Virus - are priorities right.

[Steamdrivenandy]

Yesterday Staffs CC put out an email encouraging people in 'hotspots' to book a Covid test, part of mass testing. The whole of our borough is supposed to be a 'hotspot', so I checked out the figures and where we could get a test.

Firstly the where. From the 16th Dec for 7 days it's at a place that's 7 miles away that I've only driven near once in the 11 years that we've lived in this area. And for a couple of days after that the tests are 11 miles away in a place we don't know. Both places are in the north east of the borough, so they don't seem bothered about us in the west and south.

Then the figures. For the borough the Lockdown 2 peak infections were the first half of Nov at around 100 positive results per day. Then they dropped dramatically, almost overnight, to around 50 per day and now they're averaging about 30 per day.

Our own local ward had a max of around 15 positives when L2 commenced, but that has dropped such that yesterdays government figures, admittedly a week behind, showed us as less than 3 cases. So either 0, 1 or 2.

Admittedly the borough figures I'm quoting are to 10th Dec and our ward figures are to 7th Dec but I doubt that Staffs CC have anything more recent on which to base their actions. I think we have the age old juggernaut problem, in that the mass testing was set in motion two weeks or so ago, when the figures looked bad.i It's taken them this long to gear up and start offering appointment and the most recent figures show a significant improvement, such that mass testing isn't going to be of much use.

[Snetty]

What is going on in our country, the statistics don't add up with the actions of government.
The NHS is failing those who have not contracted Covid19.My father in law was referred by his GP for an emergency MRI scan two weeks ago, having heard nothing from the hospital Deb phoned and asked whether his appointment had been arranged only to be told that the hospital is no longer accepting emergency referrals from GP's.
Father in law's doctor has told him that the only way to get treatment is to go to Accident and Emergency but wouldn't recommend it as the last two patients he advised to do this caught Covid19 whilst at the hospital.
Terrible situation, something needs to be sorted or more people will suffer from the effects of the government reaction to Covid19 than the virus itself.

[SD1too]

It's refreshing to see that I'm not the only one asking questions. Thanks for your observations Andy and Adi.

Originally Posted by Steamdrivenandy

... peak infections were the first half of Nov at around 100 positive results per day. Then they dropped dramatically, almost overnight, to around 50 per day and now they're averaging about 30 per day.

Such variance really is inconclusive in my view, but anyway it's not infections that are important. The wrong data is being used to cause panic and economic destruction.

Originally Posted by Snetty

... only to be told that the hospital is no longer accepting emergency referrals from GP's .... something needs to be sorted ...

Unfortunately this is the harsh reality of our NHS which at the best of times struggles to function at anything like reasonable efficiency (my view based upon 30 years' experience). The only way this will be "sorted" is when fundamental changes are made at the top but no politician is going to risk their career with such revolutionary thinking.

Simon

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by Steamdrivenandy

Yesterday Staffs CC put out an email encouraging people in 'hotspots' to book a Covid test, part of mass testing. The whole of our borough is supposed to be a 'hotspot', so I checked out the figures and where we could get a test.

Firstly the where. From the 16th Dec for 7 days it's at a place that's 7 miles away that I've only driven near once in the 11 years that we've lived in this area. And for a couple of days after that the tests are 11 miles away in a place we don't know. Both places are in the north east of the borough, so they don't seem bothered about us in the west and south.

Then the figures. For the borough the Lockdown 2 peak infections were the first half of Nov at around 100 positive results per day. Then they dropped dramatically, almost overnight, to around 50 per day and now they're averaging about 30 per day.

Our own local ward had a max of around 15 positives when L2 commenced, but that has dropped such that yesterdays government figures, admittedly a week behind, showed us as less than 3 cases. So either 0, 1 or 2.

Admittedly the borough figures I'm quoting are to 10th Dec and our ward figures are to 7th Dec but I doubt that Staffs CC have anything more recent on which to base their actions. I think we have the age old juggernaut problem, in that the mass testing was set in motion two weeks or so ago, when the figures looked bad.i It's taken them this long to gear up and start offering appointment and the most recent figures show a significant improvement, such that mass testing isn't going to be of much use.

You have 7 or 11 miles to "drive" and you seem to be moaning, if you are then I think you are being unreasonable.

I would have thought people would be grateful if they are at the front of the queue for vaccine but you seem unhappy.

macafee2

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by Snetty

What is going on in our country, the statistics don't add up with the actions of government.
The NHS is failing those who have not contracted Covid19.My father in law was referred by his GP for an emergency MRI scan two weeks ago, having heard nothing from the hospital Deb phoned and asked whether his appointment had been arranged only to be told that the hospital is no longer accepting emergency referrals from GP's.
Father in law's doctor has told him that the only way to get treatment is to go to Accident and Emergency but wouldn't recommend it as the last two patients he advised to do this caught Covid19 whilst at the hospital.
Terrible situation, something needs to be sorted or more people will suffer from the effects of the government reaction to Covid19 than the virus itself.

Both my wife and I required scans. Both came through in 4 weeks.
I also asked for a blood test, this was done a week later and results came only a couple of days after that.

Blood ok, wife ok, I have a small hernia.

In our cases I think the NHS did very well and so it could be down to location.


macafee2

[Georgies Dad]

The NHS frontline staff are amazing and are very good at what they do

The trouble is the Admin side is a mess,its overloaded with managerial grades, and to get anything done, is like walking through Treacle.

Sort that lot out and put extra resource to where its needed at the frontline

[Caulkhead]

My friends son is the manager at the A&E at St George’s. He is a highly qualified medical practitioner and regularly works on shift to keep in close contact with the front line, his feet are certainly not in treacle! He is highly respected by his teams and manages the resources available very well. He is very well paid, and really earns every penny. I expect he is the exception and that most NHS managers are just in it for themselves.

He is looking forward to Bozo’s bus money that should be kicking in soon!

Back to using the forum as advice about my lovely 75!

[Steamdrivenandy]

Originally Posted by macafee2

You have 7 or 11 miles to "drive" and you seem to be moaning, if you are then I think you are being unreasonable.

I would have thought people would be grateful if they are at the front of the queue for vaccine but you seem unhappy.

macafee2

I'm not talking about vaccines m'fee, this is about mass testing. To me the figures just don't justify the need for mass testing.

We're in Tier 3, we stay home and walk the dog for exercise and have groceries delivered once a week. No visitors. So why test us?

As to location, there are parts of the borough that are further south and west of us and will have nearly 20 or 30 miles to travel to those testing sites. We're just half a mile from the border with Cheshire and Shropshire but they're both Tier 2 and not doing mass testing. Of course the testing sites are run by Staffs CC, not our local borough, so I suspect County Hall has little idea sensible local locations.

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by Steamdrivenandy

I'm not talking about vaccines m'fee, this is about mass testing. To me the figures just don't justify the need for mass testing.

We're in Tier 3, we stay home and walk the dog for exercise and have groceries delivered once a week. No visitors. So why test us?

As to location, there are parts of the borough that are further south and west of us and will have nearly 20 or 30 miles to travel to those testing sites. We're just half a mile from the border with Cheshire and Shropshire but they're both Tier 2 and not doing mass testing. Of course the testing sites are run by Staffs CC, not our local borough, so I suspect County Hall has little idea sensible local locations.

you spoke about 7 and 11 not 20 or 30. misread about testing and referred to vaccine but it makes no difference the distance in your op is the same.

20 or 30 miles is a long way to go, perhaps they should all use a Rover 75 and then they would enjoy the journey In these never before experienced times, I think people need to put themselves out and accept that there will be hardship. Imagine being in charge of doing all this testing and having a budget and resource levels, it must be a headache or perhaps I'm just relaxed about it.

macafee2

[stevestrat]

Originally Posted by Georgies Dad

The NHS frontline staff are amazing and are very good at what they do

The trouble is the Admin side is a mess,its overloaded with managerial grades, and to get anything done, is like walking through Treacle.

Sort that lot out and put extra resource to where its needed at the frontline

My wife is a nurse and from what she tells me the NHS seems to be full of managers who have been promoted above their ability level. That have no idea how to manage people, may be good in practical skills and theory but no people skills, many of them resort to a management style better described as bullying. What they say must be done even if a staff member suggests a better method. Before retiring I had about 300 train drivers and other staff under me and I always found rather than being heavy handed a conciliatory attitude, "will you" rather than "you will", produced much better results.