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Hospital after hospital is activating surge plans and redeploying staff or declaring major incidents.
We haven't even got to the part where Christmas gathering-related infections show up at the hospital yet.
This feels worse than March, perhaps because we all saw it coming.
We haven't even got to the part where Christmas gathering-related infections show up at the hospital yet.
This feels worse than March, perhaps because we all saw it coming.
I'm deeply worried about Jan. It'll be hard to sustain much elective work (it would be hard in a normal winter, let alone this year).
The problem is staffing. Everyone's exhausted and demoralised. And yet the staff plough on because that's what they do: cope. Or so we hope.
The problem is staffing. Everyone's exhausted and demoralised. And yet the staff plough on because that's what they do: cope. Or so we hope.
N501Y is a more infectious strain, so we're told, which suggests we should at least review the evidence about PPE for areas like wards, in case change is needed.
Most hospitalised covid pts will remain on the medical wards where PPE requirements are not as stringent as on ICU.
Most hospitalised covid pts will remain on the medical wards where PPE requirements are not as stringent as on ICU.
It may be that the new variant N501Y's infectiousness doesn't really require any change to the recommended levels of PPE for non-AGP areas (which includes most wards). But it merits consideration, and I'm hopeful that this is a discussion that's actively happening at PHE....
I am not interested in hearing from covid deniers about how hospitals are actually half-empty, or that we're making this up. Wishful thinking is a hell of a drug, but I'm afraid this is really happening.
I’m not sure the JCVI vaccine recipient prioritisation is right. It will only take a few percent more NHS staff to go off sick with covid to make the diff between a service continuing or falling over in the next month or two. Should NHS go before care homes? Not easy to know.
The decision to put care homes ahead of the NHS did consider the need to protect NHS services at risk of understaffing. I’m just not sure the calculation is the same now we’ve seen a huge surge and services are on the brink (or past it, as I’d suggest treatment in a car park is).
