ReesWestonSuperMare wrote:The World Health Organisation originally said no need for face masks - we followed suit. Then WHO said wear face masks- we followed suit. All politicians did was try and follow the scientific advice as much as possible. The problem is perhaps we listened too much to the various scientific and medical officers - what we should have done is listen to the Italians in Bergamo - who just said - lock down now and prepare for a bad time.
If we had done that - the same people would then have said - we shut down too soon and caused economic carnage. Depending on your political view point it is very very easy to carp on from the side lines. I never knew I had so many mates on facebook that suddenly become global pandemic experts who also sidelined in being a virologist......
Whoever was in charge would have have made decisions on the best UK evidence available. Dont follow that and you are accused of not following the experts advice or follow that advice and be accused of getting it wrong.
Hospitals full of OAP's caused bed blocking - so the last place you want them is in hospital - you have to get them out and somewhere else - as it was believed (rightly) that we would need thousands and thousands of beds , PPE, ventilators etc. So we got the OAPs out of hospital and put them back into care homes. If they had stayed in hospital - then the politicians would be accused of not having enough beds.
There were no tests available during the first wave - so it was totally just by hearsay and symptoms re the spread.
With 20/20 hindsight (which no one has) - there was still no way to square the circle of need over capacity.
But it's not just about the decisions made during the pandemic.
As I mentioned earlier the NHS had been flagging up the lack of PPE stock being held for the last 3-4 years. They knew a pandemic was coming just didn't know what the virus would be. The government were warned but decided to save the money resulting in massive issues in hospitals, ambulances, care homes, etc.
I would want to pick you up on what you've said. Your almost flippant comment about the older part of our population:
"Hospitals full of OAP's caused bed blocking - so the last place you want them is in hospital -
you have to get them out and somewhere else - as it was believed (rightly) that we would need thousands and thousands of beds , PPE, ventilators etc.
So we got the OAPs out of hospital and put them back into care homes. If they had stayed in hospital - then the politicians would be accused of not having enough beds."
Really
So no matter what the cost to their health, or the care homes they were going to, we had to get them out
I take it that you don't have or haven't had elderly relatives in that position. Just because they are old and frail doesn't mean they should be thrown out with little concern for their safety, if you are of that view then you could probably get a job in Boris' cabinet
As for "the politicians would be accused of not having enough beds", well the fact is , again, we've know for the last 10 years that we haven't got enough beds in the NHS so why shouldn't we criticise the government for that ? There is, and has been, no spare bed capacity which is why we can't even cope with the flu epidemic every year never mind a pandemic.
The politicians have to be held to account. It's pretty well accepted that this will happen again and we have to prepare. Hopefully, they will now rectify that, albeit too late for so many families who have lost as a result of this current pandemic.