It woz the care homes wot dunnit.

[papasmurf]

The idea that individual private care homes should employ their own "pandemic prevention team" preparing for a pandemic is ludicrous. 

My wife and I have been expecting a pandemic of some kind for several decades. Before my wife retired early through ill health from being the senior night   nursing staff in a nursing home, she had managed over time to clear out a unused room, of the many years of abandoned bits and pieces in it.
She suggest to the owners that the room be used as a buffer store for PPE in case of a pandemic or similar emergency.
She got told to (expletive deleted,) off.

[johnofgwent]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53323776

from the article

Care homes have been "badly let down" during the coronavirus pandemic and the Welsh Government has been too slow to respond, a report has said.

The Senedd's health committee described Wales' testing policy in care homes at the start of the outbreak as "flawed".

It said it took "too long" to start "appropriate testing measures". Care homes account for 28% of Wales' 2,438 coronavirus deaths.

The Welsh Government said it did not accept residents had been let down

Fact is, in the early months of the plague, after the welsh fuckwits abandoned testing because they could not find a bilingual supplier for areas where hardly anyone spoke welsh anyway, and told welsh NHS staff if they felt they needed a test they should drive to England to get one, the Welsh NHS that they ran discharged the best part of TWO THOUSAND elderly and frail people, living in a care home because of need (because no fucker in their right mind lives in one out of choice) from hospitals that as a direct result of CENTRALISED PROVISION OF TREATMENT POLICY IN WALES and NOTHING to to with the existence of the disease in the wider community had the highest concentration of COVID19 cases in the UK, and they sent those elderly and frail people to those care homes filled with other equally elderly and frail people without carrying out any sort of COVID19 test and without  providing any PPE to the staff or calling for the returned patients to be isolated.

At the risk of annoying our former hosting provider I must say Jesus Fucking Christ On A Fucking Pushbike What The F@@@ did they EXPECT to happen next. I could not have PLANNED a better way to kill off the unproductive coffin dodging sector of the community, and i say that as one who was roped in to find ways to prevent biowarfare from killing our front line late cold war armed forces.


And Vaughan Effing Gethin the joke of a health Minister who shares a level of competence in the job I thought unique to Diane Abbott as Shadow Home Secretary is on record on a prior BBC page as stating he has nothing to apologise for.

[papasmurf]

I doubt that most care homes make huge profits in order to prepare for one in a hundred year events.

Many are teetering on edge of bankruptcy.

https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/uk-faces-national-crisis-as-6500-care-homes-could-close-knight-frank-warns/

MAY 26, 2020

The UK is facing a national crisis with 6,500 care homes totalling 140,000 beds at risk of closure over the next five years, Knight Frank has warned.

[Javert]

A mistake. However, few care homes seem to have been prepared for emergencies and, from February through March and beyond, took Covid seriously enough...

I think this is a pretty good rewrite of history and a bit far fetched, but it seems that Boris was correct because at least some people are falling for his attempt to blame care home staff.

The bottom line is that the care homes weren't told to use any of that PPE until after there was already a shortage, and if you go back and check the news reports from March and earlier, it was all very reassuring. 

The idea that individual private care homes should employ their own "pandemic prevention team" preparing for a pandemic is ludicrous.  They were not told of the risks, they were not told that asymptomatic people could be infectious, etc etc.  Therefore now claiming blame on them for "not following the process" is ridculous because there was no communicated process to follow at the time, and actually Downing Street have now admitted that fact.

Talking about large bills from care homes is not really relevant you would have to see their profit margins, but I doubt that most care homes make huge profits in order to prepare for one in a hundred year events.

[Good old]

The hospitals which discharged them say they were following national guidelines. The government says it was a decision made by clinicians.

It's called passing the buck. So far it appears we have a government , that  is prepared to blame every failing on something or someone else. Having no PPE , was purely a case of, none available because everyone else had grabbed it all. Their fault. Everyone else's tests were no good ,so no tests. Don't blame us. We do what the scientists tell us to do, they say. Their fault then. Telling clinicians to get those people out, becomes the clinicians fault When they allow it. Tell the care homes to take untested patients, blame them if they do. Where in all of this is a government , that governs ? Hard to say, all we know is the one we have is hiding behind anyone that tries to serve them.

[papasmurf]

That's the second time you've posted that false meme. Posting falsehoods more often does not make them true. Boris hasn't killed anyone. The virus killed people.

Please yourself, it is all over the internet and has been for some time. Bojo The Clown is in charge, his dithering and incompetence has lead to deaths. Whether you like it or not.

[Barry]

Quite:-

That's the second time you've posted that false meme. Posting falsehoods more often does not make them true. Boris hasn't killed anyone. The virus killed people.
There's also a connection with Nazi Germany in the blitz, which I am sure is intentional.

[patman post]

Nick and Pat,what you posted deflected from the issue.......people died because it was deliberate policy not to treat the elderly but to put them in care homes untested,the beds were booked before it all took off.
In any event pappy was right the ppe was not only short in care homes but across the NHS.

The hospitals which discharged them say they were following national guidelines. The government says it was a decision made by clinicians.
A letter from the head of the NHS, Sir Simon Stevens, on March 17 urged all hospitals to "urgently" discharge patients who were "medically fit to leave". It meant thousands of beds were freed up for coronavirus patients. Good work by NHS administrators and managers. But after the event it's now clear that the Nightingale Hospitals and other emergency facilities could have covered the demand for Covid beds.
But it also meant that nationally, from mid-March to mid-April, 25,000 patients were sent from hospitals to care homes without being tested for Covid-19.
It seems to have taken three weeks into lockdown, on April 15, before those going from hospitals to care homes were tested. So it's not known how many patients carried coronavirus into care homes. A mistake. However, few care homes seem to have been prepared for emergencies and, from February through March and beyond, took Covid seriously enough...

[johnofgwent]

on this side of offas dyke it was effing gethin wot released the covid crinklies into care homes without testing them...

[papasmurf]

The shortage occurred after after lockdown, they should have had a stock of it already being a home.

No-one had any buffer stocks of PPE despite four reports over the last ten years commissioned  by government stating to government there should be in case of a pandemic.

[cromwell]

Nick and Pat,what you posted deflected from the issue.......people died because it was deliberate policy not to treat the elderly but to put them in care homes untested,the beds were booked before it all took off.
In any event pappy was right the ppe was not only short in care homes but across the NHS.

[Good old]

The care homes sector is worth around £15.9 billion a year in the UK, with around 410,000 residents.3 We calculate that there are around 5,500 different providers in the UK operating 11,300 care homes for the elderly.4 Around 95% of their beds are provided by the independent sector (both for-profit and charitable providers). LAs generally commission care services from independent care providers. We estimate that the average cost for a self-funder in 2016 was £846 per week (nearly £44,000 per year), while LAs on average paid £621 per week.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-homes-market-study-summary-of-final-report/care-homes-market-study-summary-of-final-report

Given that 95% of care home beds are provided by the private sector, shouldn't their operators have been more up front in seeking out PPE and instigating more stringent anti infection regimes by themselves? Wriggling when criticised and blaming government for not providing required supplies seems blatant blame shifting by those who charge for their professional services, whether charity or commercial...

It goes without saying many apparent failings could be found in many care homes. But would we really expect  the average care home to have to protect its self  in some way from the actions and effects of a top down policy of dumping untested patients on them? Protecting themselves from their own government?  The care homes should all have refused these patients entry. If they wanted to avoid being scapegoated. Not easy when the request is driven by apparent authority.

[Nick]

My wife was head chef in a dementia home up until recently. These homes are charging anything from £900 a week upwards and they can't afford PPE?

They must surely have already had a significant amount in stock for controlling the spread of germs in the first place. Blaming the go government is a cop-out.

Short memories here, there was and still is a shortage of PPE.  If there was enough PPE dentists and opticians would be open.

The shortage occurred after after lockdown, they should have had a stock of it already being a home.

[papasmurf]

My wife was head chef in a dementia home up until recently. These homes are charging anything from £900 a week upwards and they can't afford PPE?

They must surely have already had a significant amount in stock for controlling the spread of germs in the first place. Blaming the go government is a cop-out.

Short memories here, there was and still is a shortage of PPE.  If there was enough PPE dentists and opticians would be open.

[Nick]

My wife was head chef in a dementia home up until recently. These homes are charging anything from £900 a week upwards and they can't afford PPE?

They must surely have already had a significant amount in stock for controlling the spread of germs in the first place. Blaming the go government is a cop-out.