Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

[Rutabaga]

Well done, Sonic. At least some routine surgery seems to be being done. I have personal experience that some clinics round here are simply closed, no one is being seen, and the wait for routine but life-changing surgery now stands at at least a year :-(

[Sonic Budgie]

Well done, Sonic. At least some routine surgery seems to be being done. I have personal experience that some clinics round here are simply closed, no one is being seen, and the wait for routine but life-changing surgery now stands at at least a year :-(

Yes, it's not exactly being ignored but I'm not sure it's being spoken about enough. I suspect that it's a ticking timebomb. I understand the reasoning behind it and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the sheer scale of the hospital clear out was huge. As you say, it wasn't just minor but potential life saving operations that were cancelled. A friend of mine had an op a few years ago for bowel cancer, caught in time and he's been given the all clear, a friend of his was due to go in at the start of lockdown for her op at the same stage as he was when he'd had his, she still doesn't know when it's going to go ahead. I would imagine we all have similar stories.

[Rutabaga]

I can't 'like' that post, Sonic, but I agree with it. Now that there are hospitals that are, apparently, cleaned-down covid-free zones, and people are being encouraged to resume work, school, and using public transport, I really hope the health service starts to pick up seeing those who have been waiting and worrying for so long.

[Joan]

An elderly woman I am shopping for was got a call in March, cancelling her appointment at the eye hospital.

"So what's going to happen?"
"You are going to go blind."

[Sonic Budgie]

Things continue to tick along as they were before, but the rumour mill is getting louder and more intense that we will be going live. though not yet for the original purpose.
However, as we know, cases are on the up and this thing is still a long way from over. The first Covid related death since May has been recorded for our health board in the last day or so and, just between us, I have been reliably informed that guests on the site where I'm working in the field hospital have subsequently tested positive, meaning locking down chalets and deep cleaning etc etc. It's in the county, it's not going anywhere just yet, and flu cases are starting to come in too, here we go.

[Rutabaga]

So if someone needed surgery (life-changing but not life-saving), but the NHS waiting list, for understandable reasons, was a year or so, but there was the option to go private except that it would mean a big credit-card debt and going against deepy-held principles, what would you do? (Asking for a friend.)

[Rutabaga]

Thanks @Regulator , that's very helpful.

[Joan]

@Regulator did you hit "edit" instead of "reply"?

Not much to add, except some services will be a long wait under the NHS. There is a huge wait for ophthalmological treatments across London. I know someone paying for her own cataract surgery in North London, and Chelsea & Westminster are rescheduling cancelled appointments more than a year after the original appointment even for people who are effectively blind but might not be with treatment.

[Rutabaga]

@Regulator did you hit "edit" instead of "reply"?

Not much to add, except some services will be a long wait under the NHS. There is a huge wait for ophthalmological treatments across London. I know someone paying for her own cataract surgery in North London, and Chelsea & Westminster are rescheduling cancelled appointments more than a year after the original appointment even for people who are effectively blind but might not be with treatment.

That is what seems to be happening here as well, and 18-week thing seems to have been discarded for non-life-threatening conditions. Another consideration involves recovery time and post-op care (at least 6 weeks) and juggling that to be optimised against the two complicating factors of possible covid second-wave lockdown and simultaneous brexit-related chaos. In other words, would people wait and see, or stump up now and get the whole thing out of the way as soon as possible?

[Regulator]

So if someone needed surgery (life-changing but not life-saving), but the NHS waiting list, for understandable reasons, was a year or so, but there was the option to go private except that it would mean a big credit-card debt and going against deepy-held principles, what would you do? (Asking for a friend.)

I would advise your friend to shop around within the NHS first...

Your friend has the legal right to choose any NHS provider in England who provides the service - it doesn't have to be their local NHS trust. And if they have already been referred but their current provider cannot provide the treatment within 18 weeks, they have a legal right to move to another provider (regulation 48 of the National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012).

'NHS provider' includes those independent sector providers who offer NHS services (such as my employer). They tend to have shorter waiting lists for elective surgery than many NHS trusts/FTs, even taking into account the waiting lists created by Covid.

It's unlikely your friend will get treated within 18 weeks but there's a very good possibility they could be treated quicker than a year (depending obviously on the treatment required).

Let me know if you need any further information...

[Lullabelle]

Sorry but we believe we contracted it at the beginning from our MD who then passed it to our FD who generously passed it to us.

[Sonic Budgie]

Although it's not been officially confirmed we will be live by the end of the month, beginning of November. First real indicator for me was when our senior nurse manager, that's been basically in charge of our site since the start, was seconded to cover the three remaining field hospitals on our patch (the others have been decommissioned) and we had a senior nurse brought in to replace him, although he'll still be based with us. Then, when he came back from hols yesterday, he told me that there was the likelihood that we'd be going live with an initial compliment of 28 patients. My suspicion is that 28 is a bit too specific a number for it to be a likelihood.
We're going to be green, so non Covid, and we'll be having elderly patients. What this means in reality I don't know, as in are they going to start emptying the hospitals again, are we going to act as a buffer between the hospitals and the homes, are they going to send the people that may be positive to the homes again and let it rip like they did last time while we have the negatives? I have no idea, way above my pay grade.

[Regulator]

Brother in law works for PHE. They were told last Friday to ignore the figures being published by the government, that R is a little below 2, and that they and their families should act as if they were in lockdown.

[Sonic Budgie]

Brother in law works for PHE. They were told last Friday to ignore the figures being published by the government, that R is a little below 2, and that they and their families should act as if they were in lockdown.

How's he finding things at the moment considering the mud that's being slung in their direction by HM Gov?

[Regulator]

How's he finding things at the moment considering the mud that's being slung in their direction by HM Gov?

He’s fine.

PHE is clearly going to be blamed for every Covid issue arising from Test & Trace...