Is the May 17th reopening a mistake?

My GP still isn’t doing face to face appointments. I’ve developed a very concerning eye condition over the last 4 months. I contacted Moorfields a & e (video assessment) over the phone at the start of Feb. 30 minutes in, the doctor said “can you get to North Middlesex hospital within the next 30 mins, I’ll tell them you are coming “. Fully checked everything, after tests they said I had high blood pressure which over time can cause the condition but...... I needed a brain scan. I had the Brain scan 10 days later, chased the GP repeatedly for the results, finally told nothing abnormal (hallelujah!!!!) since then, been chasing follow ups which, trust me, are desperately needed. Nothing. Finally flipped my lid & demanded referral to Moorfields directly (25 minutes away!!). Got referral letter today to make appointment. None available currently but 90% get seen within 32 weeks.
****ing 32 weeks. I know for a fact that I’ll make a private consultation tomorrow & get seen next week. That’s what I’m gonna have to do unfortunately.
 
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My GP still isn’t doing face to face appointments. I’ve developed a very concerning eye condition over the last 4 months. I contacted Moorfields a & e (video assessment) over the phone at the start of Feb. 30 minutes in, the doctor said “can you get to North Middlesex hospital within the next 30 mins, I’ll tell them you are coming “. Fully checked everything, after tests they said I had high blood pressure which over time can cause the condition but...... I needed a brain scan. I had the Brain scan 10 days later, chased the GP repeatedly for the results, finally told nothing abnormal (hallelujah!!!!) since then, been chasing follow ups which, trust me, are desperately needed. Nothing. Finally flipped my lid & demanded referral to Moorfields directly (25 minutes away!!). Got referral letter today to make appointment. None available currently but 90% get seen within 32 weeks.
****ing 32 weeks. I know for a fact that I’ll make a private consultation tomorrow & get seen next week. That’s what I’m gonna have to do unfortunately.
You're not alone unfortunately.
Mind you, the covid fanatics will ask you to produce evidence to prove that what you said it's true.
They don't believe anything, unless is in favour of their new God, our Lord, the Immense, the Supreme Covid.
 
I think GP’s haven’t come out of this well. They seem to be the only essential workers who have avoided face to face working.
 
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How have we still not learnt that the only way to deal with pandemics is to treat them as a worst case immediately, because trying to fix it later is incredibly difficult and far more damaging both economically and in lives lost?

I have memories of the 1962 smallpox outbreak in Wales. My father a local government office in the council health department in a London borough was involved in the seemingly draconian measures that would have been activated if the virus started to spread.
 
Same! My son was 18 on Monday. He loves a Sunday lunch so I’ve booked Blacklock which does a damn good Sunday Lunch but the first Sunday is the 23rd. Shame it wasn’t 16th.
Blacklock, meat lovers paradise. Plus cocktails for a fiver!
Give him my regards.
 
I think GP’s haven’t come out of this well. They seem to be the only essential workers who have avoided face to face working.

GPs could easily become super spreaders if they catch covid and then see hundreds of patients every month. Often they do not need to prod and poke you, so why put people at risk?

It is a pain, but a combination of a pandemic and a decade of underfunding as put a lot of strain on the NHS. The answer is for the government to fund it properly.
 
Over a couple of hours this morning 5Live had a series of 'experts' on discussing the so-called Indian variant; virologists, epidemiologists, public health advisors, the lot. What was noticeable is that they all interpret the situation differently. One says it's serious and we need to extend lock down etc, the other says it's not as serious as some are reporting and there is no evidence of increased risk.

Personally, up to now, I've quietly gone about my business, taking sensible precautions along the way, without going too over the top, and that will continue until somebody offers to pay my mortgage. I've never felt particularly threatened and I don't now, but I have had the jab. If you don't want the jab, that's your business. Doesn't bother me either way.

My feeling is that we need to learn to live with and manage this thing and things are currently stable enough to start that process. And that should improve further over the coming months. The more important thing now is COVAX. It's been a decent start but it now really needs to be ramped up.
 
Nobody really knows what will happen, and probably now, some scientists don't want to be the one that gets quoted when the tabloids ripping into experts again, so are a bit more cautious in their advice.

I really think that many people will continue to social distance and generally avoid people as much as possible. I know my parents are not going to be rushing back to shops and busy restaurants. Most people are back to work now, things are looking pretty busy everywhere you look.

Hopefully we'll get through the year OK, but, there are still millions of people without the vaccine and that is enough to fill all our hospitals next winter. Something like the India strain could rapidly spread through the whole population if most people are back to normal.

But, everybody knows that the vaccine reduces risk of severe symptoms, so I guess the government's approach now is herd immunity, and if somebody refuses the vaccine and catches covid, well, what can you do?
 
More and more people I know have been forced to go private because the heroes at the nhs have refused to treat anything non covid.
Unless it's something that is going to kill you in the next 12 hours, i.e. heart attack.
My niece has been on the waiting list to have her tonsils out since October.
Her dad is taking her private, to a ent doctor of the same hospital.
What a f#cking disgrace!
I suspect more people will eventually die from non 'virus' conditions than those getting a box ticked saying they died 'with' covid...

But then I guess we'll never get to the truth...

Borisconi has said that the 'investigation' will start in a year's time, but won't say whether it will be concluded before the next election.
So no surprise there!

Not that it matters of course because we know what the only result will be.
A multi million pound bill and a conclusion that 'lessons will be learned' and 'it won't happen again'...

Until next time of course, and after they've privatised the NHS!
 
I suspect more people will eventually die from non 'virus' conditions than those getting a box ticked saying they died 'with' covid...

What do you mean eventually? Non virus deaths have always greatly exceeded virus deaths at any point.
 
GPs could easily become super spreaders if they catch covid and then see hundreds of patients every month. Often they do not need to prod and poke you, so why put people at risk?

It is a pain, but a combination of a pandemic and a decade of underfunding as put a lot of strain on the NHS. The answer is for the government to fund it properly.
Wasnt there a GP during the first wave that caught Covid-19 and kept seeing patients and was villified online? That was before PHE told all GPs to go digital first to reduce the chance of being forced to shut their entire practices for a few weeks.
 
For what it's worth, I've thought for a long time that a very large proportion of GP stuff could be dealt with on line or over the phone. Makes perfect sense to me. Not that I spend a lot of time at the docs myself. My wife is manager at the local health centre so the subject comes up occasionally.
 
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