No19 had a hellava time doing the media rounds yesterday morning.
Jenny Harries, the boss of the new, Not-Public-Health-England, had said, in terms; 'don’t go out or mix with people, if you don’t have to and wear a mask'.
This bog-standard, obvious, no-brainer, sensible piece of advice runs contrary to HMG guidance, which is a mixture of BoJo-mumbo-jumbo, as transparent as the freemason’s rule book and as credible as the woman who took four positive pregnancy tests and worried about how she was going to bring-up four children.
Ms Harries has thrown a whizz-bang into government policy and exposed it for what it is… a plan to keep the economy going and some ugly Tory, backbench MPs, off BoJo’s back.
The 16th Century coffeehouse culture has given way to the 21st century, coffeeshop economy.
Now the NHS is faced with the impossible; a workforce crisis, waiting lists so long, getting on them will be a life-skill, taught to our children.
Fewer bed-numbers and staffing than most comparable health-systems across the OECD… plus, now, responsibility for a vaccine roll-out, at a time when one third of the vax-capacity has been closed.
Forget any thought of an NHS recovery plan. We will need a resuscitation plan.
Pritchard’s hand-wringing performance at the Downing St briefing; ‘I’m sure the NHS will step-up and deliver… grovel, grovel…’ message, is a nonsense.
The NHS cannot do everything. Not because it is unwilling, or not clever enough. It is because there is not enough of the NHS left, to do it.
We have to say the obvious.
Waiting lists will suffer, staff will suffer, the public will suffer. Who do you want to suffer and how much suffering do you want?
How do you manage the impossible?
Five things…
Expect things to go wrong. When systems work beyond their capacity, a rigid plan is no good. There has to be huge flexibility built-in, allowing for a change in direction when the unexpected happens and something breaks.
It is impossible to plan for all contingencies. Nimble is the key word.
Avoid failure demand at all costs. Cutting corners, rushing, curtailing training… it’s tempting but will lead to having to do the job again, untangle complaints and fixing failure. That is a total waste of resource and is demoralising.
Stick to professionalism and process, at all costs… even at the expense of speed.
Learn to ‘say no’, nicely. There will come a time when the system breaks or grinds to a halt. If something can’t be done, say so.
‘We cannot make the impact on waiting-list we thought’, say it and say it early.
Tell people what’s happening, tell them again, explain what’s going on and then remind them. It’s called communications and NHSE won’t do it, the DH don’t know how to do it and Number 10 never tell the truth.
Have a Plan B… delay time-scales, shift locations, be prepared to stop and recalibrate.
Vaccination hubs, in hospitals, involve keeping the vax-operation separate from the rest of the estate, ring-fencing staff, using separate facillities, car-parking, loo’s, food and water. Plus training, refreshers, DBS checks for volunteers.
I wonder if the Home Office is geared up?
We are coming up to the coldest part of the year. Expect staff to go-sick. Have facillities for the pubic who might need loo’s or collapse whilst waiting.
Queue management is vital, a few local buskers might brighten things up!
Logistics, mathematics, mechanics, phobics all need our attention and picnics… this will not be, but recognising we are all chocaholics might help. Look after our people, at all costs.
This is a huge undertaking for which, at the time of writing, the plan is being evolved, drafted, rewritten, signed-off by press-numpties and Number10.
To accomplish this herculean task we need no management book, no qualifications and no guidance.
We need to turn to a copy of Phineas Redux (1837), the words of ‘a French Minister’;
‘The difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer…’
>> I'm hearing - Tesco have emails their customers outlining the new mask requirements and spelling-out their covid-secure initiatives... every little helps.
>> I'm hearing - fifth year London medical students' cohort has fallen from 330 to 270 over the Covid period. If this is replicated over the UK, we are in more trouble than I thought.
>> I'm hearing - Fiona Edwards is to become CHEX Frimley ICS. Kate Shields, the ICS chief executive designate for the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICS. Musical chairs but at least their not old-white geezers!
>> I'm hearing - Co-op and Iceland supermarkets say staff won't enforce new mask rule. It's the law, isn't it? It's like ignoring the law to sell alcohol to minors? They can't pick and chose what laws they will enforce, surely?
>> I'm hearing - Ursula von der Leyen is seeking EU wide, mandatory vaccination compliance and uniformity of approach.
