Opinions on how the Government have handled the coronavirus outbreak

[CN211276]

Congratulations to the government for making sure the NHS was not over run. How did they do it ? They really are exceptionally caring.

Oh wait, they made old people in care homes and the community who could have benefited from hospital care die in their homes by refusing them access. These murderers must change their view now.

https://mobile.twitter.com/lewis_ ... 81210369

[valvesRus]

It's of no comfort, but around the world there are similar stories.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52468287

[savvypaul]

The US is not a great comparison but care homes around the world have suffered pretty badly...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... eath-rates

There still needs to be an inquiry once the full data is assembled. My eldest daughter is currently working in a care home while on the break from Uni. They have not had any CV related deaths, but the management there had the prescience to 'lockdown' nearly 3 weeks before the government did so...

[valvesRus]

There still needs to be an inquiry once the full data is assembled. My eldest daughter is currently working in a care home while on the break from Uni. They have not had any CV related deaths, but the management there had the prescience to 'lockdown' nearly 3 weeks before the government did so...

Good for them. It just shows that it's not just down to following Government orders, common sense decisions (with a bit of foresight) can make such a difference.

My partner is a carer, going into peoples houses, and all her customers thank God they are not in a care home.

[savvypaul]

There still needs to be an inquiry once the full data is assembled. My eldest daughter is currently working in a care home while on the break from Uni. They have not had any CV related deaths, but the management there had the prescience to 'lockdown' nearly 3 weeks before the government did so...

Good for them. It just shows that it's not just down to following Government orders, common sense decisions (with a bit of foresight) can make such a difference.

Still, it won't do any harm for common sense decisions and government advice to overlap...

[slinger]

NHS procurement official privately selling PPE amid Covid-19 outbreak

A head of procurement for the NHS has set up a business to profit from the private sale of huge quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, an undercover investigation by the Guardian can reveal.

David Singleton, 42, a senior NHS official in London who has been working at the capital’s Covid-19 Nightingale hospital, launched the business two weeks ago to trade in visors, masks and gowns.

Asked about the findings of the investigation, Singleton said he disclosed his business to superiors in the NHS, in accordance with the rules, and was told there was “unlikely to be a conflict”.

However, the NHS launched an immediate investigation. “We take any potential conflicts of interest extremely seriously and as soon we became aware of these allegations an internal investigation was started,” a spokesperson said.

A website for Singleton’s company, Sure Stock, which marketed PPE to private sector and NHS clients, made no reference to Singleton or his role in the health service. But in a phone call with an undercover reporter posing as a potential client, Singleton confirmed he was running the business. He said he was trading as a “sales agent” between suppliers and buyers of PPE.

According to Singleton’s LinkedIn profile, which he deleted shortly after the Guardian told him about its investigation, he is a head of procurement for the NHS in London. He works within a large commissioning support unit (CSU) that covers the capital’s north and east and surrounding areas. It is understood the investigation is being conducted by his employer, the NHS north and east London CSU.

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[NSNO2021]

NHS procurement official privately selling PPE amid Covid-19 outbreak

A head of procurement for the NHS has set up a business to profit from the private sale of huge quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, an undercover investigation by the Guardian can reveal.

David Singleton, 42, a senior NHS official in London who has been working at the capital’s Covid-19 Nightingale hospital, launched the business two weeks ago to trade in visors, masks and gowns.

Asked about the findings of the investigation, Singleton said he disclosed his business to superiors in the NHS, in accordance with the rules, and was told there was “unlikely to be a conflict”.

However, the NHS launched an immediate investigation. “We take any potential conflicts of interest extremely seriously and as soon we became aware of these allegations an internal investigation was started,” a spokesperson said.

A website for Singleton’s company, Sure Stock, which marketed PPE to private sector and NHS clients, made no reference to Singleton or his role in the health service. But in a phone call with an undercover reporter posing as a potential client, Singleton confirmed he was running the business. He said he was trading as a “sales agent” between suppliers and buyers of PPE.

According to Singleton’s LinkedIn profile, which he deleted shortly after the Guardian told him about its investigation, he is a head of procurement for the NHS in London. He works within a large commissioning support unit (CSU) that covers the capital’s north and east and surrounding areas. It is understood the investigation is being conducted by his employer, the NHS north and east London CSU.

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He has all the credentials required to be a member of the current cabinet btw surprise surprise Hancock not only met the 100k target but exceeded by changing the rules and including all tests including kits in the post to the recipient, tests in post on the way back to the labs, tests in the labs awaiting analysis and the ones where they have managed to actually test the sample. I know politics has never been broadly honest or decent but this lot are testing new lows in lacking integrity and decency

[slinger]

I think now is the time to call for an independent enquiry into this government's (mis)handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The enquiry doesn't have to start work now, but by establishing a framework it would act as a constant reminder to those in charge that they will be held to account when the crisis has been resolved, and that they will not be allowed to sweep their callous mismanagement under the carpet.

[slinger]

An artificial intelligence startup that was hired to work with Dominic Cummings on the Vote Leave campaign has been awarded at least seven government contracts worth almost £1m in the space of 18 months.

Faculty, which has links to senior Tory figures in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, is rapidly expanding its reach into various corners of Whitehall and last year was tasked with finding ways to apply artificial intelligence across government.

A Cabinet Office minister, Theodore Agnew, who is responsible for the government department that promotes the use of digital technology within public services, is resisting calls to sell a £90,000 shareholding in the company amid claims of a conflict of interest.

On Friday it emerged that Faculty’s chief executive, Marc Warner, attended a meeting of the government’s scientific advisory group on emergencies (Sage).

Faculty’s connections to the upper echelons of the government appear to run deep. The firm’s first high-profile contract was supplying data science services to the Vote Leave campaign, which Cummings ran before becoming Boris Johnson’s chief political adviser.

One of Faculty’s shareholders is Lord Agnew, a financier who has been a government minister since 2017. He has owned shares in the firm for the past four years. They are worth around £90,000, according to its most recent filings.

Faculty is run by Marc Warner, whose brother Ben Warner, a data scientist, was reportedly recruited to Downing Street last year by Cummings after running the data modelling for the Conservative party’s general election campaign. Ben Warner is a former senior employee at Faculty and is also said to have worked on Vote Leave.

Ben Warner hit the headlines when the Guardian revealed he and Cummings have been attending meetings of Sage, which provides advice to ministers on Covid-19. One Sage attendee told the Guardian that Warner was a regular participant in meetings and “behaved as Cummings’ deputy”.

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There is more info on "Faculty," and its connections, in the article itself.

[CN211276]

UK death toll is the highest in Europe...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -in-europe

There are a lot of caveats about statistics and comparisons, of course, but it doesn't look good, whatever way you look at it.