long thread
please read to the end

The press is (rightly) full of wall to wall coverage of the quite outstanding feat of what the NHS has done and continues to do in the name of saving lives

1/

It is probably worth me trying to put some other context and framing into this. In this I am NOT seeking to diminish the work of the NHS but to thank a far wider group of people who enabled lockdown to happen

2/

...... and in doing so saved countless lives & prevented the NHS being overwhelmed

3/

The broad strategy was and remains 5 fold
Minimise the potential 1) health and 2) social and economic impact, to 3) keep a strategic overview of the response, to4) keep & maintain trust and confidence and 5) to ensure the safety of responders

4/

So thank you also to (in no particular order)

The efforts of PHE in the contain phase. Amazing effort. This bought us a month to prepare. In fact the multi pronged efforts of our PHE centre throughout have been sterling
@PHE_uk
5/

the EHOs that smartly used a range of legislation to close down the bits of the economy that govt had indicated should be closed. And enforced social distancing in those bits of the economy that remained open
@The_CIEH
6/

The trading standards teams that consistently sought and and closed down scams resulting from the opportunity the crisis brought

7/

the police that quietly, sensibly and effectively educated and occasionally enforced social distancing in our communities
@syptweeet
8/

the herculean efforts of a wide range of local government and VCS organisations to provide community based support to those that were shielding and well beyond
@vasnews
9/

the efforts of many of our housing staff and housing providers and charities that made massive efforts to get those who were homeless off the streets

10/

our business support staff, often with Chambers of Commerce and similar who operated a range of government grants and support to keep the economy going as best we can

11/

the countless businesses who have repurposed themselves to support the effort

12/

Fire services who delivered food packages to the vulnerable, supported the logistics of PPE delivery and many many other jobs

@SYFR
13/

our intelligence analysts who with PHE tried to model and provide planning planning assumptions to a range of services. (Often with very limited info from central govt)
@DrChrisGibbons and many others
14/

our care homes and domiciliary care services who have done amazing things to keep the NHS running, to keep people as independant as possible and to keep infections in closed settings as low as possible

15/

(on this remember remember 410 000 people aged over 65 live in the UK’s 11 300 nursing and residential homes.5 This outnumbers adult hospital beds by around three to one) HT @mancunianmedic for that fact

16/

our school sector, who often with local govt support have kept many other services afloat
The university sector and schools that switched to online learning
@learnsheffield @sheffielduni

17/

the faith sector who closed down group worship early on and have been quietly getting on with providing pastoral care, bereavement and many other services in a radically different way

18/

Our comms teams who have put together enormous amounts of information to ensure a wide range of people were briefed and up to date with the information as it continually changed
@SheffCouncil
19/

Our IT teams who made massive effort to switch our way of working

@markgannon and his team

20/

The many who worked tirelessly and unseen to keep all this ticking along at great pace

the herculean efforts of many of our services who continue to provide as much business as normal as possible

our Local Resillience Forums have coordinated & connected this all together

21/

The many many people and roles I will have forgotten. Please add...... I'll have forgotten the incredibly important contributions of many

22/

In short .....the collective efforts of local and national govt and many others who have enabled the lockdown

and by their collective efforts saved many many lives.

We will never be able to count these, but it has enabled the NHS to do what it has been able to do

23/

ALL of this matters, and is missing from the triumphant narrative of the "didnt the NHS do a marvelous job" (which it did)

24/

on leadership

There has been no single leader
A group effort and this hasn't been something where heroic leadership models have been appropriate
@solace @LGAcomms
25/

finally, on public health
It has been a public health crisis no doubt

the DPH job has been to sometimes lead, sometimes coordinate, sometimes be expert and sometimes contribute

@ADPHUK @FPH @YHADPH

26/

But a massive range of people and groups have contributed to the effort. PH is more than what the DPH does, or his her team – collective efforts of MANY (almost all of whom don’t have the term “public” or “health” in their job title )

27/

so THANK YOU to all those that enabled the lockdown

it HAS mattered and CONTINUES to matter

I'll also be thinking of you at 8pm next thursday

28

thanks to @EugeneMilne @jimmcmanusph @TennantRuth @Jeanelleuk @RupertSuckling @BenWealthy1 @NicolaClose (and anyone I forgot) as ever for ideas and inspiration

And Councillors up and down the land who have been consistent in their leadership of communities and of cities or counties
29