by Anonymous Doctor, Daily Sceptic:
There follows a guest post by an NHS Emergency Department doctor on what, from his frontline vantage point, is behind the current hospital blockages and ambulance delays. This article first appeared on the website of the Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART), a group of experts offering a second opinion on COVID-19 policy. Sign up for updates here.
As Emergency Department doctors, we were always going to be on the frontline. In spring 2020, we were taken to one side and it was suggested we might have to say goodbye to our relatives for the foreseeable future. Few realise the fear generated in hospitals in 2020. As Emergency Department consultants we were put on 24/7 emergency shift rotas and provided with vacant hotel rooms to live away from our families for their protection. Many of our colleagues left us to it and, soon after, patients arrived showing us signs that had been put up on their GP’s door saying “closed due to the pandemic”.