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1/ An emerging narrative is that the UK wasn’t “ready” for the #coronavirus pandemic crisis
In order to address this sensibly we need to first ask what does “ready” mean in this context
In order to address this sensibly we need to first ask what does “ready” mean in this context
2/ Any UK Govt always has disaster plans in place for a number of possible emergencies such as terrorism, nuclear explosion & epidemics/pandemics
3/ These plans set out the general response to the threat but can’t be specific as the precise threat is impossible to predict
4/ As has been said before “no plan survives first contact with the enemy“
5/ “Ready” means having disaster plans in place and *reasonable* stocks just in case
“Ready” does not mean being instantly able to absorb the effect of a global pandemic crisis
“Ready” does not mean being instantly able to absorb the effect of a global pandemic crisis
6/ The idea that if only past govt had spent more money on the NHS The UK would have been “ready“ for the pandemic is naive at best
It demonstrates a lack of understanding as to how the NHS budget is devolved and spent
It demonstrates a lack of understanding as to how the NHS budget is devolved and spent
7/ We could’ve spent significantly more money on access to psychological therapies, psychiatrists, radiographers, dermatologists, rheumatologists and physios
8/ No amount of NHS spend on these very worthy causes would have made the UK more “ready” for this global pandemic crisis
In order to be “ready” we would have needed to provide huge amounts of redundant hospital intensive care / ventilator capacity
In order to be “ready” we would have needed to provide huge amounts of redundant hospital intensive care / ventilator capacity
9/ To put this into perspective, in my entire lifetime of over 50 years the amount of ventilator capacity we may need now has never been required or used
10/ It would be foolish for anybody to claim there will not be lessons to be learned as a result of this crisis in order to better inform future pandemic disaster planning
11/ But ... no country in the world has demonstrated its capacity to be “ready“ for this pandemic, including countries that spend more money on healthcare than the UK including USA & France to name but two
12/ The USA in particular demonstrates that simply spending more money on health care guarantees nothing and certainly not being “ready“ for a global pandemic crisis
13/ No amount of shrieking now that the UK wasn’t sufficiently “ready“ will make the UK more “ready“ than it was before
When this is all over put your concerns & questions to the govt by any & all means you have available
When this is all over put your concerns & questions to the govt by any & all means you have available
14/ For now, we don’t have all the data required to carry out an thorough expert analysis of the UK’s overall performance
We’ll only have all the data we need once the crisis is over
... Ends.
We’ll only have all the data we need once the crisis is over
... Ends.
