I find this odd too..
Several reporters seem to be implying that Trusts are short of oxygen whereas I suspect they might mean a shortage in the ability to delivery enough high-flow oxygen which is usually only available in critical-care and theatre environments.
Hearing these reports made me quite proud that my trust preplanned this and converted two of our regular wards a couple of months ago to be able to supply high-flow oxygen at the bedside (upgrade to wall mounted flow-meters and pipework), this has reduced the pressure on ITU.
We've been able to continue with a much reduced schedule of elective lists by creating our 'elective centre' which has been described as a 'hospital within a hospital, currently our limiting factor is staffing, once a certain number are diverted to cv19 care then our electives will come down.
Several trusts have suffered with staffing since there was a push by Govt to roll out the lateral-flow tests to staff, you home test twice a week and register your results -ve or +ve, maybe not surprisingly this has lead to groups of staff now self isolating but without a constructive plan to replace them.
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