Conversely, it has been truly shocking to watch governments across Europe complete failure to serve their residents. The much vaulted EU collective framework to provide for their people appears to have hindered the meaningful vaccination programme’s rollout. They seem more interested in pointing fingers than needles. Vacination of the majority of our populations is how every country gets out of this pandemic.
On Friday, I passed a familiar door to the old FHDC Council Chamber which is now a part of my area’s latest covid vaccination centre. Very surreal to sit giving my details in a former council chamber where for many years I sat as a Councillor on Forest Heath District Council. My mind wondered back to all those fellow councillors who I had known over the years who had passed away and what they would make of these strange times. I was there for my first AZ Covid Jab, the same day as the Prime Minister and 600,000 other people across the country got theirs. Irrespective of your view of how the government and minsters have coped this past year with the massive shock to our way of life, it’s been an enormous achievement. Firstly by those who have developed a vaccine that will save millions of lives across the world but also the magnificent rollout of the UK’s vaccination programme. Very well done to our government and all those working in our vaccination centres.
Conversely, it has been truly shocking to watch governments’ across Europe complete failure to serve their residents. The much vaulted EU collective framework to provide for their people appears to have hindered the meaningful vaccination programme’s rollout. They seem more interset in pointing fingers than needles.
Here my experience was of a well-organised booking system, no waiting around, and a painless jab. The process was all very polite and efficient, and I was quickly through. Now I wait until June for my second.
On a personal note, it was slightly surreal to be sitting in the former council chamber where I served as a Councillor for many years with the old FHDC Logo still on the wall. A chamber where we debated policy, planning and issues affecting our local community. I recalled several old friends and Councillors now sadly no longer with us who would have found the past year a real struggle not physically meeting and debating in that very chamber. The photo above I took as I passed the old committee room door on my way to get my jab. For many years, the door I went through to get to the Council Chamber and above it used to hang the past FHDC Chairman boards with many colleagues I knew well.
I struggle to understand those who say they don’t want the jab, or it’s not a thing, or I’m careful I won’t get it. Well, I was careful and followed all the rules, and I got it.
A few weeks ago, I developed a cough. I did not think much of it, but slowly Lisa and I started to feel unwell. So we went online, and our postal covid tests swiftly arrived. Lisa returned positive, and the great team from Suffolk County Council kept in touch and told her that she needed to self isolate and gave her the date that ended fortunately her symptoms were of a heavy flu no worse.
However, before I sent my postal test back, I got worse and started to struggle to draw breath. I brought one of the little blood oxygen measurement devices for your finger, and by Sunday, I was down to 84%, which a quick google said was not good. I called 111 for advice; they called an ambulance. Not much of Valentine’s day for Lisa and me!
Arrived in A&E, assessed and moved to a Covid Ward and shortly afterwards into Intensive Care. It was not fun, but everyone was thoughtful, kind and explained the process I was going through and the treatment they proposed and provided. Fortunately, I was lucky, and after four days hooked up to various machines, I was released back to a Covid ward and spent a few days of rest and two hourly tests.
It was a relief to be discharged and go home.
Personally, it is my first real-time being ill – as a young man had my appendix and tonsils out but nothing else, and so all a bit of a shock. Lisa and I have recovered.
Of course, when you are in such situations, you reflect on much of what you have said and your views over the years with various roles I’ve had.
And has my experience changed my views? I certainly can see why the notion of budget and does not work in a hospital. They need what they need when they need it; there can’t be a sense of potential shortages. And I suppose I always knew that, but it’s not until you or your loved ones are so dependant on nurses and the equipment and supplies they have that it hits home so so starkly.
But my views about how we protect hospitals and keep costs down is and always has been about how we make sure only those who need to be in hospital are. From incremental improvements to public health to making certain older people are well supported both medically and physically in our communities so that they do not dip in and out of the hospital is essential. To rapid discharge to intermediate care settings if people can’t go home just yet. As we get older, beyond the clinical, it takes longer to recover. However, for older people, at a certain point, a ward is not the right setting for their recovery. The NHS needs to address this issue as our population ages.
So thank you, West Suffolk Hospital, and all those who work there. I shall long remember the quality of care and support provided by those whom I met. As reforms come in, ensuring our communities are strong and robust is imperative, not least to support those who work on the front line by making sure only those who need to be in hospital are there. Not because it’s the only way we have to support people, but where Health and Social Care need to work better together. Once Covid is passed, this is the challenge ahead. To Save the NHS, we have to address our ageing population’s challenges with the same focus, urgency, and effort put into the past year.
In early February, I spoke at the BMA roundtable, and one GP was suggesting that GPs should run social care. I made the point that a community is more than the sum of its parts, and it’s not just about directing social care. It’s about our churches, charities, volunteers, family carers, and community groups working with GP’s, Public Health, and our NHS to support residents in their lives, not just their medical needs.
Who represents our communities and knows them best? Is that knowledge in the NHS’s data or on the ground by Local Government and Councillors? In my view, it’s both whatever reforms come its essential that on the ground in communities and the emerging systems that local government’s skill is recognised with parity to support our residents and an ageing population.
Colin Noble's Blog 