The Week UK - 28.03.2020

27

GPsonthefrontline

To TheSundayTimes

Afterthemostextraordinary

week inmy 37 -yearcareer

asadoctor,W.B.Yeats’s

memorable linecomes

tomind:“Allchanged,

changedutterly.”

InourGPpractice

inLoughborough,we

immediatelyconverted

face-to-faceappointments

tovideoandtelephone

consultations.Wecontacted

hundredsofpatientstoscreen

themforsymptoms.We

createdred(atrisk)andgreen

(routine)roomstoseepatients

safelythroughstaggered

appointments.Theworkload

washugeforall:myown

12-hourdayendedwitha

palliativecarevisittothe

homeofayoungwoman

dyingofcancer.

We willgetthroughit.

And even duringsuch a

worryingweek,therewere

happier surprises.Icontacted

a90-year-oldpatientto

undertakeavideo

consultation,nervousabout

how she would copewiththe

technology.Itturned outthat

her smartphone, thelatest

model, wasconsiderably

moreadvancedthanmy own

–andshewashighlyskilled

at itsuse.

ProfessorMayur Lakhani,

formerpresident,Royal

Collegeof GPs

Blin dtothe risks

ToTheDaily Telegraph

We wererepatriatedto

HeathrowonThursday

18 MarchfromMS Braemar

in Cuba.Therewereno

checks onpassengerson

disembarking the ship,

onboarding theplane, or

onarrival at Heathrow.

Wewerebussedto

Manchester airport,another

three-and-a-half-hourjourney,

in closecontact with fellow

coughing passengers,andthen

allowed to travel home with

the advicethat wedidnot

need to self-isolate.

Social distancingwas tobe

followed, but many passengers

ontheBraemarseemednot to

think this applied to them.No

wonderthe virus is spreading,

when600passengers simply

got offashipwithfive

confirmedcases.

Dr JohnDavies, Morpeth,

Northumberland

Ashameful shortage

ToTheGuardian

Mydaughterisaconsultantat

three London hospitals.She is

workinglong hoursandsheis

without protection.Staffhave

beenpromised specialmasks

andoveralls,butnothinghas

arrived.Despicable.

KavyaHughes,London

The trolley problem

To TheSunday Times

The obvious answerto

the pandemonium at

supermarketsis to ban

trolleys. Oneshopping basket

per customerwould alleviate

the greedofselfish customers.

Lisa England, Lindfield,

West Sussex

Only following advice

To TheDaily Telegraph

Todemonise householders

emptyingthe supermarkets

is toignore what the

Government isinstructing.

Myfamily is part of the

2.2milliontold toself-isolate.

Wehave toprovision for

fouradultsforthreemonths

without leavingthehouse.

Wearenot inthe8% of

thepopulationwhobuytheir

foodonline.Doingsonow is

impossiblefornew customers.

Itismathematically clearthat

supermarketsarerequiredto

at least double their stockin

orderto meet the demand

created by governmentedict.

SimonHenson, Witney,

Oxfordshire

Unexpected efficiencies

ToTheTimes

Iampleased to report that for

the first time, sittingat home

in mystudy,Icompleted a

full list of family cases today

thanks to moderntechnology

andthe goodsense of the

parties concernedinthese

anxious times. No onehad to

attendcourt andthe parties,

theirrepresentatives andthe

courtstaff ensured that fair

hearings ensued–to the

benefitofall,not least the

childreninvolved.Once

asemblanceof normality

returnstothefamilyjustice

system(as itwill), wemay be

abletolearnfromhow weare

dispensingjusticenowwith

theuseof technologyand

makeour servicetothepu blic

even moreefficient.

His HonourJudgeRichard

Scarratt,Canterbury

Not all in it together

ToTheTimes

Thereismuch talk ofa

wartimespirit. Someyears

ago,Iwasataweddingin

WoodhallSpa,homeofthe

Dambustersand chattedto

anelderlymanwho had lived

thereallhis life.Hetoldme

that,towardstheendofthe

War,theauthoritieswere

besiegedwithlettersfrom

residents,complainingthat

theycould not sleep because

of the noise ofbomberstaking

offandassemblingoverhead.

FrankLeadbetter,Grimsby

Synonym for synonym

To TheGuardian

AndyBullsays“cricketis

synonymicwith asense of

fairplay”.That’sanew

wordtome,soIlookeditup.

Apparentlysynonymicis

asynonymofsynonymous.

Thanks,Andy,forhelping

topassthetimeduringself-

isolation.

Mike Jones,Exeter

Co-isolation

ToTheTimes

This virushasalot toanswer

for. Ihavethisstrangeman

hangingaboutthehouse.

Hesaysheliveshere.

Mary McMillan,Haddington,

East Lothian

28 March2020 THE WEEK

LETTERS

Pick of the week’s correspondence

©THE SUNDAY TIMES/NEWS LICENSING

“I’m doing work-from-home

experience”

●Letters have been edited

Exchange of theweek

Covid-19and the agequestion

ToTheDailyTelegraph

Aswellasbeing 66 andinpoorhealth,Ialsohavethreesisters

intheat-riskcategoryforcoronavirus.Ithereforefeelqualified

tosaythis.Wearedemolishingoureconomyandsmall

businessesandwastingmanybillionsofpoundstoprotect

anat-riskcategorycomprisingabout1%ofthepopulation.

Thesciencesuggeststhattherestofusmaygetamild

formofthevirusbutwillrecover.Thebestestimatesstatethat

upto 2 50,00 0 peoplewilllosetheirlives.Thisaccountsfor

lessthanhalfof1%ofourpopulation.Thisisextremelysad

andawfulforthoseaffected,butwhilegovernmentsshould

becaring,theymustbepragmatic.Manyofthesepeople–

myselfincluded–willsuccumbtosomethingelseinthenext

fewyears.

Howcanwejustifytheimpactofthispath?Weare

spending,effectively,£1.2mperexpecteddeathonpeople

whoselifewillbetakensoonanyway,yetwecannotfindthe

tensofthousandsofpoundsforspecialistcancertreatmentfor

muchyoungerpeople.Itwilltakeyearstorecoverfromthis

ridiculouspath.

DarrylDavies,GlanConwy, Denbighshire

ToTheTimes

Matthew Parrisappearstofeel thatyoungercitizensshould be

allowed tocontinuetheirlivesalmostasnormal and thatthe

over-70sshouldbesacrificed. Isuggest hecompletelymisses

the point.If theover-70s contract the virus theywillobviously

takeup valuable capacity inthe NHS.However, withoutsome

restrictionson the less vulnerable, thevery nature oftheir

lifestylesislikelytospread the disease, infectingahigh

percentageofthepopulationyoungand old.

As amember oftheover-70sgroup,Irealisethatweare

moreexpendable. Thefacts,however, are that without

restrictionson everyone theconsequences forthecountry

could becatastrophicforus all.

Cath Manchester,Whittle-le-Woods, Lancashire