Coronavirus | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Coronavirus

And the BMA represent doctors/GP’s who are currently working less hours, getting paid more and cracking the sads because they’ve been asked to go back to holding more face to face consultations, rather than telephone and zoom ones as they have been.
Yeh ungrateful sods. I mean who wouldn't want to see more covid patients face to face.
 
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UK only started rolling out Booster shots at the end of September so will take some time to get coverage.

Golden opportunity for Australia to get ahead of the curb this time if we act promptly and fortunate that we have 6 months to get maximum coverage before the depths of winter.
Scomo get ahead of the curve? Plan something properly? Show foresight? Asking a bit much Julius.
 
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Was there ever a realistic alternative?
What's the alternative now?
It was just an observation that we are currently tethered to Big Pharma for our continued survival. There's nothing to stop them jacking up the price and holding governments to ransom except their own business scruples. Hopefully not the long-term future.
 
It was just an observation that we are currently tethered to Big Pharma for our continued survival. There's nothing to stop them jacking up the price and holding governments to ransom except their own business scruples. Hopefully not the long-term future.

100%. which is why we hope science creates better alternatives or even a cure in the coming years.
 
It was just an observation that we are currently tethered to Big Pharma for our continued survival. There's nothing to stop them jacking up the price and holding governments to ransom except their own business scruples. Hopefully not the long-term future.
if only we had the capability to make vaccines in Australia, seems a good thing for the government to invest in.
 
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It was just an observation that we are currently tethered to Big Pharma for our continued survival. There's nothing to stop them jacking up the price and holding governments to ransom except their own business scruples. Hopefully not the long-term future.

Once most of us have been exposed (and hopefully not sick because we have been vaccinated) then I reckon it will become like the flu vaccine - optional, maybe employers mandate it or supply it free to employees.... but I guess if new variants come out regularly then it could be an issue.

If we ramp up mRNA tech here we can make our own.
 
if only we had the capability to make vaccines in Australia, seems a good thing for the government to invest in.

Gee, maybe they could set up their own company to do this, maybe we could call it, um, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories.

Pity how we sold that off, the profits from CSL could have helped pay for pandemic relief and we could have continued making at least the AZ vaccine and give it to poorer countries. As it stands now China are doing this and buying themselves huge amounts of goodwill all across the world.

In terms of the vaccines, it is not clear yet what will happen once one is vaccinated for the third time. It may last a lot longer, it may not. We'll see.

DS
 
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Agree with some of what you say. Good administrators are worth their weight, not only do they do their jobs well (freeing the nurses / doctors up to do their thing) but they also look for process improvement. Bad administrators do nothing of the latter. The NHS seems to have a lot of the latter. When I was in the UK, nurses that I knew, would reminisce about the old days of the ward sister and how much better wards were run.

I'm also going through some hand therapy at the moment. My doctor is scottish and we were talking about the UK vs Australian system, and he mentioned that he loves the Aussie system, he could directly refer me to a hand therapist, whereas in the UK they would have to refer you to a hand surgeon (even when they don't believe surgery is necessary), who would then refer you to a hand therapist (a waste of the surgeons time). Once you factor this through for many different referrals there would be a heap of time wasted within the entire NHS system.

The NHS system is good, but I much prefer the Aussie model. It seems to have got the balance between public and private servicing and how they setup process flowthrough of the system seems to be far better than the almost pure public system in the UK (I know they have private but its only used by the rich).

I hear ya Posh. Far be it from me to defend all bureaucrats
 
Pity how we sold that off, the profits from CSL could have helped pay for pandemic relief and we could have continued making at least the AZ vaccine and give it to poorer countries.
Keating sold it, didn't he?

80% of our AZ is going o/s already, and we're only halfway through the contract. The government suggested the contract with CSL wasn't being extended because CSL had obligations to produce other products next year. Nobody really seemed to press for a detailed answer... perhaps because they already knew there just isn't enough local demand to make extending the contract worthwhile and didn't want to create any further adverse publicity for AZ.
 
Agree with all of that except this last bit. We need administrators ("bureaucrats" if you want to use the term) to administer things. Nurses and doctors don't want to be administrators and managers, at least not all the time. They want to work as doctors or nurses. Like any profession, some want to go the management track and that's fine. And administrators and managers can be d1cks, sure, they need to get the right advice from the medical specialists. Waste is an issue but you don't solve it by taking doctors and nurses off the front line and making them managers.

I work with software devs and they are the same - I've come in to replace team leaders who are also senior devs and their attitude is "thank god I don't need to do all that management bullsh1t any more".
The last person you want running a hospital is a doctor, they would bankrupt the system. That's from experience. There will of course be exceptions.

Throughout Australia most CEOs of public hospitals have a clinical background, many of them are nurses but they also come from some allied health ( physios, psychologists etc) backgrounds as well. They will have come up through clinical management, do an MBA etc. It helps to have a clinical background so they can talk with some knowledge with the doctors in particular, they understand patient flows and the generally have a good knowledge of how the doctors think.

The other thing to remember is that a public hospital CEO is nowhere near the highest paid person on staff. There will be many doctors paid much more than the CEO in every public hospital.

The real bureaucrats sit in government departments ( like Dept of Health) . There you have career administrators who have never worked in a hospital making decisions they don't understand, talking to treasury officials making funding decisions they don't understand. Administrators in hospitals, who generally can't do their jobs without a good understanding how hospitals work, get very frustrated with the central bureaucracy.
 
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Yeh ungrateful sods. I mean who wouldn't want to see more covid patients face to face.
Teachers seem happy enough to teach face to face again.

And if you have COVID symptom, you don’t go to the GP. There‘s still plenty of other *smile* I should be seeing a GP for, being a Type 1 diabetic and all. Pretty much impossible at the moment.
 
It was just an observation that we are currently tethered to Big Pharma for our continued survival. There's nothing to stop them jacking up the price and holding governments to ransom except their own business scruples. Hopefully not the long-term future.
We're also tethered to Big Yarra Valley water for our survival.

At least the vaccine's free.
 
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We're also tethered to Big Yarra Valley water for our survival.
Yes and no. I can buy bottled water, I can go to the source in the Yarra Ranges, I can move to Seymour where a mate gets his water from the Goulburn if it's a matter of survival. This is a different level of dependence where if you're busy or your memory is bad, it could cost you everything.

You want to go to a function Friday night but you get a letter saying your booster program has lapsed and you can't get a jab until the following week. Do you risk going to the function? Whole new set of questions.
 
I have family in WA who will be so frustrated with the below as they want to come back for Christmas. It’s time WA looked at the National plan and opened up. Once a state is at 90% vaccination and people coming in are double vaccinated and get tested before again on arrival there should be no restrictions.

Many in WA just won’t get vaccinated until they announce an opening date on the basis they either want to stay closed off or they will be needing a booster shot by the time they open if they get one now.

I hope all other states stick to their plan.

 
Too much angst about boosters.
Double vax in most people will be more than adequate for many months or years.
A booster will be fine to get when convenient..no need to feel pressured or rushed.
It is only those at great health risk who will need urgent boosters ie aged and frail and with cancer.
Covid will mutate regularly, for better or worse..we will see.
We need yearly fluvax, regular tetanus, whooping cough boosters when children or grand children born, regular blood tests, yearly insurances, yearly car regos, yearly council rates, yearly tax...the list is endless.
A booster is the very least of our worries..thank goodness we can get one.
We are just so very lucky to live in a time of scientific advance, a country of plenty, a place of peace and democracy.
I can't understand any worries .
I look forward to boosters etc to protect my health. I am so grateful for their availability.
Could not care less who makes them or who makes a profit.
We are so so lucky in this life in the year 2021. Forget the angst. Enjoy the benefits.
 
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I have family in WA who will be so frustrated with the below as they want to come back for Christmas. It’s time WA looked at the National plan and opened up. Once a state is at 90% vaccination and people coming in are double vaccinated and get tested before again on arrival there should be no restrictions.

Many in WA just won’t get vaccinated until they announce an opening date on the basis they either want to stay closed off or they will be needing a booster shot by the time they open if they get one now.

I hope all other states stick to their plan.


mcgowan is being populist illogical.

in a couple of weeks, i (nsw) can go to qld. Qld Can go to WA. Nsw cant go to WA.

that makes zero sense to me
 
The tennis.

So Brett Sutton, rightly, says that it's not his decision who is allowed entry into the country, vaccinated, or not. He is correct in saying that.

However, he is the bloke that signs health directions which enable or restrict a persons ability to work, participate in society and so on.

I do think anyone who chooses not to get vaccinated is a bit of a *smile*. But why should a rich *smile*, who can play tennis, be allowed to work on site, in Victoria, whilst another *smile*, poor, middle class, wealthy or whatever, who can't play tennis is prevented from working on site, in Victoria?

The tennis players have plenty of notice. Not like the 2 weeks notice construction workers had, nor the extremely short notice hospitality workers have just been given.
 
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