Last night my local hospital was on Panorama - it’s not the Trust I work for – but I’m so proud of them.
It was an amazing documentary showing the realities of life on the frontline and I was mostly impressed by their honesty, they touched on the PPE shortage and highlighted the anxiety this was causing staff. Like us, they are now managing to source the equipment they need to meet basic requirements but is it enough when one of our own has already lost their life?
The debate is still raging on, the latest is regarding CPR. The Resuscitation Council UK produce guidelines for emergency situations such as a Cardiac Arrest which are generally recognised as the gold standard for resus in the UK. They are widely respected and base all of their guidance on reliable research. This past week or so, they have kicked off, big time. Their issue is that Public Health England have yet again decided to change policy in order to fit their levels of stock. They now state that chest compressions do not qualify for the ever changing status of ‘Aerosol Generating” and we are safe to essentially start bouncing around on someone’s chest with minimal PPE. Despite The Resus Councils pleas to PHE to review the overwhelming amount of evidence proving otherwise, they have been ignored. Trusts are now left with a difficult decision on whether to follow The Resus council and WHO’s advise, or that of PHE.
Another layer of confusion and mixed messages to make everyone’s life more simple at this time!
Nice one.
I’ve also read reports regarding the inadequacies of production and procurement of PPE – they are making it look so difficult it’s painful. I’ve said in previous posts about the abundance of community volunteers who have made equipment for us already, I’ve seen so many posts recently of companies really angry that they are sat idle or have made in some cases thousands of units and they get no response from the government. We’ve apparently got companies with stock they have offered to the NHS, but as they get no reply they have sold it on to other countries. Yet we were being lied to last week about an apparent order from Turkey which was only finally made after media scrutiny. It just seems to be a complete mess. You’ve got Iain Duncan Smith saying don’t blame us there’s a global shortage, but there is still no action to produce our own. Matt Hancock is pointing the finger at us for overuse, but can’t accept any responsibility that he and his predecessor ignored advice to plan for a global pandemic. They literally did a test four years ago to see how the country would cope and despite experts telling them provisions were inadequate – that information was not acted on.
Unfortunately this crisis hasn’t changed the gross capitalist bullshit which has spiralled sickeningly out of control over recent years. The hypocrisy and injustice remains like a lingering stink you can’t wash off. My lip is quite literally curling whilst writing this, I can feel the burn of rage in my belly. There has been a lot of fundraising going on in various forms to support the NHS, that absolutely beautiful human Captain Tom Moore who has raised a cheeky £27 million so far by walking round his garden at the ripe old age of 99.
Then you’ve got the likes of ‘SIR’ Richard Branson who is asking for £500 MILLION to bail out Virgin Atlantic!!!
This guy takes the absolute piss.
I don’t know if the whole drama of ‘Rona has given him some weird amnesia but HE’S A BLOODY BILLIONAIRE!!!
Is he for real???
Not only that - but this is the guy who sued the NHS, cause they wouldn’t give him a big enough slice of the pie for a pittance. His Virgin Care teams who visit vulnerable patients in their own homes are being left with inadequate PPE and told by management “to only wear it if asked to by the patient”.
The guy is a joke, but it’s him that’s laughing, at us.
Just like the rest of those in positions of power, they are all still there, and all still pulling our strings. I saw an interesting thread on twitter about these fake accounts that the Tories were accused of using during the election campaign. It seems that these tactics have taken a new, slightly more twisted twist and they are now impersonating medical professionals online. From the evidence I’ve seen it looks as though they used images of REAL staff and created fake accounts which then pushed their “Herd Immunity” agenda. If this is real – it should be illegal, and those involved held to account. What I’m really bored of, especially as a Nurse who is governed by professional standards – is the hypocrisy. I’m really bored of the double standards. We have to be honest, show integrity, duty of candour, be an advocate, use trusted evidence to form our decisions, regularly prove our competence and be held to scrutiny when we are not meeting these standards.
It’s about time our leaders were treated the same.
We are an embarrassment, along with America at the moment. The lack of understanding and respect for Key Workers is palpable from the Tory Government. We are merely cannon fodder. You have Trump redirecting medical equipment headed for hospitals which is requisitioned by the federal government, whilst he advises the public to challenge the state quarantines imposed by local governors. Unable to answer any question of criticism he lashes out at anyone who challenges him or his actions like the spoilt child he really is. We should be ashamed that this is real life. Our politicians other than old Hancock are hiding for the hills – preferring to seem absent than embarrass themselves anymore than they have.
All they have really done is throw money at the NHS, so that we can try and sort it ourselves with the help from our amazing communities. We have shown how responsive and adaptable we can be. Our cabinet has unfortunately sat around (far too close to each other) in meetings, coming up with very little - other than how to shirk the blame and fool us into thinking we don’t need PPE.