The costs involved in storage are one reason why car repair garages have small stocks of spare parts onhand and their customers risk a wait for replacement parts. It works well as long as the manufacturers and repairers get the flow of new parts right.
Now multiply that up by the sudden increase in demand for PPE, medicines, oxygen and, of course, specialised staff needed to cope with a pandemic and you start to see the problem. Hence my remarks about having home-grown skills and manufacturing capacity and the obvious need to look beyond political contacts and favours to people who can actually help.
As for funding, even in France where health services have always been good, there are now shortages of skills and capacity following government trying to cut costs. The German health system is funded differently and seems to be less exposed to political vagaries so maybe tie to look at adopting that one.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I agree there was a lot of pre pandemic planning in the Blood service too. The modelling was based on the so called Spanish flu, which was the last real one to hit us. I always felt because SARS, largely fizzled out before it got to us, the government were complacent, and thought covid would be the same. I think my earlier point still stands, if they hadn't run the NHS into the ground beforehand, we would have been starting from a much higher base, it may have bought us some more time.
@punkdoc, thanks for the observations about planning by the medical profession. In this instance I think it really is a case of can't afford. Just one example is the emergency hospitals which were set up and never used. How much did they cost and was effectively wasted. It could be argued that there should be more hospitals anyway, but then we run into the same staffing issues that already exist. In an ideal world all the problems would be solved, but we have to exist in the real world.
The hospitals were not 'wasted'. At the beginning of the pandemic no-one knew for sure exactly what would be needed or for how long etc. With hindsight they were not needed. If they had not been set up and were needed everyone would complain as to why none were provided!!
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
@madpenguin I said 'effectively wasted' because the vast majority weren't used, much as vast amounts of PPE remained unused and was thrown away. I didn't say they shouldn't have been created in the first place. Anything which is built or purchased and not used is wasted money.
That makes it sound as though they over bought good PPE. That wasn't thne case. Because there was a panic to buy PPE, the kit bought wasn't always fit for purpose.
@madpenguin I said 'effectively wasted' because the vast majority weren't used, much as vast amounts of PPE remained unused and was thrown away. I didn't say they shouldn't have been created in the first place. Anything which is built or purchased and not used is wasted money.
Anything that is bought (in a panic) not to spec is potentially wasted money.
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Now multiply that up by the sudden increase in demand for PPE, medicines, oxygen and, of course, specialised staff needed to cope with a pandemic and you start to see the problem. Hence my remarks about having home-grown skills and manufacturing capacity and the obvious need to look beyond political contacts and favours to people who can actually help.
As for funding, even in France where health services have always been good, there are now shortages of skills and capacity following government trying to cut costs. The German health system is funded differently and seems to be less exposed to political vagaries so maybe tie to look at adopting that one.
I think my earlier point still stands, if they hadn't run the NHS into the ground beforehand, we would have been starting from a much higher base, it may have bought us some more time.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If they had not been set up and were needed everyone would complain as to why none were provided!!
Anything that is bought (in a panic) not to spec is potentially wasted money.