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Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

The issue with PPE can be attributed to all industries keeping stock to a bare minimum it keeps costs down.
Companies will only carry what they need at the time for a few months in advance the shorter time the better financial wise.
NHS are no different, along comes covid and we see the results.
 
The issue with PPE can be attributed to all industries keeping stock to a bare minimum it keeps costs down.
Companies will only carry what they need at the time for a few months in advance the shorter time the better financial wise.
NHS are no different, along comes covid and we see the results.
But prior to Covid, we would order enough to cover our 20 beds and there would be definite delivery dates and stock. Now we are up to stocking for 47 beds and competing with every other hospital locally and nationally with lack of stock and no guarantee on delivery. Add in we're like every other department in the trust especially A&E and like every hospital, we are limited in storage space so arguing to have ordered in advance or when we first had an inkling of the issues ahead would simply have meant we, along with every department struggling to store equipment safely and in lines with things like infection control
 
But prior to Covid, we would order enough to cover our 20 beds and there would be definite delivery dates and stock. Now we are up to stocking for 47 beds and competing with every other hospital locally and nationally with lack of stock and no guarantee on delivery. Add in we're like every other department in the trust especially A&E and like every hospital, we are limited in storage space so arguing to have ordered in advance or when we first had an inkling of the issues ahead would simply have meant we, along with every department struggling to store equipment safely and in lines with things like infection control
Homer, has your hospital run out of PPE. I thought you were very low last week.
 
flew into turin then transferred to sestriere

That makes your decision more understandable - there was little being reported around there when you went
I ask as it seems increasingly likely most flights into Milan and esp Bergamo then onwards to the slopes in Italy/Switz - mixing - and return - played some part in the dispersion - and probably contributed to the Bergamo burden
 
But prior to Covid, we would order enough to cover our 20 beds and there would be definite delivery dates and stock. Now we are up to stocking for 47 beds and competing with every other hospital locally and nationally with lack of stock and no guarantee on delivery. Add in we're like every other department in the trust especially A&E and like every hospital, we are limited in storage space so arguing to have ordered in advance or when we first had an inkling of the issues ahead would simply have meant we, along with every department struggling to store equipment safely and in lines with things like infection control
Perhaps we then need to look at having emergency stock in a central warehouse that can be distributed from there rather than trying to source it from all over the planet in competition with other countries.
Something needs to change going forward.
 
But prior to Covid, we would order enough to cover our 20 beds and there would be definite delivery dates and stock. Now we are up to stocking for 47 beds and competing with every other hospital locally and nationally with lack of stock and no guarantee on delivery. Add in we're like every other department in the trust especially A&E and like every hospital, we are limited in storage space so arguing to have ordered in advance or when we first had an inkling of the issues ahead would simply have meant we, along with every department struggling to store equipment safely and in lines with things like infection control

I know a number of Trusts have got themselves Unit on an industrial estate. Cardiff have opted for a large one and look after a number of Trusts from the one Unit.
 
I know a number of Trusts have got themselves Unit on an industrial estate. Cardiff have opted for a large one and look after a number of Trusts from the one Unit.
A perfect location for a national central depot would be the Army vehicle depot at Ashchurch near Tewkesbury. It has very large number of big storage buildings designed for storing military vehicles but looks pretty empty when I drive past. It's about quater of a mile from the M5 and not far from the M42, M50 and M5/M4 interchange.
 
Genuine question.
Who would you blame for that.
Your commanding officer or MOD?
Wasn't CO fault at all, MOD were to blame once requisition orders went in failing to source the equipment and dispatch to the brigade not only in time for deployment but for also for duration of full tours and were hung out to dry for it. They simply didn't listen to the commanders or men on the ground and thought they knew best.
 
Yes, why not. It's not the way the NHS has operated for some time but we live and learn.
So then, if there was a pandemic preparedness test in 2016 codenamed Operation Cygnus, that specifically highlighted a lack of PPE as a major failure point in the UK’s ability to fight a pandemic. Why wouldn’t someone put such an obviously good idea in place?
 
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