Euthanasia is illegal, yet if you're a doctor, no problem.
So much for the Hippocratic oath.

It is also calling for a review so that any "hasty, ill-informed decisions" could be removed from older people's records.

Despicable

Sounds like the "Death Panels" that Obama Care was supposed to create.

UK "Death Panel"

Diane Sarkar, chief nursing officer for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Southend University Hospital, said: "Our sincere thoughts and condolences are with Miss Deleon's family, and we welcome them to continue to discuss any concerns they have with us.

Bit late for that as the patient is dead.
I don't like the direction our NHS is heading in.
A few years ago had reason to contact the CQC.
Had received several phone calls enquiring about my partners medication.
The calls were from the pharmacist inquiring about her medication & if she had improved so her medication can be reduced.
Asking if she was a qualified doctor, she hung up. A couple of months later, she called again.
After that call I contacted the CQC with a complaint. It was acted on & no calls received on that matter since.
One thing I did learn is that even though it's a NHS medical centre, it is operated by Octogon, a private company.

From https://thrombosisuk.org/thrombosis-statistics.php

Looks to me, that politicians are making mountains out of mole hills and coming up with the wrong decisions.

Dr Anthony Cox, who researches drug safety at the UK's University of Birmingham, told the BBC it was a "cascade of bad decision-making that's spread across Europe".

Well, what more can one expect from B/S politicians over-ruling science.
AZ vaccine safe
I bet that has put miz Von Leyen's knickers in a twist.

... a private company

As is repeatedly demonstrated, when those in control of profits are detached/removed from the care and the people who are sacrificed for those profits...


To be fair on the pharmacist, there may be guidance notes for some drugs that are to be followed up to avoid such as unintended addiction or an accumulation of side effects. Very good as a second check in case you become lost between multiple doctors!

Always good to check with the doctor also.


Stay well!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

True. The problem is in getting trough to the doctor.
Also, where that medical centre is concerned, I have to be careful in preventing myself being labelled a xenophobic racist.
Several weeks before the vaccine call, received a call from a doctor inquiring about the reason why she has to sign a form.
It was a 2 page form, one side the patient fills in, the other a doctor.
It was stated that she does not know the patient & wanted to know the reason as she is the one signing the document.
Side 2 states "for the reasons stated overleaf"
2nd, the document had the patients name, address & D.O.B.
Sitting in front of a computer, one just enters that info & voila, up comes the patients medical record.
DUH!
Doctor was foreign.
Say no more!

... The problem is in getting trough to the doctor...

For treating any patient, there is an ever repeated problem of ensuring that the right patient is being treated...

Hence the paranoid repeated checks at every step to check for who you are! (Unless that is you get an rfid-chip barcoded wristband, and then you still get asked just to be sure!)

Hence there is always some rather ungainly bureaucratic procedures at every step.


However, I can well see that for the sake of profits, there will be management pressure to run the 'service' such that everything is always overstretched by a nominal 20% perpetual overload. The clients (patients) suffer badly for that... The staff suffer also with ongoing wearying frustration of guaranteed failure.

In contrast, maintaining a healthy level of spare (unused!) capacity is more healthy for everyone, doctors, staff, and patients, and reduces costs overall whilst giving a far better more healthy service. That beancounter's abhorrent supposed unused capacity is actually a highly valuable uncosted catalyst giving invaluable flexibility to enable smooth running... Yet, there is sadly far too much ignorant management short-term-ism and rabid greed.

How do we turn that all around?


Stay patiently healthy!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

... The problem is in getting trough to the doctor...

... That beancounter's abhorrent supposed unused capacity is actually a highly valuable uncosted catalyst giving invaluable flexibility to enable smooth running... Yet, there is sadly far too much ignorant management short-term-ism and rabid greed.

How do we turn that all around?

See:

WeOwnIt: Save lives, scrap Serco now
wrote:

... instead of putting local public health experts in charge, health secretary Matt Hancock has handed over responsibility to Serco - a private outsourcing company that has already put lives at risk...

WeOwnIt: Here are the GP Practices taken over by US health insurance giant Centene
wrote:

... This is shocking. Even the Daily Mail has called Centene a “profit greedy” company.

Below is a full list of the GP surgeries and practices currently owned by Centene, through its subsidiary Operose Health UK.

Your GP’s surgery might be next - wherever you live...

Take action!

Stay patiently healthy!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Way to go!


PM statement at coronavirus press conference: 18 March 2021
wrote:

Our roadmap to freedom depends on the continued success of our vaccination programme...

... We also saw yesterday the evidence from Public Health England

that a single dose of either vaccine provides 60 per cent protection against getting COVID.

and reduces the chances of hospitalisation by 80 per cent

and the risk of death by 85 per cent.

So the Oxford jab is safe; and the Pfizer jab is safe – the thing that isn’t safe is catching Covid – which is why it’s so important that we all get our jabs as soon as our turn comes...

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Sat, March 20th, 10AM I am scheduled to get my vacine, I don't know which one the provider will have. I would prefer the JJ but I wil be grateful for whatever they have.

---

https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2021/3/19/22337705/us-covid-spike-case-count-drop

Emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen told CNN a COVID-19 surge seems likely because the recent dip in case numbers has stopped dipping — and numbers have leveled out.

Yes, the decreasing infection rate for the UK has now clearly leveled off.

Unfortunately, the leveling off is still at the high rate of nearly 5000 news cases (as reported/detected) per day. The real world figure for new infections can be expected to be higher, especially amongst those in low paid work who will be under pressure to continue working regardless...

For one example in the UK:

Why are some towns struggling to shake off Covid-19?
wrote:

For weeks now, Covid-19 infection rates have been falling across the UK.

But there are some towns that have bucked the trend, with infections remaining stubbornly high. This is particularly true of towns where the local economy relies on manufacturing, construction or food processing jobs - the kind of work that simply can't be done from home...

... Even when [infection rates] do fall, they do so slowly, and cases remain stubbornly over 100 cases per 100,000 people - while the average area in England has 45.

Ben Anderson, the director of public health at Rotherham Borough Council, describes a potentially deadly combination of a virus that thrives on contacts, and the type of face-to-face jobs the local economy depends on...

... This is the danger for towns like Rotherham - that as the rest of the country comes out of lockdown, they still face high infection rates. That would mean communities that were already struggling before the pandemic, and have been hit hardest during the last year, are left further behind.

So... COVID is indeed highly contagious hence why we have a pandemic...

There is a local area here that is suffering anomalously high infection rates for COVID. I do wonder which factory or block of flats or whatever other 'hot spot' is fueling that...


The case numbers are one to watch as the contest unfolds between vaccination and (sterilizing) warmer sunny weather vs easing of lockdown and people wearying of the lockdowns.

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Sat, March 20th, 10AM I am scheduled to get my vacine, I don't know which one the provider will have. I would prefer the JJ but I wil be grateful for whatever they have.

Good stuff!

Similarly, I'm very happy to go for any of the vaccines available as soon as they are available.

Thankfully, the UK vaccination program looks to be one thing our government has got right. Was that due to a new department having been set up specially for that one task?...

(Also, hopefully, that will spur a shakeup of our health ministry to clear out the ridiculously expensive choking hubris in there, including the boondoggle Dido?)


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Even amidst a deadly pandemic, one has to watch out, there's a BP about

The young do care

Scientists and medics have every right to be getting very frustrated about such continued stupidity as this:


Covid: Summer holidays abroad 'unlikely', warns government adviser
wrote:

Summer holidays overseas are "extremely unlikely" because of the risk of travellers bringing coronavirus variants back to the UK, a scientist on a government advisory body has said.

The UK faces a "real risk" if people travel abroad...

Covid: France and Poland increase lockdown measures as infections surge
wrote:

France and Poland have reintroduced partial lockdowns as both countries battle a sharp rise in Covid infections in recent weeks.

Some 21 million people in 16 areas of France, including the capital Paris, are affected as the country fears a third wave...

... In France, the partial lockdown took effect from midnight on Friday. Trains leaving Paris for parts of the country where lockdown restrictions do not apply, such as Brittany and Lyon, were reportedly fully booked hours before the measures were due to come into effect. Traffic jams were reported on several roads leaving the capital...

... In Poland, the three-week lockdown began on Saturday...

And from those articles for comment about the French approach to vaccination:

... Prof Sir John Bell, a member of the government's vaccine taskforce, criticised France for changing its vaccine advice, calling it "crackers".

France is refusing to give the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to under-55s having previously said it was unsuitable for older people - a move Prof Bell said undermined confidence in the vaccination rollout.

"It doesn't make any sense. The whole thing looks completely crackers. They are changing the rules almost every week," he told Today.

"They are really damaging people's confidence in vaccines generally - not just the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"They are sitting on a massive stockpile of vaccines that they haven't deployed yet and at the same time they have got a massive wave of the new variants coming across the country. You couldn't make [such a farce] up."...

How many deadly waves does it take to eventually learn how not to suffer deadly waves?

Three? Four? Five??

Indeed, deadly crackpot crackers!


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Just a passing thought - Is France trying to cover up for not having ordered enough doses early enough by restricting the potential number of candidates?

(And as a country they are now suffering as a result of governmental complaisance - which is something the UK has been suffering for a fair chunk of the last year.)

As for the "stupid & selfish neds" (other phrases may apply) who think they can head off to sunnier climbs this summer - just save your dosh and enjoy a holiday at home this year.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Well I got vacinated as scheduled. It went very well and for all of you who are dying to know it was the Moderna.

---

How Russia glosses over its Covid death toll

A year into the pandemic, the virus this team are battling is familiar, but their careful daily routine is a reminder of the risk - it was last autumn that Covid-19 struck hardest in Perm, on its sweep from Moscow across the regions, and the number of sick and dead shot up.

But there is very little talk in Russia of the death toll from Covid. The full data revealed by excess mortality is not secret, but it's never highlighted, and the preliminary tally published each day by the government significantly underplays the impact.

Well I was going to do this update yesterday, but it seemed that a few countries were taking their Friday's off so I'll do it now.

At the end of the last reporting period the world's total case tally had passed 123.4 million while deaths passed 2,721,400. :-(

The only change in the top 30 of the death list was Colombia relieving Iran if 11th spot so now lets move onto the case list.

Jamaica booted Malawi out of 111th place, Uganda passed Cameroon and then Cyprus passed them both to claim 104th while Montenegro and Norway both passed Zambia to take up 91st and 92nd respectively, Estonia flew past Ghana, Sri Lanka and China to land in 86th as Kenya and North Macedonia displaced Algeria from 81st and 82nd, Libya passed Oman followed by Venezuela, but Bosnia/Herzegovina kicked the lot aside to grab hold of 74th and Ethiopia jumped over both Honduras and Armenia to take over 69th spot.

Paraguay replaced Guatemala in 67th, Moldova took 67th from Costa Rica as Kazakhstan slid past Ireland and then Greece passed both of them to claim 56th, Azerbaijan kicked Tunisia out of 54th while Ecuador slipped past Belarus into 46th, Jordan nudged Austria from 36th, Belgium leapt over Portugal and Israel into 25th and Peru and Czechia passed Indonesia to take up 18th and 19th places respectively with Poland becoming the 14th country to pass 2 million infections.

Meanwhile down under, because PNG has passed New Zealand, Burundi, Vietnam and Liechtenstein to move into 173rd place, the rest of our Oxford/AstraZeneca doses from overseas have been diverted to there (1 million doses were originally diverted) and I don't know if a deal has been done or not over that, but the doses that have been manufactured here are now being distributed around the country. Originally we had to take delivery of 3.8 million doses from OS before we could distribute the locally manufactured doses.

Anyhow that's enough for this update, but stay tuned for further updates.

Over a year onwards and we really need to get real about new ways for clearing this ongoing pandemic:




Dawn Bilbrough: Food plea nurse considers quitting after Covid
wrote:

A critical care nurse who tearfully urged the public to stop panic buying last year has said she is considering leaving her profession.

Dawn Bilbrough said the past year had been "relentless, incredibly traumatic and emotionally and physically exhausting"...

... In the viral video, taken following a visit to a supermarket after she finished her working week, Ms Bilbrough pleaded with people to stop panic buying so she could purchase food...

... Ms Bilbrough warned the pandemic was not over and that it was "shocking" that those on ventilators now are often in their 50s. "What we have at the moment is an awful lot of patients that remain on ventilators that have been on them since January... we've got young people that are still needing that support. So it's quite shocking,"...

Masks and social distancing 'could last years'
wrote:

People may need to wear face coverings and socially distance for several years until we return to normality, a leading epidemiologist has predicted.

... basic measures could be in place until other countries successfully roll out jabs...

Can we quickly get the COVID vaccines to all around the world?

Note how vaccinating worldwide against smallpox took far far far too long...


Set up vaccination centres at all airports, sea ports, and all boarders to ensure everyone, and especially all travelers, can be vaccinated?

Turn away those refusing vaccination??...



Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Can we quickly* get the COVID vaccines to all around the world?

Probably not, companies like Croda, which produces essential ingredients for vaccines, are having to find ways of increasing production just to meet the present day requirements.
There are also production limits for vials and suitable syringes.

* define quickly

edit] If European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen imposes an export ban on vaccines to the UK, Boris could easily respond by banning the export of the Croda ingredients to the EU. Although he has said he will not, as that would harm too many innocent people.