# 4405
An interesting read this morning from This Is Nottingham concerning post-pandemic wave assessments made by a variety of practitioners and medical professionals from the Nottingham, UK region.
Chris Locke, chief executive of the Notts Local Medical Committee (LMC), believes that the NHS (National Health Service) `just coped’ with the pandemic.
Had it been much more severe, he states, `many services would have collapsed under the strain’.
While this article is UK-centric, many of the difficulties discussed in this article would apply to other countries as well.
As bad as it was, we collectively dodged a bullet with this pandemic. It could have been a lot worse.
This is a long article, an informal post-mortem if you will, on the NHS response. An official assessment is underway, and is expected in May.
I’ve just reproduced the opening paragraphs. Follow the links to read it in its entirety.
NHS 'just coped' with flu pandemic
Friday, March 05, 2010, 11:14
A LEADING doctor has revealed local health services "would have collapsed under the strain" if the swine flu pandemic had been more widespread.
Local NHS officials expected hospitals, phone lines and GP services to be swamped after the World Health Organisation declared a swine flu pandemic last June.
But the disease didn't take hold as quickly or as widely as expected.
Chris Locke, chief executive of the Notts Local Medical Committee (LMC), has said health services across county would not have been able to cope if the threat had fully materialised.
He said: "Despite several years of preparation, the NHS only just managed to cope with this pandemic.
"If it had turned out to be as bad as predicted, many services would have collapsed under the strain.
"Emergency departments, out-of-hours services, GP practices and community staff were all overstretched at certain times."
The LMC, which represents GPs, says the Government made mistakes in the way it responded to the pandemic.
Related Post:
- Hong Kong’s Coronavirus Response
- NWS: Possible Coastal Storm Mid-Week
- Caveat Twitter
- Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists: Fukushima Crisis in review
- WHO Panel: World Ill-Prepared To Deal With A Pandemic
- Brookings Institute: A Year Of Living Dangerously
- Japan: OCHA SITREP # 4
- IAEA: Onagawa Facility Declares Level 1 Emergency
- IAEA Update On Fukushima Plant Explosion
- IHR Review Committee Report On The Pandemic Of 2009
- PHAC: Lessons Learned From The 2009 Pandemic
- PLoS Essay: Reflections On The International Pandemic Response
- Two From CIDRAP
- ASEAN-UN-USAID Pandemic Response Exercise
- Dr. David Fedson: The Case For Using Statins In A Pandemic
- IRIN Analysis: Egypt’s Response To The Pandemic
- WHO Europe Chief Interview
- John Barry On The Pandemic Response
- HPA Conference: Pandemic Lessons Learned
- Pandemic Briefing Note 21: WHO Responds To Critics
- The CDC’s Oil Spill Response Page
- Margaret Chan’s Open Letter To The BMJ
- WHO Confirms China H5N1 Fatality, Rejects BMJ Report
- Referral: New Scientist On The WHO `Conspiracy’
- Of Pandemics, Hurricanes and An Abundance Of Caution
- EID Book Review - Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
- Study: Self-Administered Vaccines In Adults
- BMC: Exploring The `Age Shift’ Of Pandemic Mortality
- WHO Europe: Revising Pandemic Preparedness Plans
- Paper: Are We Prepared For A Pandemic In Low Resource Communities?
- CSIRO: The Quest For Flu Resistant Poultry
- University of Michigan: Influenza Encyclopedia 1918-1919
- Lancet: Public Response To The H1N1 Pandemic Of 2009
- Pathogens At the Gate
- NIAID Video: How Influenza Pandemics Occur
- IDSA: Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza Preparedness
- An Increasingly Complex Flu Field
- Study: Kids, Underlying Conditions, And The 2009 Pandemic Flu
- Hong Kong Updates Their Pandemic Preparedness Plan
- Yes, We Have No Pandemic . . .
- Study: Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices During The 2009 Pandemic
- Novel Viruses & Chekhov’s Gun
- MIT: Contagion Dynamics Of International Air Travel
- Pandemic Uncertainties
- Lancet: Estimating Global 2009 Pandemic Mortality
- PNAS: H1N1 Vaccination Produced Antibodies Against Multiple Flu Strains
- Lancet: David Fedson On Statins For Pandemic Influenza
- H5N1: Now That They’ve Broken The `Species Barrier’
- Downton Abbey Rekindles An Old HCW Debate
- Study: The Effects Of School Closures During A Pandemic
Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]