This excellent thread is required reading, read to the tenth and final tweet to understand the threat to the NHS and patients, from misinformation.
Sitrep: situation report. This is what we call our daily briefings right now. Here’s mine. We are now fairly confident we have reached the high water-mark for the second wave of COVID-19 NHS hospital admissions across the UK. Good news but…. 1/10 pic.twitter.com/yQvhhhV0mS
— Rupert Pearse (@rupert_pearse) January 30, 2021
4000 of these patients (10%) need intensive care. This is huge: in January 2020 the UK had only 4100 adult ‘critical care’ beds including both ‘intensive care’ ventilated beds for the sickest patients and ‘high dependency’ beds for less sick patients. 3/10https://t.co/OYyRxLmmME
— Rupert Pearse (@rupert_pearse) January 30, 2021
Our usual strict rule of one trained nurse for each intensive care bed has been stretched to 1:3 and in many hospitals, to 1:4. We are still filling these gaps with nurses from other departments, retired nurses, medical students, and hospital consultants (senior doctors). 5/10 pic.twitter.com/GHlBPFhLbZ
— Rupert Pearse (@rupert_pearse) January 30, 2021
But mostly we can stop planning for further increases in patient numbers and focus on consolidating our response. We can think much more about the quality of patient care and how we can improve it. We are starting to look at longer term planning for COVID. 7/10
— Rupert Pearse (@rupert_pearse) January 30, 2021
On the plus side, we now understand this disease really well. We will know how to prevent and control future COVID epidemics and how to anticipate the need for NHS capacity. We will get better and better at keeping usual NHS care going while we respond to smaller outbreaks. 9/10
— Rupert Pearse (@rupert_pearse) January 30, 2021
Meanwhile, following public health guidance remains vital to protect everyone’s healthcare. Please keep up your amazing work with #HandsFaceSpace. Politely call out those who question the need, especially public figures with big audiences. This will help save lives. 10/10 💙 pic.twitter.com/2H6CokWOTZ
— Rupert Pearse (@rupert_pearse) January 30, 2021