Insight from a Senior NHS Worker – Staff failing like flies, shut down football and other events now…
On the back of Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement yesterday that outlined a temporary restriction on the numbers who can attend Celtic Park and all other sporting events, there have been many questioning if this is needed and others asking if the limiting of numbers and other restrictions go far enough.
We thought we’d ask a senior NHS worker, one who has been on the frontline in dealing with the implications of Covid on the Heath service for two years now for an honest opinion on just that. Married to a Celtic supporter she herself has little interest in football and there is as you will read pro bias in her article in favour of any football club. Here’s her take on all of this which might give football fans another perspective…
THE LOOMING STAFF CRISIS WITHIN THE NHS IF ACTION IS NOT TAKEN IMMEDIATELY…
This time around it is a hard one to sell to the population. After nearly two years of on and off restrictions patience is wearing thin.
On top of that this particular variant, with limited data with which to assess at this stage as a caveat, appears to be mild when it hits a healthy body. Yet when it hits one that isn’t healthy, one with underlying health issues we just don’t know the full extent yet, however we are certainly seeing hospitalisations with those.
We probably will have more to work with in as little as a couple of weeks as the sample sizes increase. We’ll get that soon enough because the transmission rate, the speed of it, is something we haven’t experienced with any other variant. We’ll marry that with data we receive from other countries, however their practices, record keeping and analysing of data, is not something we wish to rely on entirely. It’s good to share such information but the reliability of the data has to be considered.
In truth the main issue as always is how our hospitals cope and, on this occasion, it is more to do with the staff manning these hospitals alongside those accessing the service. Transmission rate across previous variants for frontline staff has improved as we’ve learned more, with this one the health services, and other services supporting it, have been hit hard, we are seeing a large increase in staff being unable to attend work.
Covid wards for instance are not entirely manned by nurses and doctors, many have been pulled in from other departments where non-essential services have been side-lined to allow the use of those staff on the frontline. This has been the case on and off for over 18 months now.
There has always been just about enough frontline staff to deal with an ordinary pre-covid A&E dept for instance. However, with the increase in those attending hospital in acute need you are as likely to be initially seen by basically trained physiotherapists or even administrative staff than you are to be seen by a doctor or a nurse.
When those staff and those who are suitably skilled are testing positive at a higher rate than under previous variants, they cannot work. Add that to the fact those who work in the public service are usually in a group of friends who also work in public service jobs or indeed in many cases in relationships or married with children with co-workers, you can see immediately how a more transmissible variant can have even harsher implications when it comes to staff contracting the variant, being unable to work, or at the very least having to self-isolate. You can do some work from home but not a lot!
Current restrictions such as the restrictions on football stadiums and other mass gathering events across all sectors are vital at the moment, but in truth they don’t go far enough and they should have happened two or three weeks ago.
Pubs and restaurants probably should have closed or had their services limited to take-away, a preference would be for essential shops only to remain open, and restrictions on the number of households who can meet, especially at Christmas time where the whole country travels here there and everywhere to celebrate, needed to be curbed.
Yet there are obvious economic issues that will have to be considered, as well as the appetite of the general public to adhere, especially considering what is in the press at the moment when it comes to those requesting restrictions are strictly embraced yet appear to have previously ignored the advice themselves!
Early indications are this variant isn’t as severe when it comes to symptoms, it is however far more transmissible and we don’t know how this will develop. As such hospitals are being impacted far more greatly by staff shortages than ever before. It would be a great help then if transmission could be slowed and as such events like sporting events being temporarily halted is simply common sense, and not from Boxing Day, it needed to happen weeks ago, as such today is now the best time.
Yet without limiting movement or households meeting up in pubs, restaurants or non-essential shops I’m not sure it will be enough to slow it enough, as living with a football fan (yes, he supporters Celtic), I know some will find a way to watch their team. With pubs still open, I’m sure many will simply crowd into bars, and without restrictions on households meeting going far enough, or being enforced, will some go the friend’s house with the sports channels and watch there?
It also doesn’t help that Scotland and Wales have at least reacted, whilst England waits, apparently for more data to become available. Mixed messages and a fractured approach make little sense. Without more restrictions and a joined-up approach to the message being relayed there is a likelihood the restrictions in place now won’t be enough and in turn will simply delay and then extend an inevitable lockdown.
I’d love to offer more hope, but you asked for an honest opinion and this is it. Shut down football and all other events entirely would be my request but do so alongside a short but full lockdown. That way we may only have to do so briefly and at least we have a chance of slowing down transmission amongst staff and being able to assess and treat this variant properly. Delay it any further and the inevitable will last longer.
It really seems obvious from a public health perspective, however it’s never entirely about that perspective alone and I appreciate there are many other factors to consider.
Author’s Name Withheld
When you play in front of 60,000 fans it’s hard to look at empty silent stadium couldn’t handle it last season but tv money is raken unless you pay it back wich most clubs can’t so it another non league can you imagine celtic wining last spl it have media and reporters saying it a non contest
Unfortunately you have colleagues coming onto local news Facebook pages ,in Ayrshire, and commenting that hospital figures are going down and that it’s just the cold anyway. That is what you are up against. At this stage of the football season,especially this season, an awful lot of money is at stake which makes teams paranoid about one getting an unfair advantage due to this virus. The government is making a shambles over it. For us stopping now could mean we have players available from injury to play in the rescheduled game who wouldn’t have been available for the game on 2nd Jan.