[Dave Rice]

I’m getting fed up with journalists asking when the restrictions will be lifted. FFS it’s clear you cannot put a date on it and if they did the same journalists would probably crucify them.

Also fed up with the current success of the vaccinations being used to divert attention from the death rate. It seems clear that the Christmas mixing was a big mistake, as was predicted, as was the public being blamed for it.

I’m being lined up for meds for the ankylosing spondylitis starting in 8 weeks time. It will supress my immune system to some extent which is a worry. I’m going to ask my GP if that means I can be bumped up from Tier 5 to Tier 4.

[PlaneMan]

Dave, me arthritis meds works by suppressing my immune system. That’s why I’m in phase 4 in Wales.

I don’t know if I can have the injection yet because of the lowered immune system. Apparently I have to wait until I have a date before I can find out. :wacko:

[Ed P]

Dave, I suspect that if you want to drive everyone to suicidal despair then you should concentrate on the death rate and the plateauing of Covid cases despite the lock down.

I honestly think we are at a stage where it is correct to emphasise the positives for the National Good.

Actual infection rates do appear to be slowly moving down despite a more infectious disease. We also have one of the best vaccination/head rates in the world,

However, I would not give our Scientific Civil Servants a free ride, and neither would I do for our too slow to react Government. There are many lessons to learn and we should be starting now.

RANT follows:

This country has one of the worst Covid track records in the world (5th in deaths/head of population). We would have had far fewer cases and deaths had we just adopted the precautionary principle . In other words how have others been more successful and is there any slight scientific rationale for their actions – if so, copy and improve.

If it might help do it, do not just fanny around and study it!

We still do not enforce the compulsory wearing of face masks in all public locations. We do not advise people to sanitise anything coming through the door. We do not (England) close Garden Centres that are more like Departmental Stores. We do not enforce self isolation using phone calls at random times and geolocating the recipient.(Singapore etc.). We do not give sufficient financial support to those who self isolate.We do not spray hotspot urban areas with detergent sprays as was done in China. (Belgium are doing this too).

We are also failing in the post-Covid environment. We seem to have no real plans for job creation, instead the Government are again going to waste money by paying bloated US companies to find make-weight so-called self-employed jobs for people. We should be paying people to take up training in trades, and paying employers to take on apprenticeships. We should be using this time to address our massive skills shortages.

[PlaneMan]

Had my second covid test today and just had a voicemail message telling me I’m eligible for the vaccination now.  🙂

The number is always engaged though.  🙁

[PlaneMan]

Got through. Wooo.

Week tomorrow for the first jab. 3 months later for the second.

[Ed P]

Glad you have a date. Now that they have given us at least another 6 weeks of lock-down, you will be nearly half-way through to the second jab and probably 60% protected by the time you get out.

Hopefully the bunch of *ankers we have in Government will look very hard at doing something more for the self-employed. Driving people out of business is not cost effective for the national economy, and more than offsets the costs of a few people scamming the system.

With apologies to Steve, I have worked for/with companies run by auditors. In general they make terrible business managers, and unfortunately we seem to have a Treasury run by auditors.

[PlaneMan]

Thanks Ed.

I know a few people that have shops, non essential ones. They were finding it really difficult but after joining forces  on local delivery’s  they are now doing quite well, not pre-covid levels but much better than they were. Well enough to make a profit.

[Ed P]

I just had the Pfizer vaccination, and I asked the $64000 question, ‘What happens if the EU stop vaccine exports in 12 weeks time?’. The answer was that they had not been told if an adequate level of protection could be obtained by substituting the Oxford vaccine, or even if it would be sanctioned.

Could be interesting times if we get into a vaccine war with the EU.

[Ed P]

If anyone is interested the following is the redacted version of the EU/OxfordAstrazeneca contract:

Note the term ‘best reasonable efforts’ is littered throughout and the only reference to including UK manufacture is in clause 5.4 which is a clause that allows Astrazeneca to use UK manufacturing for the EU, but clause 5.1 by implication (the initial doses) does not include the UK.  I’m not a lawyer, but I think the EU are on shaky ground to insist that UK manufacture is used for their initial doses.

All that said, IMO if we see that we will have some spare doses in the near term we should offer them to the EU.

[PlaneMan]

Had my first jsb this afternoon. Had the Pfizer one and after I got home started feeling a bit odd.

Thick head, really, really tired and my arm is super sore, way more so than usual.

The nurse warned me that I was likely to have side effects due to my arthritis medication and she was right.

Also didn’t help that I had go a long way (for me) on my crutches after the jab due to the one way system in place, I understand it has to be done but it sucks if you have mobility issues.

[Ed P]

PlaneMan wrote:

Also didn’t help that I had go a long way (for me) on my crutches after the jab due to the one way system in place

I guess it depends on the way each jab centre sets things up. They had a few simple hospital-style wheelchairs available to those who needed them at the centre I attended.  They just wiped them down after use in the same manner as they did the seating. I would have to say that I’d give the local hospital 10/10 for organization and the attentiveness of the volunteer assistants. It was obvious that Dildo Harding did not play any part in things!

[PlaneMan]

Ed, I agree, it’s the setup.

The location used to be council run community centre/ small local leisure centre and the jabs were in the huge indoor gym/sports hall. A long way for broken people to go across. I explained to the person that showed me to a chair that it would ruin me to go all the way so they got me an ancient wheel chair with shopping trolley type wheels to move across the hall as I was moved up the waiting ranks. No chairs for outside use though. Again I understand, just not ideal.

The staff I spoke to were great, especially when I explained the problems I have with unfamiliar places (autism related).

Everything was quickly wiped down after someone touched anything, staff using sanitiser often and all wearing masks and keeping distance apart from when vital to get up close.  I did have a minor problem when trying to get in, the young lad (early 20’s at a guess) on the door insisted I take my  nitrile gloves off and sanitise my hands. I explained why I was wearing gloves but he still insisted. Luckily there was an army medic within earshot and when I explained to him why I was wearing the gloves he informed the lad that some people (like me) get bad reactions to certain stuff and to check with him in future before being an arse. The medic even offered me some spare gloves in case I needed them.

[JayCeeDee]

Had my first jab at one of our local practices at lunchtime today- it wasn’t my usual one, but was still only 5 minutes drive away. The wife had hers done at the same time too. I had the AstraZenica jab ( they did both there ) because of my allergic reaction to my cancer treatment. Surprisingly they also classed my wife’s wasp sting allergy, because she carries an epi-pen in summer, as sufficient cause for her to get the AZ jab too. They wanted us to stay for 15 minutes as a precaution but no immediate after effects. The wife felt a bit light headed and woozy about an hour or two after, but she had a light lunch and went to bed for a couple of hours. All good now. I’m feeling fine, other than a slight headache. Other than that, trouble free. They said the second jab would be about 12 weeks time as the trial data showed that to be the most effective timescale. As Ed stated, the attentiveness, efficiency and caring showed by all was excellent

All round a very well run setup, could only have been bettered at a drive through, one of which has just opened in Whitstable.

[Ed P]

The only noticeable reactions I had to the Pfizer jab were extremely mild versions of the symptoms I had when I think I had Covid in 2020. However, as with that time, I had itchy hives on my lymph glands for a day or two some five days after the Pfizer jab. I guess that was the reason your jab centre thought that a wasp sting over-reaction might not mix very well with the Pfizer jab.

[Dave Rice]

Nolan, what sort arthritis medication are you on? The consultant wants me to start on an anti-TNF, specifically Secukinumab, which I understand is a self administered weekly injection. They have talked to my heart consultant as these anti-TNF can cause issues and this particular one is apparently OK.

I have a hospital appointment late March with a nurse led team so I am assuming this will be for the first dose and some training on how to DIY. At the same time I have been referred to the Heart Failure Clinic (after 9 years) who want to change my medication (not by much) to improve some of my readings. Nothing is of “concern” but they say it should be easy improve them still further.

Despite all this I am not on any shielding list and assume I am in Tier 7 (over 60s) and no idea when I’ll get the jab. The anti-TNF suppresses your immune system to some extent but no-one is mentioning the jab, I suspect that (as usual) they think I am in some high risk group or in some way considered disabled by the NHS / Govt, which in 40 years since my accident I never have been.

Time to stir up my useless GP I think.

 

[PlaneMan]

Dave, I’m on Methotrexate, once a week DIY injection after the tablets damaged my stomach.

The injections are single use and dead easy to do. Most of the time I don’t feel it and there’s hardly ever any blood. Stericycle are responsible for collecting and replacing the sharps bin and they have been 100% so far.  Usually get a reply to emails within a working day and another when the day is arranged. I leave the sharps bin on my porch tucked in the corner with just the handle showing and they put the new one in the same place.

[JayCeeDee]

Dave Rice wrote:

Despite all this I am not on any shielding list and assume I am in Tier 7 (over 60s) and no idea when I’ll get the jab.

Latest from the BBC News site – HERE      Covid: All over-50s in UK to be offered vaccine by May

 

[Dave Rice]

Sent them a message via askmyGP, which is the way we’ve had to have any contact with them for several years:

“Thank you for submitting your askmyGP message. Due to staff self-isolating, social distancing, infection control requirements, it is currently taking us much longer to provide care to our patients when it is necessary to attend the surgery. Consequently it may take us a little longer to get back to you than normal.Your request has been triaged and you can expect a response from us within 5 working days. If you are unwell and need urgent advice then please contact us by phone or call 111 if we are closed. To prevent the spread of coronavirus please DO NOT COME to the surgery unless you already have an appointment. Your ongoing patience and understanding through this challenging period is much appreciated.
The Team at Concord Medical Centre”

The problem is GPs are central to everything. The specialist hospital / community teams can only do so much, it’s the GP that has to do the repeat prescriptions and referrals.

I have run out of heart medication again, this has happened every single month since the Govt made repeats 28 days not 2 monthly. It seems the system cannot cope with double the workload. When I get to Boots they have loads of staff all beavering away and the shelves for awaiting collection are bursting.

[JayCeeDee]

Dave Rice wrote:

every single month since the Govt made repeats 28 days not 2 monthly.

Didn’t know that because it hasn’t happened here, so far. I’ve just now re-ordered 2 months worth of all my tablets via Patient Access, dispersible aspirin, blood pressure tablets, statins and co-codamol. Got the last lot in on the 16th December. Provided I leave it 2 days for the GP and 2 days for the Pharmacist before going to collect them, so far they’ve just been there. I’ll see if it is still the same when I go to collect after the snow has cleared next week.

[Ed P]

Ditto here as well. It could be that they need to monitor your medication, and have a monthly review date on your record. Of course it could just be that they haven’t seen you for so long that they need to give themselves a reminder to check you over at some time!

From the various posts on the forum I have come to the conclusion that the treatment you receive from your GP is very much a post code lottery. The practice hub I attend is very much on the ball and fully embraces technology, which means they are happy to use smart watch output,blood pressure readings and 1 or 2 sensor ECG traces via a secure Internet connection in their diagnosis/monitoring. They also use a Livi-like remote diagnosis for odd-ball things. While I find this to be a really good service, I can quite see that it currently disenfranchises a fairly large proportion of the population who are tech Luddites and they have to endure a long wait for the receptionist to answer the phone, and a much longer wait to see anyone.

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