There can’t be many people who aren’t worried right now. I for one, find myself flicking between a slightly dreamy sense of unreality and a state of mild anxiety.
Of course, watching the news or listening to the radio can be something of a mixed blessing. There is no shortage of people eager to explain how we are heading for a health service meltdown with social unrest, troops on the streets etc. And then there are the people who say that it’s all a lot of fuss about nothing, that it’s just flu and that, like Stanley Johnson, they’ll be damned if someone tries to stop them going to the pub.
So it was with a degree of trepidation that I decided to listen to yesterday’s The World This Weekend at 13:00 on BBC Radio4 (22/03/2020). 5 minutes into the program there was a lengthy piece on Queen’s Hospital in NE London as it prepares itself for the predicted wave of COVID-19 patients. The presenter, Jonny Dymond, spoke to a number of health service professionals — admittedly all in more senior positions — the chief medical officer, the clinical director of the emergency department and a respiratory consultant.
The whole piece had a strangely surreal air. With routine appointments cancelled and all but the most unwell patients having been discharged from the wards, there was something about the acoustic quality of the interviews that conveyed a vivid picture of this huge, virtually empty hospital as it readied itself for the storm to come.
Each of the contributors offered a clear and straightforward account of the challenges they were about to face. There was nothing grim in their manner. They simply described how they planned to go about their various tasks, about the unique aspects of treating COVID-19 patients and some of the difficulties and shortages they faced in caring for them and protecting themselves. It was both terrifying and reassuring; something both planned for and unparalleled in living memory.
I found the whole piece immensely moving and it left me with an enormous admiration for ALL the people working in the NHS.
Thanks for this Dave, and for the others over the last few days. Our problem as humans is that we go on and on ignoring the lessons of history. It's important to record things, in the vivid present, so that we can benefit from extreme times in the future. I particularly responded to your Beveridge piece, saying that we mustn't go back to normal. There is a bigger virus out there, which is the world's. We have ignored it at our cost. To face up to it, we need a sense of common, equal danger, with no shirking - and that's just what we're learning now. Let's hope we keep it with us over the next few years. Thanks again and keep them coming - Pip Heywood.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a less interesting subject than saying how you feel in this situation. Everybody feels the same, and everybody has the same insights, more or less. How about a blog post about something more interesting....? ANYTHING BUT COVID-19!
ReplyDeleteSeriously Owen - ANYTHING?
DeleteI rather imagine you have a whole list of things you'd prefer I didn't write about.
No really: ANYTHING BUT COVID-19. What can now be said that has not already been said? Look to the future. Tell us some strange stuff. ANYTHING BUT COVID-19.
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