Eric The Viking
Established Member
- Joined
- 19 Jan 2010
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NHS England isn't doing a good impression of having found any clues recently. Most of the innovation has come from the local teams right up against it.
My wife's practice has had several cases amongst the medical staff, all of whom have been mild and they have apparently recovered and are back at work*.
Everyone is now wearing scrubs. She takes two sets in daily - wearing a clean set into work in the car, changing out of those worn at the end of the day & driving home in tomorrow's set. Today's go straight in the wash (machine right by the back door). This is instead of changing into ordinary clothes at the surgery, so that those don't have to be washed at 60 deg C. (we couldn't keep replacing destroyed personal clothes, and anyway where would we buy them now?).
She spent a few hours on her day off turning up the trouser hems on three sets of scrubs (thankfully she has a good sewing machine), as nothing was available close to her size (even now she looks like she's in a baggy Punjabi suit!). They don't have sufficient face shields still, so she is relying on her glasses for protection (with a surgical mask) if she sees patients face-to-face.
They have been well ahead of many other Bristol practices in their precautions, but the others are belatedly catching up. The death of a Bristol bus driver yesterday has reminded everyone how serious it is, and a care home we regularly walk past (exercise routine) now has several Covid19 cases, probably with many more infected. We have a friend there, and the outlook is not good.
Being immuno-compromised myself, I was waiting for a letter/whatever about 12-week purdah, but it never arrived. Instead, I got a text yesterday, written as though it came from my practice, telling me to wait until I am five months overdue for a regular injection before asking for it (i.e. almost six months altogether). It also suggested there were oral substitutes I might buy over the counter (abbreviated to "OTC" - I had to guess that)!
It's hard to know where to begin with this particular shambles but here's a few points:
This is exactly the sort of thing they should be leaving to practices, who know their own patients.
Meanwhile they have hospitals where the oxygen line pressures are far too low for the quantity of respirators they need (hard to fix as capacity was designed into the distribution systems - gotta live the Private Finance Initiatives of the 1990s!), and the aircons have to be turned off because there is no filtration built in, which in turn is exhausting the medical staff.
In any case, Air Products, BOC, et al, are working flat out to meet demand - they may not have capacity to meet the peak either, and LOX is dangerous stuff for tired drivers and production workers to handle... too many government departments seem to be relying on crossed fingers right now.
E.
*one reports no sense of smell returning, even after several weeks.
My wife's practice has had several cases amongst the medical staff, all of whom have been mild and they have apparently recovered and are back at work*.
Everyone is now wearing scrubs. She takes two sets in daily - wearing a clean set into work in the car, changing out of those worn at the end of the day & driving home in tomorrow's set. Today's go straight in the wash (machine right by the back door). This is instead of changing into ordinary clothes at the surgery, so that those don't have to be washed at 60 deg C. (we couldn't keep replacing destroyed personal clothes, and anyway where would we buy them now?).
She spent a few hours on her day off turning up the trouser hems on three sets of scrubs (thankfully she has a good sewing machine), as nothing was available close to her size (even now she looks like she's in a baggy Punjabi suit!). They don't have sufficient face shields still, so she is relying on her glasses for protection (with a surgical mask) if she sees patients face-to-face.
They have been well ahead of many other Bristol practices in their precautions, but the others are belatedly catching up. The death of a Bristol bus driver yesterday has reminded everyone how serious it is, and a care home we regularly walk past (exercise routine) now has several Covid19 cases, probably with many more infected. We have a friend there, and the outlook is not good.
Being immuno-compromised myself, I was waiting for a letter/whatever about 12-week purdah, but it never arrived. Instead, I got a text yesterday, written as though it came from my practice, telling me to wait until I am five months overdue for a regular injection before asking for it (i.e. almost six months altogether). It also suggested there were oral substitutes I might buy over the counter (abbreviated to "OTC" - I had to guess that)!
It's hard to know where to begin with this particular shambles but here's a few points:
- The practice didn't send it, NHS England did, without properly filtering the addressee list.
- Some of the practice staff knew about it, but not those answering the 'phones.
- I have injections because I cannot absorb this chemical through the gut (to be fair this is unusual, but if NHSE want to interfere in my treatment, they should know that!). Nothing over the counter would help in any way.
- Furthermore, without the injections, I will eventually die prematurely (OK it would take a while, but I'd probably become critically ill around the 6-month mark!).
This is exactly the sort of thing they should be leaving to practices, who know their own patients.
Meanwhile they have hospitals where the oxygen line pressures are far too low for the quantity of respirators they need (hard to fix as capacity was designed into the distribution systems - gotta live the Private Finance Initiatives of the 1990s!), and the aircons have to be turned off because there is no filtration built in, which in turn is exhausting the medical staff.
In any case, Air Products, BOC, et al, are working flat out to meet demand - they may not have capacity to meet the peak either, and LOX is dangerous stuff for tired drivers and production workers to handle... too many government departments seem to be relying on crossed fingers right now.
E.
*one reports no sense of smell returning, even after several weeks.
it wouldn't surprise me if he still didn't take a step back.
