Quote of the day 28th April 2020
Mrs T was talking about political battles and the battle of ideas.
But I suspect the same thing may apply to the battle against COVID-19
Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria
Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
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Maggie was indeed talking about political battles, and there is an iteresting parallel here too. You see at the moment the vast majority of descussions in the political arena, the ideas and the policies are discussed in westminster and issued on a national basis (for simplicty forget about Welsh and Scottish devolution, in fact think about Copeland and lets say Grantham and Stamford). See at the national level the desisions made for the nation are often good for the nation on the whole, ideal for Copleland and not revelevent or detrimental to Grantham and Stamford. Sometimes its the other way around. Everything being dealt with centrally is very often an inefficient system. Its why Harrogate regnised that all politics is local and the second demand is for real local democracy.
The same issue arises in health care, and certainly in this pandemic. The language that is being used "over the first wave" etc is a cause for concern. Its being treated as though this is a national outbreak, that is of course a massive problem. Its not a national outbreak its a national epidemic of covid 19, but its multipul outbreaks across the nation each one at a different point. Multipul outbreaks like that really need to be managed locally. What is right for Copeland may well be the exact opposite of what is required in Grantham and Stamford.
The PPE problems, these could have been vastly reduced if every local hospital was able to source its own equipment locally, rather than having central purchacing and distribution.
The same question again (though I admit it was very briefly touched on during last nights breif) Why are the local Nightingale hosptials not being used? why on Earth are the general hospitals being used for covid so they are hot beds of infection?
It was touched on that the nightingales are finally to be used though its about ******* time. I often wonder if the undoubtadly intellegent experts who work so hard and prove themselves time after time to get there then have to go to have their brain smashed like mashed potato before they take on the higher posts.
Though anyway back to the main point, its not a national outbreak, it may be the same epidemic but its lots and lots of smaller outbreaks, all at different stages, and the hospitals, care homes etc are just seeds allowing each one to ramp back up once the lockdown restriciton in each area are lifted. Test and trace too is best done locally, local teams testing and tracing will work, the centrally managed app wont.
Imagine a 100 mile long front in world war 1, now, every area along the 100 mile front line trench is unlikely to be in the same positon, some areas may be taking ground, others may be pinned down, others may even be quiet having seen no sign of the enemy for hours or even a coulple of days. You see a trench long strategy of "attack now" or "run away" wont be suitable for the entire trench, yeah it is in some parts, but in other parts it would be the most stupid plan ever.
So yes you may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. but the way things are at the moment, the smaller regional battles are not being considered, its more like total war declarations and armastices are the only options.
It doesn't always work. You will recall we were discussing the other day the issue of discharging people into care homes. If what I am hearing is correct this appears to have been a local mistake against the national and indeed county level policy of the organisations concerned. Though there is much to be done to investigate what actually happened here, and it is important to make sure we get to the truth.
There are a few insane governments who are trying to pretend that COVID-19 is a fuss got up by the media.
I don't think there is a single responsible government anywhere in the world who would compare the threat posed by the Coronavirus pandemic as equivalent to a "minor skirmish."
Every country which publishes data which permit an impartial assessment has taken an economic hit. Every country remotely comparable to Britain has lost a horrifying number of people.
There are no easy asnwers and nobody has got everything right.
But for what it is worth I was assured that it was not policy - specifically, that it was not policy to discharge anyone into a care home if there was a material possibility that they had been exposed to COVID-19 in hospital and might be carrying it.
Whoever was responsible, if this has indeed taken place as I'm very much afraid may be the case, it must not be allowed to happen again.