isn’t helping.

sageandbasil · 12/12/2021 00:02

For people saying to staff them like they were planning too last year, I worked in the dental hospital and as we were doing emergencies only there were a lot of spare staff that volunteered to go and help in the nightingale. I'd imagine it was the same in other departments of hospitals where routine procedures were cancelled. Everything is back up and running now so we're no longer free

Stompythedinosaur · 12/12/2021 00:35

@mellongoose

EU nationals went back home because of covid not Brexit. Nearly 6m EU nationals can live and work in th U.K. but many cannot travel back because of covid restrictions in their own country.

The NHS has enough money. The Trusts know this. It takes time to train staff and this is the issue.

All the EU colleagues I know who have left have been linked to Brexit. Iur Trust is trying hard to keep staff (offering to pay for any Brexit-related costs employees face in remaining in the UK) but they can't take away the clear sense of not being wanted.

Trusts are not "awash with money", that is just untrue. There continue to be cuts to funding.

It does take time to train more staff, bit if staff continue to leave at a higher rate than they join because pay and conditions are so bad the problem is not going to go away.

cptartapp · 12/12/2021 07:20

godmum I should do. I was a district nurse for 14 years and a practice nurse for the last 11. Different jobs. Different employers.
And it's people like milly embarrassing herself, showing her lack of understanding and basing sweeping statements (or 'facts' lol) on ten years of being a carer who are contributing to driving HCP out the profession.
And if she wants to play top trumps, as a qualified nurse of over thirty years who actually works in primary care, I can assure you that the fact is thousands of GP's are seeing people and have been all along.

Tabbacus · 12/12/2021 07:43

Our doctors surgery have been amazing, they have been seeing people when necessary throughout and the phone triage, where appropriate, has been really effective.

tradition · 12/12/2021 09:38

@milly74

GPs are not seeing patients, fact
Not a fact at all. The whole NHS is falling apart. Due to outpatient clinics suspended during lockdowns and new referral delays, GP practices are totally overwhelmed and patient contact has gone through the roof. GPs ARE dealing with so much more than they usually did pre covid as supporting patients unable to access secondary care clinics. Please get your facts straight.
godmum56 · 12/12/2021 10:26

@cptartapp

godmum I should do. I was a district nurse for 14 years and a practice nurse for the last 11. Different jobs. Different employers. And it's people like milly embarrassing herself, showing her lack of understanding and basing sweeping statements (or 'facts' lol) on ten years of being a carer who are contributing to driving HCP out the profession. And if she wants to play top trumps, as a qualified nurse of over thirty years who actually works in primary care, I can assure you that the fact is thousands of GP's are seeing people and have been all along.
yes, this absolutely. No all GP's are not doing a good job. neither are all teachers, firemen, plumbers or anybody else. But I am convinced that the majority are.
godmum56 · 12/12/2021 10:31

@DroopyClematis

Well these hospitals were built knowing and expecting them to be used and staffed. Probably by elective surgery staff as elective surgery is being largely dumped.
they were planned (not expected, the idea was for if all else fails) by the army...well actually the armed services, not just the army. The great thing about services personnel is that they have the training to follow orders and quickly learn new skills. This would not have been medical care as we know and expect it but a worst case last ditch system
Zilla1 · 12/12/2021 12:40

Never had a single day (Monday to Saturday morning) since pre-COVID when we've not seen patients F2F. And still doing home visits. And delivered the vaccination programme within our PCN with home visits where appropriate until the government sabotaged it this Summer.

Have delivered all the home visit third primaries and boosters when appropriate and all the eligible 'flu vaccs. The PCN vaccination centre on track to deliver the boosters to non-house bound patients by about the end of January. All that has just broken the GPs, PNs and ANPs a little but more than the last couple of years already did. Can't recruit and more of our GPs and PNs looking to retire or emigrate or leave the profession entirely (which I've not seen before) down to being broken, government decisions, press abuse and patient behaviour. Next practice along alraedy handed back their contract entirely (which was relatively unheard of). Looks like the government and press plan to corporatise primary care is successful. Must learn to filter out the posters, many of whom I think deliberately post about 'all GPS' just to provoke a reaction.

Badbadbunny · 12/12/2021 15:35

@pigsDOfly

How on earth can 'the army' staff them?

Have I missed something or are all army personnel medically trained?

The armed forces have lots of medically qualified staff including doctors, nurses, etc.
jgw1 · 12/12/2021 15:39

The armed forces have lots of medically qualified staff including doctors, nurses, etc.

And they are just sat around doing their knitting.

PearlclutchersInc · 12/12/2021 15:39

Apart from having already been dismantled its staffing them thats the issue.

Zilla1 · 12/12/2021 18:47

FWIW, my understanding is that the medical and nursing staff for the Nightingale hospitals would be predominantly or entirely contracted (locum/bank/contingent) NHS staff and the army would be providing non-HCP workers to enable the day to day non-medical and nursing activities. That was the basis that I was contracted though my contract was never triggered as the stage of the plan where primary care staff and acute were to be pulled from their day jobs and he least worst option would be to disable primary and acute to staff the Nightingale hospitals.

Rainartist · 12/12/2021 19:23

Because there's noone to staff them, that's why they were such a white elephant at the time!

Stompythedinosaur · 12/12/2021 19:35

@Zilla1

FWIW, my understanding is that the medical and nursing staff for the Nightingale hospitals would be predominantly or entirely contracted (locum/bank/contingent) NHS staff and the army would be providing non-HCP workers to enable the day to day non-medical and nursing activities. That was the basis that I was contracted though my contract was never triggered as the stage of the plan where primary care staff and acute were to be pulled from their day jobs and he least worst option would be to disable primary and acute to staff the Nightingale hospitals.
It is a fallacy that there is some hidden store of qualified medical staff waiting around to be employed. What agency staff there are are supporting the understaffed current settings. It is very common not to be able to obtain agency staff when you need them.
Tiredalwaystired · 12/12/2021 19:40

@dropitlikeitsloth

I’m with you *@user333334*

@RoomOfRequirement WTAF!!!! How dare you!!! Don't you dare blame patients for this! It's attitudes like yours that prevent the NHS from taking a long hard look at itself and accepting that it isn't providing the standard of care it should be. That's not patients fault! GP surgeries need to accept the situation as it is and find safe solutions which don't leave vulnerable people to suffer!

Patients are not to blame. I can do a video call with the other side of the world for my job but a GP surgery can’t fathom the tech to video call someone who has a mole on their arm, won’t see them in person and makes the wrong diagnosis because they’ve taken a visual description over the phone, then it turns out it’s skin cancer. (Yes I’m angry) I mean, that’s not the patients fault that’s the whole bloody NHS system.

Women especially are ignored and misdiagnosed. The whole system and culture is antiquated.

The NHS would have enough money for decent basic technology if it stopped spending it on pointless middle management and random projects that take time away from what they should be focussing on (treating people!)

I could give a million to the NHS (If I had it) and most of it would get swallowed up in faff and nonsense. It would just disappear.

None of this is patients faults. We are heading towards it being privatised and tbh it’s no one’s fault except the NHS’s. It’s been underfunded because it haemorrhages money. It’s like trying to build a sandcastle in a drain it’s pointless.

It’s become a business that’s become such a British institution it’s become untouchable you literally can’t say anything bad about the NHS. It’s about time it looked in the mirror.

Just a question… do you read the Daily Mail by any chance..?
storminateacupagain · 12/12/2021 19:46

The nightingale Hospital was decommisioned months ado and no longer exists.
Now it is an events arena again

jgw1 · 12/12/2021 19:47

@storminateacupagain

The nightingale Hospital was decommisioned months ado and no longer exists. Now it is an events arena again
That's because freedom day was months ago. The pandemic is over, no turning back.
ChequerBoard · 12/12/2021 20:00

"That's because freedom day was months ago. The pandemic is over, no turning back."

Shit. Someone better tell the virus because it doesn't seem to have got that memo.

CiderWithLizzie · 12/12/2021 20:40

Ours at UWE is now a major vaccination centre so not available.

jgw1 · 12/12/2021 20:52

@ChequerBoard

"That's because freedom day was months ago. The pandemic is over, no turning back."

Shit. Someone better tell the virus because it doesn't seem to have got that memo.

Boris told us it in one of his broadcasts in the summer. Don't let today's performance distract you from that.