Only the healthy will be treated - COVID-19 DECISION SUPPORT TOOL

[Paddy]

COVID-19 DECISION SUPPORT TOOL
The F1 team is dropping out of manufacturing ventilators and Dyson is not getting anywhere with its design, Bojo hasn't a clue what he should do
so the NHS has to ration treatment by giving it to the young and healthy.


http://prod-upp-image-read.ft.com/76...4-daa3def9ae03

[BrilloPad]

Sounds like a plan. Lets lift the lockdown now and get back to normal.

[NotAllThere]

so the NHS has to ration treatment by giving it to the young and healthy.

The NHS has always rationed healthcare. They just don't talk about it much.

[Whorty]

The NHS has always rationed healthcare. They just don't talk about it much.

This .....

We have first hand experience of this ... there are drugs for my wife's illness, no cure but drugs that can slow the progression of the illness and prolong life. These drugs though are only given to certain people based on how far their illness has progressed. My wife is at the wrong end of the scale so no drugs for her. She has palliative care only, pain killers etc but nothing that will reduce the disease progression or prolong life, it's all about symptom management only to keep the sufferer as 'happy' as possible during their final years.

Saying that though, we live in a county that gives great palliative care so she has help from sectors of the NHS that, if we lived 5 miles down the road in a different county we wouldn't have access to. So in that respect we're much better off than others.

'tis the way it is. The NHS only has so much resources so it can only treat those who will benefit the most. Harsh when you're the ones not getting the treatment, great for those that do. We could get all sh1tty about it, but what's the point? Life's too short already, why worry about what you can't control?

[Old Greg]

The NHS has always rationed healthcare. They just don't talk about it much.

Well, kind of. When it comes to acutely sick patients, really the only grounds for refusing admission to a critical care bed is typically futility (e.g. an unsurvivable head trauma, in the opinion of a senior neurosurgeon following a brain scan). IF there isn't a critical care bed available, acutely sick patients will be ventilated in a side room in ED or Theater suite. There is an ongoing problem with scheduled surgery (e.g. for cancer) being cancelled, sometimes repeatedly, as there is no available critical care bed for post-surgical care.

Systematic refusal of treatment of acutely sick people due to 'rationing' is not something I've heard off. It could be justified in a public health emergency but I'm not sure it will come to that. Having said that, it's not clear what is going on in residential centres like nursing homes.

[xoggoth]

I'm in the green. What else matters?

[Whorty]

I'm in the green. What else matters?

[NotAllThere]

Well, kind of. When it comes to acutely sick patients, really the only grounds for refusing admission to a critical care bed is typically futility

Agreed that this is a different type of rationing, but even before that kind of triage, while admitted, you might well not get the inc drugs that will prolong your life for six months.

There's only so much money to go around.

[vetran]

I'm in the green. What else matters?

Hey if its green next it drops off!

[SimonMac]

It's called triage, healthcare all over the world do it.

It's just a stark realisation when seen written down