2019 Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) hits the UK

Funny, because the only ones in the surgeries working and seeing patients are the nurses and receptionists, the GP's are the ones at home with their feet up. So it must be safe for them. I had my annual blood test no problem a few weeks ago. Getting an appointment to see a GP however is less likely then climbing mount everest and hitching a ride with Branson on his ticket ship to Mars...
GPs are employees too 😉

Having said that, it’s not my experience here. My surgery has bubbles, Team A and B, the doors are closed and you see a GP after you’ve talked to them on the phone and it’s deemed necessary. They even added two more phone lines so people don’t have to try calling 50 times.
 
GPs are employees too 😉

Having said that, it’s not my experience here. My surgery has bubbles, Team A and B, the doors are closed and you see a GP after you’ve talked to them on the phone and it’s deemed necessary. They even added two more phone lines so people don’t have to try calling 50 times.

No GP's are partners in their limited businesses that are their practices, they aren't employed by anyone as far as I know. I can assure you your experience with your surgery is not a shared one across the country.
 
Funny, because the only ones in the surgeries working and seeing patients are the nurses and receptionists, the GP's are the ones at home with their feet up from what I've heard and experienced. So it must be safe for them. I had my annual blood test no problem a few weeks ago. Getting an appointment to see a GP however is less likely then climbing mount everest and hitching a ride with Branson on his rocket ship to Mars...
Where i live, practice Nurses do the blood and other diagnostic tests, gps have never done these.

GPs are seeing patients, but only where its necessary and in Scotland we use a system called Near Me which allows Hospital doctors and GPs to have remote video consultations..

NHS Near Me
 
No GP's are partners in their limited businesses that are their practices, they aren't employed by anyone as far as I know. I can assure you your experience with your surgery is not a shared one across the country.
It is very uncommon that a director doesn’t have a directors services agreement and is paid via PAYE and that makes them an employee.

That aside, not every GP in a surgery is a director and then of course you got locum doctors who have the same protection as all permanent staff.

Things are never black and white.
 
No GP's are partners in their limited businesses that are their practices, they aren't employed by anyone as far as I know. I can assure you your experience with your surgery is not a shared one across the country.
My family have had a few medical issues over the past year.

With only a couple of exceptions whenever it has been on the NHS such as a GP appointment it has been remote, and when we've gone privately then face-to-face.

But of course that's merely anecdotal and entirely coincidental.
 
We have had a rough few months with regard to hospitals and healthcare.

Mrs had a scare after a screening, it turned out to be a cyst and they offered to remove it there and then. Excellent!

She has trouble with connective tissue disorder. Rheumatic Fever as a student has left here with a lot of 'curious' conditions. A hospital appointment yesterday led to nothing, she said "It felt like they thought I was after something. Like a letter so I could claim mobility or early retirement." Basically they fobbed her off. Not so good.

She also said the hospital was chaotic. The Emergency Illness(?) section had been moved up to General Outpatients (away from A&E) and it was double-footfall. Possibly shifting things around preparing for COVID spikes.
 
Over the whole covid period I've had to contact the GP a few times, most queries have been dealt with over the phone but I was called in for one.

On two occasions I've needed exploratory procedures at the hospital. Both appointments were within three weeks. The first (during the first wave) the hospital were checking temps, ensuring you sanitised and kept distance in public areas. The second a few weeks ago, no temps taken, no ensuring sanitised but still fairly well run.

I appreciate we have been fairly lucky in getting seen.in this area.
 
Is track and trace pointless now?
 
Is track and trace pointless now?
Not sure if you think it is or not but I found it useful today to track a parcel I'd posted to Croatia.
 
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An addition to my above post...

I've had a perforated corneal ulcer. Lots of GP, optician, hospital appointments. A couple of dentist appointments and my bloods done at my GP around six times - which then get taken to hospital. They still don't want me in for face to face appointments.

My Wife's Aunt has been diagnosed with secondary cancers. Palliative care doctors visited earlier in the week :(

My Wife's best friend (form her school days) has been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer.

Oh, and my Dad finally has a full set of teeth again. After many, many Dentist appointments. I haven't seen him with a full grill since I was 10! It looks strange :)
 
We have had a rough few months with regard to hospitals and healthcare.

Mrs had a scare after a screening, it turned out to be a cyst and they offered to remove it there and then. Excellent!

She has trouble with connective tissue disorder. Rheumatic Fever as a student has left here with a lot of 'curious' conditions. A hospital appointment yesterday led to nothing, she said "It felt like they thought I was after something. Like a letter so I could claim mobility or early retirement." Basically they fobbed her off. Not so good.

She also said the hospital was chaotic. The Emergency Illness(?) section had been moved up to General Outpatients (away from A&E) and it was double-footfall. Possibly shifting things around preparing for COVID spikes.
Worrying for you and your wife.

And again, although also anecdotal I suspect there are many other examples to show that the NHS is having to adapt to the increase in COVID admissions, and to push back on (or "fob off" in your case) treatments on non-covid patients. This will of course have long term consequences, and anyone who thinks otherwise or claims that the hospitals should just expand (it takes time to trains staff) is in denial.
 
Regarding GP's (and a lot of other companies from experience) I've found they're using the pandemic as an excuse not see people.

I need regular bloods and monitoring for a few illnesses but haven't been able to see a doctor in over a year, they seem to feel getting someone to discuss everything over the phone is acceptable.

I phoned up a few weeks back for an appointment and was told I'd get a call back in August to determine if I need an appointment.

I'm also still waiting for an echo appointment which was requested in March.

My son had a bad chest infection, it wasn't Covid and I phoned to get an appointment but told to take him to a local test centre for a PCR test even though he had no symptoms and the LFT had been negative for 4 or 5 days straight - the doctor point blank refused to see him without the PCR test being done. Then when I had the results they said it would be a week before he was seen and if the chest infection was serious I could go to A&E - I felt that would be a waste of their valuable time so didn't bother.

The irony was I drove past the doctors surgery that day and it was empty not a single car in the car park, normally it would be rammed with cars.

My daughter tried to get an appointment for the doctors and was told to fill out an e-consult form with pictures and they'd get back to her within 3 days - they didn't bother.

There's been a number of incidents like this down here and we've not really had the brunt of the pandemic in Cornwall.

I just feel some people and businesses are using it as an excuse to become lazy.
 
A GP who shuts up completely and only offers phone appointments is also not of use to anyone. Like some have... I'm afraid I have very very little sympathy or respect for GP's now. In my area certainly.
Had paramedics out to my father in law last night and they bought up the work load they have at the moment, as bad if not worse than a bad winter, and were pretty damning of GPs. They are going out to an increasing number of people who have been unable to get even a phone chat with a GP let alone a face to face. Most of the times it's a non emergency.

Just a word on the paramedics - phenomenal! They turned up very quick and, due to his medical history, had a suspicion as to why he was unconscious. One jumped out the ambulance, ran into the house and whacked an injection into his arm. They then got their gear and did their checks and were right in him having a diabetic hypo. Another life saved for them, fantastic stuff..
 
Is track and trace pointless now?
Depends on the point of T&T.

If it is to reduce cases and the government policy is to increase natural infections so as to acquire herd immunity then there is no point.

However, uncontrolled increases in cases is now looking very dangerous (but I still reserve some judgement to see how it pans out over the next month - we could have proceeded more cautiously), in which case T&T and some other remnants of largely optional social distancing measures are the only remaining defences we have against a rapid rise that for now we need to avoid.

There also remains the question of the point of T&T if cases are 50k, or rising to 100k, causing a damaging ping-demic. If cases were lower then T&T would be more useful, but at such levels it's a bit of a losing battle.

If the government masterplan works then T&T won't be useful. And as one step in that the requirement for double jabbed to no longer isolate fits in with the plan, and gets implemented mid Aug. OTOH if the plan doesn't work then T&T not so pointless.

And of course, as happened to my son last week, he got pinged to tell him he'd been in contact with someone 7 days previously and needed to self-isolate for 3 days. Then that is pretty pointless. So if T&T is to be useful, must be implemented properly.

So on that basis, it shouldn't be pointless but probably is.
 
On the other hand, just having a telephone appointment has been brilliant for me and I hope they continue doing this moving forward. Once a year I have to make the arduous trek to the hospital to see my consultant, takes me an hour to get there, costs a fortune n parking fees, he is usually running over an hour late and when I do see him I am in and out within five minutes. We have the same conversation every year and it's a real chore. I know it's only once a year but I have a very well managed condition and just having a telephone call saves a lot of time and money from my perspective.
 
Worrying for you and your wife.

And again, although also anecdotal I suspect there are many other examples to show that the NHS is having to adapt to the increase in COVID admissions, and to push back on (or "fob off" in your case) treatments on non-covid patients. This will of course have long term consequences, and anyone who thinks otherwise or claims that the hospitals should just expand (it takes time to trains staff) is in denial.

Oh, the 'fob off' in this instance was more an implied "Bugger off, scrounger" rather than treatment push-back. All she wants is to feel well enough to do her job and not have to wear a splint to hold a camera. Or not to wear two splints after carrying two half-full grocery bags.
 
Regarding GP's (and a lot of other companies from experience) I've found they're using the pandemic as an excuse not see people.

I need regular bloods and monitoring for a few illnesses but haven't been able to see a doctor in over a year, they seem to feel getting someone to discuss everything over the phone is acceptable.

I phoned up a few weeks back for an appointment and was told I'd get a call back in August to determine if I need an appointment.

I'm also still waiting for an echo appointment which was requested in March.

My son had a bad chest infection, it wasn't Covid and I phoned to get an appointment but told to take him to a local test centre for a PCR test even though he had no symptoms and the LFT had been negative for 4 or 5 days straight - the doctor point blank refused to see him without the PCR test being done. Then when I had the results they said it would be a week before he was seen and if the chest infection was serious I could go to A&E - I felt that would be a waste of their valuable time so didn't bother.

The irony was I drove past the doctors surgery that day and it was empty not a single car in the car park, normally it would be rammed with cars.

My daughter tried to get an appointment for the doctors and was told to fill out an e-consult form with pictures and they'd get back to her within 3 days - they didn't bother.

There's been a number of incidents like this down here and we've not really had the brunt of the pandemic in Cornwall.

I just feel some people and businesses are using it as an excuse to become lazy.

Yes I'm in Dorset and have found it impossible to see a GP, but it was like that before the pandemic, we had a surgery in our village with four GP's at its peak, the last remaining one said he was going to close it retire and turn it into his home, the NHS refused to buy it from him so now the entire area is moved to the surrounding surgeries and we've lost 4 GP's as they have all moved elsewhere, I am going to pay to see a GP privately soon as I have some issues I want to discuss face to face, and I get private healthcare through work for any specialists etc.
But the lack of GP's hasn't stopped the government approving hundreds of new homes being built in the area, nearly 250 in my tiny town alone. They have stated Dorset WILL be getting over 30,000 new homes and their is zero new infrastructure or services for them. So the strain on the NHS will just get worst and worst in the area.
 
On the other hand, just having a telephone appointment has been brilliant for me

Yes. I've been fortunate enough not have to require a GP personally since this started. But it has been a frustration that I've had to take half a day out of work to have a 5 min conversation with a GP in the past.

Phone triage and then appointment if Dr feels it necessary.
 
Had paramedics out to my father in law last night and they bought up the work load they have at the moment, as bad if not worse than a bad winter, and were pretty damning of GPs. They are going out to an increasing number of people who have been unable to get even a phone chat with a GP let alone a face to face. Most of the times it's a non emergency.

Just a word on the paramedics - phenomenal! They turned up very quick and, due to his medical history, had a suspicion as to why he was unconscious. One jumped out the ambulance, ran into the house and whacked an injection into his arm. They then got their gear and did their checks and were right in him having a diabetic hypo. Another life saved for them, fantastic stuff..

I know, I've had the misfortune of needing their services twice in 2019, and they were fantastic and kept me calm. And the A&E teams were amazing too, in fact I saw a private specialist only because the A&E doctor referred me after my second trip to hospital, my GP didn't want to after my first trip and instead just wanted to do endless tests some of which had already been done.

So I do feel very sorry for them and the pressures they will be under now. Plus with everything opening up they'll have to cope with all the daily stuff like before the pandemic, accidents etc.
 
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The number of people pinged jumps by 100,000 in 7 days. It will be interesting to note who will be on the exemption list to be announced…

Record 618,000 people pinged by NHS Covid app in England and Wales in a week

‘A record 618,903 ‘pings’ were sent to users of the NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales in the week to 14 July, telling them to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus, NHS figures show’

‘The latest figures were released as the government struggles to contain the “pingdemic” which is being blamed for empty supermarket shelves and staff shortages’

‘Despite hopes that many fully-vaccinated critical workers would be exempt from the isolating when changes to the system are brought in on 16 August, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said the list of exemptions would be “very narrow”

Record 618,000 people pinged by NHS Covid app in England and Wales in a week
 
The number of people pinged jumps by 100,000 in 7 days. It will be interesting to note who will be on the exemption list to be announced…

Record 618,000 people pinged by NHS Covid app in England and Wales in a week

‘A record 618,903 ‘pings’ were sent to users of the NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales in the week to 14 July, telling them to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus, NHS figures show’

‘The latest figures were released as the government struggles to contain the “pingdemic” which is being blamed for empty supermarket shelves and staff shortages’

‘Despite hopes that many fully-vaccinated critical workers would be exempt from the isolating when changes to the system are brought in on 16 August, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said the list of exemptions would be “very narrow”

Record 618,000 people pinged by NHS Covid app in England and Wales in a week
The media has started I see. Attacking the app for only doing what it's supposed to be doing. Not the fault of the app that the government can't/won't use basic Track & Trace measures other countries are using to locate and isolate cases as quickly as possible before they pose a risk to the community.

There was probably what, 300k cumulative cases in the last week? So 618k pings is actually low when you think about how many close contacts there should really be from that case load.
 
Depends on the point of T&T.

If it is to reduce cases and the government policy is to increase natural infections so as to acquire herd immunity then there is no point.

However, uncontrolled increases in cases is now looking very dangerous (but I still reserve some judgement to see how it pans out over the next month - we could have proceeded more cautiously), in which case T&T and some other remnants of largely optional social distancing measures are the only remaining defences we have against a rapid rise that for now we need to avoid.

There also remains the question of the point of T&T if cases are 50k, or rising to 100k, causing a damaging ping-demic. If cases were lower then T&T would be more useful, but at such levels it's a bit of a losing battle.

If the government masterplan works then T&T won't be useful. And as one step in that the requirement for double jabbed to no longer isolate fits in with the plan, and gets implemented mid Aug. OTOH if the plan doesn't work then T&T not so pointless.

And of course, as happened to my son last week, he got pinged to tell him he'd been in contact with someone 7 days previously and needed to self-isolate for 3 days. Then that is pretty pointless. So if T&T is to be useful, must be implemented properly.

So on that basis, it shouldn't be pointless but probably is.

The whole thing comes across as a bit half-hearted in some ways. Studies out of China show that the mean time before transmission is far shorter for the delta variant (about 2.5 days vs 5-6 for the original variant). That makes the problem a lot more challenging. Accurately tracing contacts quickly enough to make a significant difference at the current level of infections seems likely to be impossible with the existing T&T setup.

If the number of cases were small, it would be possible to apply overwhelming force, so to speak, to squash the outbreak. A combination of lots of intelligent tracing per case and over-isolation might work. Getting a few hundred people to unnecessarily isolate to stop an outbreak getting a foothold is a lot easier to justify than asking hundreds of thousands to do so in order to merely slow rampant transmission a bit.
 
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