Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright and sunny start to the day here in the northwest corner of England. Sheila is of to visit the dental hygienist shortly, once she has left I shall head outside to get some work done in the garden. We bought some plants over the weekend and they will be planted out this morning, I also want to clear the guttering over the rear outrigger as there seems to be weeds growing in it! No doubt from the fallout of the sycamore tree behind the garden. 

 

Oh well, time to get started, back later. 

 

Brian

[BoD]

Dave, our thoughts are with you and your family.

[tigerburnie]

Condolences to you and your family Dave.

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

My Dad died at one o'clock this morning in hospital. I was called at a quarter to one to tell me that he was deteriorating but by the time I got there he had gone.

 

Dave

Please accept my condolences. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Tony_S

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

True, but Switzerland doesn’t have a staffing crisis like the NHS.

The group I am affiliated with is 95% UK doctors and scientists - who proposed a campaign to bring qualified  Ukrainian personnel into the NHS - albeit just for the duration of hostilities.

Furthermore, many of my UK colleagues - just retired - tried to volunteer to help the NHS during the pandemic and not only had to jump through hoops - but weren’t even used after all they went through - even though their local NHS desperately needed support. Another colleague, whose wife is an NHS physician  working in a tertiary speciality told us that when the NHS trust his wife works for shut the tertiary speciality clinic because of the pandemic, his wife was sent to work as a nursing assistant on a ward.

The NHS has many amazing, talented, dedicated and hard-working clinicians, nurses and technicians. It’s amazing what they have achieved despite the NHS bureaucracy.

I have heard it said that the BMA plus the Royal Colleges are the biggest hindrance. It was alleged by a surgeon friend  of mine, that they, along with the compatriots in the Dental and Veterinary  professions, restricted the expansion of medical schools etc to better entrench their own positions. They then relied on Dr's from the Indian Sub Continent to fill the gaps on lower wages.  Brexit and Immigration polucies have compunded the probllems.

 

Jamie

Edited June 21, 2022 by jamie92208

[DaveF]

I'm very sorry to hear your sad news Dave,  my thoughts are with you and your family.

 

David

[AndrewC]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

The nights are fair drawing in.....

 

 

 

 

 

(PS - Yes, I know....)

Blocked!

[DaveF]

 

 

It was lovely and sunny yesterday morning, it would have been Dad's 96th birthday so as usual I went to the cemetery to have a look at the grave and have a few moments of quiet thoughts.  As Mum was buried in the same grave about three weeks ago the ground was still very disturbed and the headstone cannot be replaced yet, but it was still worth going.  While I was there I disposed of Mum's funeral flowers which had been placed on the grave.  As usual the cemetery was very quiet, I was the only person around.  In due course the grave will be levelled and grassed over.  I didn't take flowers, both Mum and Dad disliked the idea.

 

Then I decided to buy some large lidded plastic storage boxes to put all Mum's china and glass in ready for the flat to be cleared.  I brought a few more bits home and took a car full to the tip.  As usual it was quiet, there were only four other cars there this time, the journey from the flat to the tip and then home took just thirty minutes.

 

While I was at the flat another estate agent visited, as arranged, to give a second valuation and to advise on how to sell it.  Like everyone else she says that extending the lease may make the flat sell for more but the cost of the lease extension plus solicitors fees will eat up the uplift in value.  It only seems to work in areas where the prices are higher.

 

In the next few days I will decide which agent to use and check with the solicitor that it is OK to market the flat - just to make sure there are no unforseen issues in the will.

 

I seem to have caught the throwing out bug, I disposed of a lot of my old papers and some magazines to go in today's recycling collection.

 

David

Edited June 21, 2022 by DaveF
spelling

[The Lurker]

Condolences to Dave and his family

[grandadbob]

Ears have been lowered, The Boss makes a good quick job of it.

Hospital visited for PCR test, got there 15 minutes early, done immediately (in car) and back home all within 25 minutes.  Now in isolating mode,  wonder how long it'll be before I get fed up with that although The Boss is isolating with me......

wonder how long before I get fed up with that!  🤪😂

Some pottering done in the garden but it's a bit too warm in the sun for me so now back inside for a muggatea.

Edited June 21, 2022 by grandadbob

[Sidecar Racer]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

My Dad died at one o'clock this morning in hospital. I was called at a quarter to one to tell me that he was deteriorating but by the time I got there he had gone.

 

Dave

 

Condolences to you and your family .

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

....Now in isolating mode,  wonder how long it'll be before I get fed up with that although The Boss is isolating with me......

wonder how long before I get fed up with that!  🤪😂

At my meeting yesterday, one of my colleagues gave a detailed update on the treatment of CoVID-19. It was an incredibly useful update - with some surprising data.

Currently there a number of monoclonal antibodies (MaBs) that prevent viral replication. Given that peak viral replication with Covid occurs 3 - 5 days after infection, studies show that giving an appropriate anti-viral MaB to vulnerable populations within 2 - 3 days of exposure significantly reduces serious symptoms, the need for hospitalisation and the risk of both Long-CoVID and death. This approach is NOT being used in the UK (much to the disgust of my UK clinician colleagues). Furthermore, people in care homes are usually considered to be vulnerable or highly vulnerable - should anyone become infected, the sensible approach would be to treat the infected person with the MaB and prophylactically treat everyone else with the MaB at the same time. Again, not being done in the UK.

 

The frustration in my UK clinician colleagues over the ineptitude of the MoH was palpable.

 

Other data of interest were new approaches to promoting an immunological response in the viral host. CoVID Vaccines typically focus on promoting recognition by the body of the spike proteins on the surface of the virus, a new approach is to promote recognition of the nucleocapsid protein which apparently undergoes less mutation than the spike proteins. So - in theory - any vaccine based on that approach would be able to weather mutations in the spike proteins and not loose efficacy.

 

Finally, there was an amiable "over coffee" discussion on whether we are seeing less CoVID severity because Omicron and its sub-variants is less lethal or because nearly all the really vulnerable have already been dispatched by the previous CoVID strains.

 

A very interesting, thought provoking and informative session indeed.

Edited June 21, 2022 by iL Dottore
Scientific update

[petethemole]

Condolences to Dave and family.

[simontaylor484]

That is certainly very interesting @iL Dottore

 

Had a sandwich in the park for dinner. The place was full of young ladies from the sixth form college dressed like Daisy Duke 

 

Moving swiftly on not done much today its too warm certainly for 2 little doggies 

[simontaylor484]

@andyram has set me off thinking about the Yorkshire Coast. Back when I had a company car and free diesel we would go quite often. I would use A1 A64 to York then turn off to Stamford Bridge then Fridaythorpe, Fimber ,Sledmere forgot to mention Garrowby Hill where on a clear day you could see the Aire valley power stations  driving through the Wolds finally dropping down at Saxton Wold getting the first glimpse of the sea between Oliver's Mount and the Castle. Rejoining the A64 into Scarborough.  

When we had had enough of Scarborough we would often go up the coast road following the old Scarborough Whitby line to Whitby for a chippy tea then Drive back over the moors to Pickering rejoining the A64 at Eden Camp.

Happy times brought crashing to an end by my first breakdown 

[iL Dottore]

15 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

....Had a sandwich in the park for dinner. The place was full of young ladies from the sixth form college dressed like Daisy Duke 

 

Moving swiftly on not done much today its too warm certainly for 2 little doggies 

You know you're getting old when you're more interested in seeing photos of the doggies than of the young ladies in immodest clothing....

[TheQ]

Spent 6 months at RAF Staxton Wold, not many ladies there either.. As I got very little time off, it wouldn't have mattered if there were..

[iL Dottore]

Anyone know what's happened to @polybear - he's been surprisingly quiet over the past few days....

[petethemole]

Solstice blessings to all.

[PhilJ W]

8 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Anyone know what's happened to @polybear - he's been surprisingly quiet over the past few days....

Putin has gained control of the world supply of LDC and is holding the rest of the world to ransom.

[Barry O]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

True, but Switzerland doesn’t have a staffing crisis like the NHS.

The group I am affiliated with is 95% UK doctors and scientists - who proposed a campaign to bring qualified  Ukrainian personnel into the NHS - albeit just for the duration of hostilities.

Furthermore, many of my UK colleagues - just retired - tried to volunteer to help the NHS during the pandemic and not only had to jump through hoops - but weren’t even used after all they went through - even though their local NHS desperately needed support. Another colleague, whose wife is an NHS physician  working in a tertiary speciality told us that when the NHS trust his wife works for shut the tertiary speciality clinic because of the pandemic, his wife was sent to work as a nursing assistant on a ward.

The NHS has many amazing, talented, dedicated and hard-working clinicians, nurses and technicians. It’s amazing what they have achieved despite the NHS bureaucracy.

No Switzerland doesn't have an NHS like we do here.  And a lot of doctors would love to work there but not if you are from outside shengen.

 

The reasons the retired GPs were not used a lot is that some current GPs were paid for each jab they delivered - whish they could do on their "non surgery" days. At £20 a jab it was very easy money and they seemed to make a lot of money from that.. that was the BMA working "for " the NHS.. and they are partly to blame for some of the mess we have in the NHS.. especially the very well paid consultants who can block change as and when  they like.

 

If the clinic was shut what else could the physician do? Sit and watch the grass grow? No, she was used to fill a gap...

 

I only wish my career in Engineering was the same as that of the medical profession... lower salaries, longer hours, work life balance ..wot is that? And the engineers I know have worked just  as hard if not harder during this pandemic without being able to have 3 days a week "contact" time on normal salaries.

 

Its not all to do with NHS bureaucracy.. boy oh boy you do lead a very sheltered life in Bastion Switzerland!

 

Baz

[Erichill16]

35 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Anyone know what's happened to @polybear - he's been surprisingly quiet over the past few days....

Posted saturday lost tigers bounce. 

[iL Dottore]

8 minutes ago, Barry O said:

....If the clinic was shut what else could the physician do? Sit and watch the grass grow? No, she was used to fill a gap...

....

 

Right. So it's totally appropriate that a physician who could work in A&E as a physician, in anesthesiology as a physician or in any of a number of other areas as a physician is put to work as a nursing assistant?

 

You clearly haven't worked in a the medical environment: whilst some consultants may have a "cushy life", the reality is doctors in the NHS are working incredibly long hours, making life and death decisions and are being taken for granted to boot. Even the consultants (who admittedly aren't blameless) have done their time in the front line - one consultant I know was recently complaining that "junior doctors" have it easier than he did when he was a junior - when 96 - 100 hour weeks were the norm.

 

I am hardly leading a sheltered life - having worked in the NHS, I've been on the inside and the reality is far different to what the media would have you believe.

 

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

This approach is NOT being used in the UK (much to the disgust of my UK clinician colleagues). 

At the first sign of infection the clinically vulnerable are offered a range of antivirals developed for Covid. If I as a vulnerable person send off three negative Covid tests but feel unwell enough to have taken them, I will be issued with antivirals just in case (including nMABs with very long names). I am in England which is for the moment still in the UK. There is also an ongoing vaccination programme for those it is deemed appropriate, I had my fifth vaccine recently, contacted by NHS, arranged on NHS website, administered for NHS by local pharmacy. All seemed very efficient. 

[andyram]

@Dave Hunt my condolences to you and your family.