Operation to prepare for coronavirus toll escalates
private sector a re being recruited to boost frontline services.
Health boards are recruiting fourth- year students to “help out where required”. They are also looking for staff working at private practices to work within the NHS.
It is understood Scotland’s biggest hospital, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, is sectioning off half of one of the children’s wards for coronavirus patients and an area of the adult A&E department. Yesterday a picture emerged of a hospital overspill facility, set up in a village hall on the island of Barra. The photograph s h owe d a line of camp beds, in the village hall at Castle
Bay on the island. Meanwhile, thousands of retired doctors and nurses have begun receiving letters from health boards asking them to return to work to help the NHS face the “unprecedented challenge” of the pandemic. “An important element of our resilience planning is to seek the support of recently retired colleagues,” said the letter. Fo r m e r consultant Dr Crawford Reid said he was “ready, able and willing” to come out of retirement to lend a hand during the crisis.
Dr Reid, 64, who lives in Auchterarder, Perthshire, said: “There’s always a national shortage of staff within the NHS, but as we face this dreadful virus and look to see what has happened in Italy and China, it’s clear we all need to do what we can to boost the frontline.
“And we don’t just need doctors. We also need nurses, auxiliaries, cleaning staff and anyone else who has experience within the health service or has needed skills.” Describing the scenes in hospital, one doctor told The
Sunday Post: “We are acutely aware of the 13 Italian doctors who have died. It would seem the more often you are exposed to the virus the more deleterious the effect on a person. “London ITUS ( intensive therapy units) are busy and we are watching and waiting in Scotland. It’s like a lull before the storm. We look at colleagues working in Italy and wonder if this will be us in a week or two. “Incidence- wise, we are where Italy was two weeks ago in terms of numbers.
“Please do not leave the house unless you need to. “Young people are becoming ill, people with no risk factors.”
A big-hearted band of volunteers have vowed to carry on feeding the homeless even if they have to wear protective clothing. Four nights a week Stret Friends Helping The Homeless serve up food donated by Greggs and Pret a Manger, and hot soup cooked up by well-wishers. Organiser Michelle Houghton, who leads a team of around 60 volunteers, said contingency plans have been drawn up. She said: “The homeless people are worried but it’s a different sort of worry. “Shop shelves being empty doesn’t really affect them because they haven’t got the means to shop anyway.
“There are a few concerns because if there’s a lockdown we won’t have Greggs and Pret a Manger.
“Plan B is we’ve got supplies and volunteers can make sandwiches but if there’s no bread in the shops we have to go to Plan C. If there’s a lockdown, volunteers are willing to get kitted out in protective clothing.”
Big-hearted bikers in the Outer Hebrides have offered to ride to the rescue of vulnerable islanders. More than 140 Lewis and Harris bikers are revving up to lend a hand in delivering supplies to the needy.
It follows a call from motorcycle instructor Calum Maclean, who proposed the idea of a two-wheeled courier service to bring shopping and essentials to people self-isolating in remote areas.
In a Facebook post Calum said: “We’ve got a small army of bikers ready to help.”
Local fishermen are prepared to offer fresh catch to those who are isolated too.
Volunteers at the Boghall Drop In Centre in West Lothian are bringing the community together – using the internet. The community group are asking for donations of old iphones and tablets so families can stay in touch with the most
Cafe owner Ryan Deacon has offered a free meal a day to elderly and disabled people who are isolated in their homes. Ryan, 29, runs DJ Snax in Inverkeithing, Fife and is cooking up hot food for local pensioners and disabled people who are particularly at risk from coronavirus. He said: “Most of Inverkeithing has come together and is helping. The only thing is I think people are embarrassed to ask for help – but my message would be that there is nothing to be embarrassed about.” vulnerable, and so children can get enjoy storytelling, games and singalongs. Vicky Dunnett said: “The one that we all have in common is that we’re a strong community.”
Contact www.bdin.org.uk
A team of more than 20 volunteers has banded together to help elderly and vulnerable people. Wendy Dugdale, owner of Balvicar
Stores, has been coordinating the effort to deliver food and supplies to those in need.
The island is a half-hour drive from the nearest town of Oban, where supplies of essentials such as toilet roll have been running low due to panic-buying.
Wendy said: “It’s a whole community coming together and pitching in. Everybody knows everybody here. We have to be careful as the majority of people are older. We’ve got plenty of tinned food, fresh and frozen vegetables, fresh and frozen meat.”