At the end of February, I decided it was time to take a decision regarding my planned flight on March 8 to Bahrain. Back then the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK had reached 20 and a 70-year-old passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship became the first UK citizen to die from the coronavirus. At this time the death toll in Italy had reached 21.
I have multiple myeloma, a cancer that affects a white blood cell called a plasma cell. Plasma cells help me fight infections by making antibodies that recognise and attack germs. Basically, I’m not well equipped to deal with infections.
I contacted the oncology department of the hospital in Scotland who are looking after me and they confirmed my concerns were justified and they provided me with a letter that did not recommend travel which I shared with British Airways. They agreed to put my return date to Bahrain on hold.
I’ve been self-isolating for a month now and getting used to contacting friends and family on WhatsApp and being part of business meetings remotely. It has been an eye-opener as to how life can continue with no direct contact with anyone face to face in the outside world.
Unfortunately, I’ve become a bit more obsessed with news. I was always someone who enjoyed keeping up to date with events but in the last month I’ve dramatically increased the time I devote to what is happening around me.
Each day I read about further deaths attributed to the Covid-19 virus and unfortunately here in the UK the true number of deaths is not known as I write this piece. The government has chosen to report only deaths in hospitals and not include those who died from the virus in the community. One thing for sure the UK has deaths in excess of 10,000 and experts predict the UK will have the highest number of deaths in Europe in the coming weeks.
Back in 2016 the UK government carried out Exercise Cygnus. It was a simulation exercise carried out to estimate the impact of a hypothetical influenza pandemic on the UK. The exercise showed that the pandemic would cause the country’s health system to collapse from a lack of key resources, including a lack of medical ventilators.
Matthew Swindells, National Health Service (NHS) national director responsible for the exercise reported, “The exercise was set seven weeks into a severe pandemic outbreak and challenged the NHS to review its response to an overwhelmed service with reduced staff availability. Plans are currently being revised to incorporate the learning from this exercise and ensure our continued preparedness for future pandemic influenza outbreaks”.
Just over a year ago Ian Dalton chief executive of NHS Improvement was sacked and his number two Matthew Swindells was not slotted into the vacant post, now relabelled joint chief operating officer. Instead Mr Swindells’ position was put at risk and he was put under significant pressure to “take the package and go”. He left the NHS in July of last year.
Like the 2016 exercise we are into seven weeks + of the Covid-19 pandemic and each day we hear of a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and some front-line staff are using hospital curtains as gowns. Additionally, some key medicines used in intensive care are in relatively short supply including anaesthetic medicines.
I’ll say no more.
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