Relaxation of restrictions

HeidiHeidi

Gael23 wrote: »

This particular one has to come from a hospital.

I’m sore worried if I have a flare up. Do I just go to A&E and skip my GP

Start your enquiries right now. Don't leave it until the day before.


Do not turn up at A&E.


Phone, email, google - you'll be able to find out somehow and set it up in time.

KiKi III

Padre_Pio wrote: »

People need to get their rubbish dumped. I would have thought this was an essential service?


I've seen people use this quote and it's taken completely out of context.

Also, even if it’s in context, just because a quote sounds impressive doesn’t make it true.

lainey_d_123

Gael23 wrote: »

This is happening. I have a number of chronic illnesses and I’m pretty worried at the moment. I’ve had 3 outpatients appointments cancelled for this month and GPs don’t want you near them.
I run out of vital medication on May 3rd and I’ll be in hospital within a few weeks if I can’t get a prescription for it

I'm in the exact same situation, as are a few friends.

Oh, but we're so selfish for worrying about the effects of lockdown. We should think of the pensioners and just suck it up for the greater good!

:rolleyes:

Tenzor07

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

Don`t know if this is valid. If restrictions are lifted too soon and the death rate stabilizes or reduces people will just go back to their old habits and go in droves to shopping centres/large supermarkets again. Also this would most likely lead to a rise in new cases again.

What did you think would happen?

lainey_d_123

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

Don`t know if this is valid. If restrictions are lifted too soon and the death rate stabilizes or reduces people will just go back to their old habits and go in droves to shopping centres/large supermarkets again. Also this would most likely lead to a rise in new cases again.

But that's what the poster is saying? Keep the large shopping centres closed so people have to shop locally. Seems like a sensible idea to me.

Shopping centres encourage shopping as a hobby and hanging around them spending more and more money on coffee and lunch or whatever. The priority after lockdown should be on essential shops and services. I've been trying to spend my money in local businesses wherever possible during this time to help them keep afloat. Rather than going to Sainsburys (I'm in London), I go to small local shops, which are also less crowded and stressful. I also have way more free time now to stop at the fishmonger, green grocer, etc. rather than do a big shop at one of the big supermarkets.

Of course, this only works in cities. Large supermarkets will have to be open for people in more rural areas, but maybe then only a weekly shop should be allowed, if the person has a car and carrying items home isn't a problem.

Tell me how

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I'm in the exact same situation, as are a few friends.

Oh, but we're so selfish for worrying about the effects of lockdown. We should think of the pensioners and just suck it up for the greater good!

:rolleyes:

Stop being so dramatic. Tony Holohan himself told people last week to not stop seeking care should they need it.

You're in UK, has your consultant communicated to you a plan? Have you asked?

I'm in US and my consultant contacted me about my appointment which is later this week and said that they are still open to going ahead with it.

HeidiHeidi

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I'm in the exact same situation, as are a few friends.

Oh, but we're so selfish for worrying about the effects of lockdown. We should think of the pensioners and just suck it up for the greater good!

:rolleyes:

Have you made any enquiries about getting the prescription renewed remotely?

lainey_d_123

Tell me how wrote: »

Stop being so dramatic. Tony Holohan himself told people last week to not stop seeking care should they need it.

You're in UK, has your consultant communicated to you a plan? Have you asked?

I'm in US and my consultant contacted me about my appointment which is later this week and said that they are still open to going ahead with it.

Yes, I've basically been told to p1ss off until all this is sorted.

The NHS here was barely coping in the first place. I live in a very overcrowded and underfunded area and it would take weeks to get a GP appointment before all this. I had an abnormal test result in January and nobody even told me about it because they're so disorganised and overworked. I had to ring 15 times before someone actually called me back, and my outpatient appointment for a follow up exploratory surgery has now been postponed indefinitely. I've also been asked not to come for my blood tests until they have a handle on this, which could be months away still.

So no, I'm not being 'dramatic'.

RobbingBandit

For the prescription phone the consultant secretary or department secretary and ask can they post a repeat prescription to you or even fax it to your chemist or pharmacy if it is a routine prescription speak to the chemist and explain you are due the prescription but are unable to contact the department and can they dispense and you will drop in the new cert when you have it.

Gael23

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Start your enquiries right now. Don't leave it until the day before.


Do not turn up at A&E.


Phone, email, google - you'll be able to find out somehow and set it up in time.

What am I supposed to do if my GP won’t see me?

HeidiHeidi

Gael23 wrote: »

What am I supposed to do if my GP won’t see me?

I don't know! Obviously I don't know your circumstances, but if I were you I'd be getting on the phone/internet today to figure it out well in advance.



There will be some arrangement in place, or they'll make some arrangement, but you need to be proactive about it.

normanoffside

bubblypop wrote: »

Well Finnish people are very isolatary by nature. They don't touch one another & will move far away from other people.
They took measures in Finland, shut schools, government buildings, stopped meetings of 10 or more people, closed borders in certain regions.
They have less than 100 deaths, Sweden have over 400.

Finland has a lot less than 100 deaths- it has 28 unless I am missing something?

rm212

Gael23 wrote: »

What am I supposed to do if my GP won’t see me?

Have you asked the pharmacy who dispensed the first prescription if they will renew the prescription for you?

Stheno

Gael23 wrote: »

What am I supposed to do if my GP won’t see me?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/patients-will-no-longer-have-to-visit-gp-to-get-repeat-prescription-1.4219987%3fmode=amp

Prescription validity has been extended from six to nine months so if it's a repeat you need after six months you can use the existing prescription for another three

rm212

Also just as a total aside, I'm Type 1 diabetic and it is bloody ridiculous that I have to go to GP every 6 months for a prescription for my usuals; insulin, needles, test strips. The insulin dosage is totally down to myself obviously, it adjusts per meal, I use it to correct when I'm high etc, my GP has absolutely no clue about my dosage regimen as it changes every day. Needles I use roughly the same amount every month etc. Why do I need to get a prescription for these at all, they're marked on my LTI? Pharmacists should have been able to dispense these without a GP prescription for a long time, like in other countries. For long term illnesses like mine, there should be no need for a doctor to say "oh yeah, he's still a type 1 diabetic, give him the exact same meds, he knows how to use them!" every 6 months.

Edit: Sorry for the rant but these measures coming in now makes it frustrating when I've been asking why we never had them for a long time (and I bet they'll be reversed again).

rusty the athlete

normanoffside wrote: »

Finland has a lot less than 100 deaths- it has 28 unless I am missing something?

You are spot on, its verified on John Hopkins today. Finland 28, Sweden 401.

robinph

rm212 wrote: »

Also just as a total aside, I'm Type 1 diabetic and it is bloody ridiculous that I have to go to GP every 6 months for a prescription for my usuals; insulin, needles, test strips. The insulin dosage is totally down to myself obviously, it adjusts per meal, I use it to correct when I'm high etc, my GP has absolutely no clue about my dosage regimen as it changes every day. Needles I use roughly the same amount every month etc. Why do I need to get a prescription for these at all, they're marked on my LTI? Pharmacists should have been able to dispense these without a GP prescription for a long time, like in other countries. For long term illnesses like mine, there should be no need for a doctor to say "oh yeah, he's still a type 1 diabetic, give him the exact same meds, he knows how to use them!" every 6 months.

Edit: Sorry for the rant but these measures coming in now makes it frustrating when I've been asking why we never had them for a long time (and I bet they'll be reversed again).

I'm under a different system now, but the having to pay a GP every 6 months for me to tell them what to write in the LTI book based on what myself and the nurse at the hospital had figured out between ourselves massively frustrated me as well. I often managed to get them to sign off the book at the hospital appointments though... if I remembered to take it along with me each time.

Just Saying

topper75 wrote: »

To be fair, our position on the world table approximates Sweden's in terms of deaths per million. We are only two places below them.



I don't think our shutdown achieved much in relative terms. Not yet anyway one week into April.

When you consider that Sweden only test hospital cases and health workers and only count hospital deaths their stats are irrelevant.

Tenzor07

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

Keep the large shopping centres closed

Shopping centres encourage shopping as a hobby and hanging around them spending more and more money on coffee and lunch or whatever. The priority after lockdown should be on essential shops and services.

Large shopping centers also support 10's of thousands of jobs around Ireland and the UK, so while it's fine and dandy to say "uh keep them closed", that money spent on coffee and lunch pays someones mortgage and bills.

Keeping them completely shut indefinitely is too restrictive, a step-down to the level of lock down we had in Ireland previous to the 27th of March is more sensible.

robinph

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Large shopping centers also support 10's of thousands of jobs around Ireland and the UK, so while it's fine and dandy to say "uh keep them closed", that money spent on coffee and lunch pays someones mortgage and bills.

Keeping them completely shut indefinitely is too restrictive, a step-down to the level of lock down we had in Ireland previous to the 27th of March is more sensible.

Large shops benefit the owners of the shops with efficiency in less staff required overall and a higher turnover of merchandise and greater purchasing power with their suppliers. But more people would be employed if there were more smaller local shops nearer to where people lived, although purchase costs would probably increase as a result.

Closing a big shop and replacing it with 10 small ones doesn't mean people lose jobs.

robinph

If lockdowns are relaxed and people are let back to shops normally again relatively soon (next couple of months) then I doubt much will change in peoples shopping habits. However, if we are allowed out but have to do one in one out and keep 2+ meters apart from each other in supermarkets and big shopping centres until this time next year then I can't see those types of massive supermarkets and shopping centres surviving. They depend on a lot of people in and out and spending large amounts of time doing so and then spending larger amounts of money.

If you have to queue up for 2+ hours at the major shopping centre before you are allowed in, and then rather than the thousands that they would normally have there at a time are only a couple of hundred in there at a time people will just not bother. They will go to the small shop where they just have to queue for 10 minutes and can get in and buy what they need much more quickly.

Last month people might go to whatever big Tesco and fetch their sandwich for lunch, or a couple of items for dinner and then use the self checkout and be in and out in minutes. You are not going to queue up for an hour to do that though, that is only worth doing if you are about to spend hundreds. You'll go to the small shop with two people waiting outside, queue there for a couple of minutes, get your stuff and get on with your day.

giveitholly

With regards children,everyone seems to agree that schools prob won't open until september.When these restrictions are extended to beyond April 14th to the end of the month as most people agree will happen,that will be six weeks children will have been kept at home without seeing their grandparents,cousins and friends etc. When do people think children will be allowed play or visit other people again,6 weeks is a long and tough time to keep them more or less locked up at home.Least with adults some are getting out even if it's only once a week to do shopping or if some are still working.Think a lot of houses will be getting restless by the end of the month

GT89

robinph wrote: »

If lockdowns are relaxed and people are let back to shops normally again relatively soon (next couple of months) then I doubt much will change in peoples shopping habits. However, if we are allowed out but have to do one in one out and keep 2+ meters apart from each other in supermarkets and big shopping centres until this time next year then I can't see those types of massive supermarkets and shopping centres surviving. They depend on a lot of people in and out and spending large amounts of time doing so and then spending larger amounts of money.

If you have to queue up for 2+ hours at the major shopping centre before you are allowed in, and then rather than the thousands that they would normally have there at a time are only a couple of hundred in there at a time people will just not bother. They will go to the small shop where they just have to queue for 10 minutes and can get in and buy what they need much more quickly.

Last month people might go to whatever big Tesco and fetch their sandwich for lunch, or a couple of items for dinner and then use the self checkout and be in and out in minutes. You are not going to queue up for an hour to do that though, that is only worth doing if you are about to spend hundreds. You'll go to the small shop with two people waiting outside, queue there for a couple of minutes, get your stuff and get on with your day.

Fine if your just shopping for yourself but if your shopping for a family you'll be buying a fair bit more. No one is going to shop for a family of five in a Spar or a Tesco Express. Also in Dunnes people will do a big shop in order to use their vouchers.

They could manage it in a way where there's a separate queue for peopleshopping with or without trollies.

scamalert

robinph wrote: »

If lockdowns are relaxed and people are let back to shops normally again relatively soon (next couple of months) then I doubt much will change in peoples shopping habits. However, if we are allowed out but have to do one in one out and keep 2+ meters apart from each other in supermarkets and big shopping centres until this time next year then I can't see those types of massive supermarkets and shopping centres surviving. They depend on a lot of people in and out and spending large amounts of time doing so and then spending larger amounts of money.

If you have to queue up for 2+ hours at the major shopping centre before you are allowed in, and then rather than the thousands that they would normally have there at a time are only a couple of hundred in there at a time people will just not bother. They will go to the small shop where they just have to queue for 10 minutes and can get in and buy what they need much more quickly.

Last month people might go to whatever big Tesco and fetch their sandwich for lunch, or a couple of items for dinner and then use the self checkout and be in and out in minutes. You are not going to queue up for an hour to do that though, that is only worth doing if you are about to spend hundreds. You'll go to the small shop with two people waiting outside, queue there for a couple of minutes, get your stuff and get on with your day.

someone i know would call you complete idiot - no pun intended, you need to work in retail to know how it works, small shops were the first ones to hike up prices on everything next day since isolation rules were out.

large retail chains did the same price increase overnight, not massive as they got good sales but enough to drain wallet.


then you forget hospitality services that will see people not having jobs thats 5-15 people for every small to medium place that wont recover any time soon, and if you believe there's no tax increase in Ireland coming end of year to pay for massive loans and spending never mind sectors that weren't affected much will use it as excuse to ramp up prices for services - virus wont go anywhere any time soon, but as months go for people this will become secondary issue.


since less income, jobs only in select industries, many places will have to go back to minimum wage, and hike the prices up to stay afloat, and people will think twice before parting with cash, it will be snowball effect that hasn't even began yet, and also dealing with never ending virus existence that will double the burden on all, which is easily year at least at this point, as added bonus stress.

Tenzor07

robinph wrote: »

Large shops benefit the owners of the shops with efficiency in less staff required overall and a higher turnover of merchandise and greater purchasing power with their suppliers. But more people would be employed if there were more smaller local shops nearer to where people lived, although purchase costs would probably increase as a result.

Closing a big shop and replacing it with 10 small ones doesn't mean people lose jobs.

If the current restrictions stay in place for another 3 months for example, then most of them won't re-open, Debenhams is one, and others who may have been at risk will follow.

In case people haven't been monitoring the situation in the U.S, the crisis is pushing more smaller retailers to permanent closure, so post-covid19 all that may be left are the Amazon's, Walmart's and Costco's.
Similar may happen here as small operators can't sit out months of zero trade with no cash flow.
Unless there's a massive state sponsored stimulus to offer 0% loans to small operators then the retail landscape in Ireland will be a mix of the large multiples and online retailers only.

So it's rather simplistic to think that a number of small retailers will just pop up, small numbers will i'm sure, however will still leave thousands of retail workers claiming state benefits.

Lwaker.

scamalert wrote: »

someone i know would call you complete idiot - no pun intended, you need to work in retail to know how it works, small shops were the first ones to hike up prices on everything next day since isolation rules were out.

large retail chains did the same price increase overnight, not massive as they got good sales but enough to drain wallet.


then you forget hospitality services that will see people not having jobs thats 5-15 people for every small to medium place that wont recover any time soon, and if you believe there's no tax increase in Ireland coming end of year to pay for massive loans and spending never mind sectors that weren't affected much will use it as excuse to ramp up prices for services - virus wont go anywhere any time soon, but as months go for people this will become secondary issue.


since less income, jobs only in select industries, many places will have to go back to minimum wage, and hike the prices up to stay afloat, and people will think twice before parting with cash, it will be snowball effect that hasn't even began yet, and also dealing with never ending virus existence that will double the burden on all, which is easily year at least at this point, as added bonus stress.

The first thing any business does in a crisis is the heads convene in secret

And they decide how they can make money out of.it

Tenzor07

scamalert wrote: »

since less income, jobs only in select industries, many places will have to go back to minimum wage, and hike the prices up to stay afloat, and people will think twice before parting with cash, it will be snowball effect that hasn't even began yet, and also dealing with never ending virus existence that will double the burden on all, which is easily year at least at this point, as added bonus stress.

In order to avoid this, governments will have to stimulate growth, cut taxes on many sectors, drop vat rates, offer 0% loans with long repayment terms.

All these issues are causes not due to the fault of travel, hospitality, and other industries, so we need strong stimulus actions to avoid what you've mentioned.

robinph

GT89 wrote: »

Fine if your just shopping for yourself but if your shopping for a family you'll be buying a fair bit more. No one is going to shop for a family of five in a Spar or a Tesco Express. Also in Dunnes people will do a big shop in order to use their vouchers.

They could manage it in a way where there's a separate queue for peopleshopping with or without trollies.

Absolutely, but that is my point. The way that we shop is going to be vastly different and the way that shops supply us is going to be vastly different depending on how long this lasts before a vaccine.

Does a big Tesco survive in it's current format where lots of people go in at a time, some buying trolley fulls and some just baskets but all mingling around the place picking up a couple of things here and a couple of things there? Or does that type of shop have to change their style to more along the lines of only bulk buys, which people will then be more inclined to do to limit their trips out and nobody goes in to buy a tin of beans and a loaf of bread, you buy a tray of 12 tins of beans and then a big bag of flour and bake your own at home? If you just need one thing then you go to the small Tesco Express, which maybe they then develop even smaller mini express stores that just have milk/ bread/ eggs sold through a hatch in the wall and nobody actually enters the shop?

There will be a lot of both big and small stores shut down, but people will still need to buy stuff and the small businesses that spot a market and can quickly fill that gap on the high street could do OK whilst the big buy everything type shops will struggle to change operations quickly enough to meet the new way of doing things.

We don't know what is to come, just that it's not going to be the same as what we were doing two months ago.

Tenzor07

I don't hear of any similar plans being announced here so I can only guess that the Lockdown in Ireland will continue in full for another period of time...

Austria has set out plans to become the first country in Europe to ease its lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic, with shops due to reopen as early as next week.

https://www.ft.com/content/d7025074-496e-4609-84c3-22c000cc41d6

Theboinkmaster

Tenzor07 wrote: »

I don't hear of any similar plans being announced here so I can only guess that the Lockdown in Ireland will continue in full for another period of time...





https://www.ft.com/content/d7025074-496e-4609-84c3-22c000cc41d6

Yes I'd say the current lockdown will be in effect to Monday 27 April and then after that it will be less restrictive lockdown - such as the one announced a few weeks ago.

4 weeks of current lockdown is max we can do IMO as after that people will start disobeying it anyway but I think given current nos it will be enough to flatten the curve for the HSE.