We’ve all seen some pretty scary things on social media and the news about the strain that some hospitals, particularly in the South East, are under.
In the past few days, I’ve seen accounts of a friend’s relative waiting hours for an emergency ambulance and then spending more than a day in A & E before a bed could be found in a ward.
Just on my social media, I am seeing several people each day testing positive. I’m aware of people having the virus, too, although, thankfully, nobody I know has been seriously ill with it. However, the so called “mild” version is extremely unpleasant.
With all this in mind, you can just imagine the stress that front line health workers must be facing. Exhausted already by the first wave and the race to catch up with the backlog of things that didn’t happen during it, the intensity of the second wave is at times overwhelming for them.
And that’s before any of them catch the virus and have to take time off themselves.
They need reinforcements, so it would help if retired health professionals could take some of the strain, even if it is covering things away from the front line.
But apparently the system makes it difficult for that to happen seamlessly.
Our Ed Davey has got himself into the Sun today, calling on Matt Hancock to sort this out. He said: