Coronavirus: social, economic and other changes as a result of the pandemic

[teamsaint]

By "doctor", do you intend "general practitioner"? I had no trouble seeing several medical doctors during a recent visit to my nearest A & E deartment as a patient recently. I'm not sure about the situation at my local GP practice.

Yep, I meant a GP

Not a disembodied voice on an app.........

( Anyway, you have to book A and E in some places now....https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...visit-18631847)

[Bryn]

Yep, I meant a GP

Not a disembodied voice on an app.........

( Anyway, you have to book A and E in some places now....https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...visit-18631847)

Hmm. I just turned up and was seen fairly quickly (there were only 5 ahead of me). That was in Surrey, just over the border from my Berkshire location. I have now checked and initial triage for my local GP practice is remote. Personal appointments are at the discretion of those making the triage assessment. Standard COVID-19 protection measures are in place for such personal consultations.

[DracoM]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2020/jul/28/covid-19-how-risky-is-singing-podcast

Podcast worth hearing?

[Serial_Apologist]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...inging-podcast

Podcast worth hearing?

Only with a face mask on!!!

[Dave2002]

Now we see the fall out with the demise of the Mander firm - so some church organs might become irreplaceable or unmaintainable.

https://mander-organs-forum.invisionzone.com/

https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/choir_organ/mander-organs-ceases-trading/

[Dave2002]

Then there's the immediate retirement of BA's 747 planes - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53426886

On the one hand it seems those planes aren't the most fuel efficient, and by the standards of the best of the newer planes they aren't the quietest either, but it seems a shame to think that they won't be used again. I've been in quite a few, and I can just about remember when they were first introduced. I didn't get to fly in one until around 20 years after their first appearance.

Still, I guess they were unsustainable in more ways than one.

Incidentally, the photo showing the team of the first flight is an amazing example of how not to take a group photo. Try to figure out which way each person is looking, or which ones have their eyes closed or almost closed! I used to think the "look at the birdie" mantra was a waste of time, but actually if one sees a photo in which a significant number of participants are looking in random directions, it does seem very weird. That doesn't apply to completely informal shots - though.

[eighthobstruction]

....Surely we should do something very soon about our [well I won't call it our defense industry)....making and selling of War tools....Oppression Tools....Suppression Tools....

....living on the flight path of Leeds Airport I am amazed at how quiet modern planes are...

[Serial_Apologist]

....Surely we should do something very soon about our [well I won't call it our defense industry)....making and selling of War tools....Oppression Tools....Suppression Tools....

....living on the flight path of Leeds Airport I am amazed at how quiet modern planes are...

My computer whizz thinks it demonstrates they use less fuel - he's clamouring for that *something* third runway at Heathrow for the jobs it'll create.

[Dave2002]

....living on the flight path of Leeds Airport I am amazed at how quiet modern planes are...

They are very quiet when they stay on the ground - with the engines off.

Having lived on flight paths for LHR and LGW I can disagree with the assertion that they are quiet when they are actually flying, though they are not as noisy as some earlier planes, and Concorde, splendid though it was, was seriously deafening.

[LMcD]

They are very quiet when they stay on the ground - with the engines off.

Having lived on flight paths for LHR and LGW I can disagree with the assertion that they are quiet when they are actually flying, though they are not as noisy as some earlier planes, and Concorde, splendid though it was, was seriously deafening.

There doesn't seem to have been much discussion of the implications of the Covid crisis for the economics of the planned new runway at Heathrow - or HS2.

[teamsaint]

There doesn't seem to have been much discussion of the implications of the Covid crisis for the economics of the planned new runway at Heathrow - or HS2.

Or the structural changes in healthcare taking place in clear sight.

Or the introduction of government more or less by diktat.

Or the imposition of widespread controls on all kinds of activity.

Add your own..........

[Frances_iom]

the immediate post Brexit debates were worried about Henry VIII clauses - what we seemed to have landed up with is an Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector with arbitrary restriction on anything + everything depending on the whim of one man (or possibly two if the puppet had some input)

[teamsaint]

So there we are, the government doesn’t want us to see the GPs that we pay for.

It seems that even the GPs may resist, to a point. You never know, we might end up with a system where you can actually see a doctor at an appropriate time, that actually suits the patient.
Perhaps, perhaps,perhaps....

[Serial_Apologist]

So there we are, the government doesn’t want us to see the GPs that we pay for.

It seems that even the GPs may resist, to a point. You never know, we might end up with a system where you can actually see a doctor at an appropriate time, that actually suits the patient.
Perhaps, perhaps,perhaps....

There was a clear illustration of the inherent inadequacy of consultations by iphone. A lady phoned a chat show this morning on this very topic to say that she had been asked by her surgery to send in a photograph of the problem she had wished to discuss with her doctor. She did so, to be told that there was nothing visibly wrong - to which she replied that, being as she was a black lady, it would not have shown up on a photograph! Ironically, this was in a part of the programme in which questions of NHS discrimination against BAME patients came up! A somewhat similar case came up on the London part of the BBC lunchtime TV news - that of a black taxi driver from N London allegedly arrested for "touting" for custom, and rougly handled, his face bashed into a door jamb before he was thrown to the ground, to be held down by means of a knee on the throat, in the supposedly proscribed manner. Stills were shown of this, and of the bruising on the poor man's temple; yet the police report stated no visible bruising. The man himself was interviewed on the programme, pointing out that bruising takes on a totally different appearance on a black person from a non-black person, and that it was obvious that the police expert had taken no account of this. How common was this in the case of black detainees, he understandably wanted to know. As it happened, charges were dropped, because the client in question alleged to have been "poached" from a rival taxi outfit had in fact booked the journey!

[oddoneout]

So there we are, the government doesn’t want us to see the GPs that we pay for.

It seems that even the GPs may resist, to a point. You never know, we might end up with a system where you can actually see a doctor at an appropriate time, that actually suits the patient.
Perhaps, perhaps,perhaps....

Whatever system is thought up/implemented will be limited by the number of GPs available(or rather not) to use it and how many of them are full-time. My GP surgery has quite a list of names on the door but most of them are working 2 or 3 days a week, not full time, which increases waiting times for appointments. Recruitment has been a major problem for something like 5 years now, with the very few potential candidates available apparently(so I've been told) preferring to work in the nearby city rather than this thriving market town, so when someone leaves it increases the workload for the rest for much longer than is desirable.
The shortage of GPs, partly due to age profile meaning that significant numbers have left the system within a relatively short space of time, has been known about for a long time, but no efforts have been made to address it, either by preventing the causes of personnel leaving the profession or by ensuring training and recruitment of replacements.