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COVID 19
1. PRIVATISATION GENERAL - KEEP THE N.H.S. PUBLIC 2. DIABETIC EYE SCREENING
"A POKE IN THE EYE"
3. PLANS TO CLOSE BEDS IN BOLTON HOSPITAL
REGIONAL PLANS FOR BOLTON HOSPITAL
4. USE OF OUR DATA BY DRUGS GIANTS
BOLTON SAVE OUR HEALTH SERVICES
- Saturday 11th April 2020 : LBC radio programme presenter Matt Frei receives a call from Tenerife from a son whose father died in an English care home on Wednesday 8th April.
- He was constantly on the phone to the care home as he was in lockdown in Spain.
- As his father`s health deteriorated he asked the care home if his father could be given fluids via a drip and the care home said “no”.
- As his father`s breathing deteriorated he asked if his father could have oxygen and the care home said no.
- The son was absolutely distraught on the phone to Matt Frei asking why was this happening and why his father had apparently received no medical assistance.
- We ask the same questions.
- We also ask if any of the following is relevant to this awful story of an old man dying alone in a care home without apparently any fluids or oxygen being made available to him.
- CARE HOMES are private establishments not public services and may be owned by individuals or charities or hedge funds.
- Many of their staff and managers may be dedicated and caring but media reports confirm they do not have the resources either of staff or equipment required to handle Corona virus.
- Care homes may not have nursing staff and rely on the community health care system such as Gps and ambulance / hospital services.
- Nursing homes may have insufficient nursing staff to handle palliative care for a large number of residents, and may also look to use public services.
- There are many questions arising out of this telephone call to Matt Frei at LBC
- In the Bolton Locality plan the staff of private care homes are included in the `staff resources` available to the CCG. The private care sector have also received tax payers money for eg gardens for dementia patients in the form of Transformation funds.
- There appears to be an `alliance ` of the public and private sector in the locality plan.
- What is the role of Gps and the neighbourhood healthcare system in the healthcare of old people in care homes with regard to Corona virus?... are their services available?
- What is the role of the ambulance service in this case: can they be called and can they `see and treat` or remove an elderly person to hospital if they need oxygen?
- Do the ambulance service still practice ` hospital admission avoidance` for patients in care homes?
- Who makes the decision not to offer oxygen or fluids to a dying elderly patient and what qualifications must they have?
- The `gold standard` for dying has for some time been regarded as taking place OUT of hospital, ie at home or in a care home.
- What does this say of this `Gold Standard` if elderly patients are left without fluids or oxygen to die alone in a place locked down, without palliative care, (when huge field hospitals are as yet unfilled ,) in a place where resources and staff are insufficient?
- Someone needs to answer these questions now, in regard to Corona virus, and in the future if this set up – death in care homes - is part of the future for healthcare in this.
CONTINUED FROM FACEBOOK :
If there is a surge, volunteers are brought in.
There remains a top -down approach- with lack of flexibility.
Had the standard Public Health approach been possible, in low-contact areas there might have only been need for a partial lock down or no lockdown.
A good example of this approach is Germany, said Professor Pollock.
If standard testing were happening we could lift the lockdown in low areas and set up cordons sanitaires...BUT...
LOCAL AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN DECIMATED.
Public Health England have no real-time data.
There has been an escalation of outsourcing and privatisation lately.....
We are not using local resources.
There has been mass privatisation of Laboratories.
We could have used NHS labs.
LET US HAVE YOUR VIEWS ON THIS ASSESSMENT OF THE HANDLING OF THE PANDEMIC BY A PUBLIC
EFFECTS OF PRIVATISATION DURING THE PANDEMIC.
- The Act brought in changes to Public Health as well as the NHS.
- The Act abolished the Health Protection Agency and its role in pandemics and infection control. (assets.publishing.gov.uk)
- The Agency had co-ordinated and integrated advice and support to the NHS/Local Authorities/Emergency Services/Army and the Department of Health. It had skills and experience in this role.
- Instead infection control passed to the Secretary of State currently Matt Hancock. There has been a destruction of the infrastructure and that stops England coping with major emergencies.
- It absolutely explains why you are seeing private companies being brought into these functions in the middle of a pandemic` ( Prof Gabriel Scally Regional Director of Public Health 1993- 2012 Guardian 31.5.20)
- We were unlike Singapore and Taiwan who did not wait passively for people to turn up at drive- in centres, but actively looked for cases, identified them and quarantined them `
- These basic principles eluded policy makers and public health professionals in England. We decided to centralise operations..de-coupling testing from contact tracing and this was made worse by outsourcing to private sector companies..handing over contracts to Serco rather than involve public health systems from the outset.... A disdain for evidence, obsession with central control and priviledging private over public interests` ( David McCoy, Professor of Global Public Health Queen Mary University, London Guardian 17th June 2020.)
PANDEMIC,
PUBLIC HEALTH AND PRIVATISATION
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