From sam
Pied Piper anywhere?
“Hospitals are infested with rats, fleas, ants and cockroaches, and many have leaking sewage pipes.
Almost all hospitals have suffered from pests while two thirds have leaking roofs and pipes after years of raiding maintenance budgets to cover day-to-day spending.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hospitals-plagued-by-rats-fleas-and-leaking-sewage-ks3pt6rnp
Wot, no pigeons?
“Droppings in an operating theatre, flies in a labour ward and a false widow spider are among the reasons pest control services were called to Welsh hospitals over the past five years.
Ants and rats prompted the most call-outs but cockroaches, wasps, slugs and maggots were also spotted.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-50737114
Different dates, different places, same problem.
“Rats have been spotted running around a hospital kitchen in an infestation lasting ‘several weeks’.
Workers at Warrington General Hospital have flagged up the problem and pest control officers are battling to get the situation under control.”
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/rats-found-running-around-hospital-17166655
“A rat was spotted running across a patient’s bedroom at a mental health ward in Northern Ireland in sickening footage.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/absolutely-huge-rat-spotted-scampering-20553276
The Guardian tries to sum it up.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/30/nhs-hospitals-pest-control-cockroaches-rats-rentokil
“Thousands of pests including cockroaches and rats have been found in NHS hospitals in each of the last five years as the cost of tackling them has spiralled, new figures have shown.
Data obtained by the Press Association under freedom of information shows there were nearly 5,000 pest control callouts by NHS trusts to hospitals in England in 2015-16 – equivalent to around 13 a day. The areas where pests have been sighted included maternity wards, children’s intensive care units and operating theatres.
The amount of money hospitals spent on treating pests reached nearly £1.1m in the year to March 2016 and the overall figure is likely to be far higher, as 87 of about 150 trusts responded to the request. Some refused to say how much they had spent, citing private finance initiative deals or that the information was “commercially sensitive”.
Costs have soared compared with five years ago, based on an analysis of like-for-like data from the 62 trusts that provided figures for both 2011-12 and 2015-16, which showed a rise of more than 26% over the period – from £646,857 to £815,855.”
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Apparently there have been at least 170 health care worker deaths in UK.
Does anyone know the Scottish figures?
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/04/britain-on-track-for-highest-health-worker-deaths-in-europe/
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The following analysis of deaths of health and social care workers across the UK from Covid-19 was published by the online health journal HSJ on 22 April. So the data are a bit out of date. It was based on media reports.
https://www.hsj.co.uk/exclusive-deaths-of-nhs-staff-from-covid-19-analysed/7027471.article
Of the total of 119 cases reported to that date, four were in Scotland, nine in Wales and one in NI.
The report also breaks down the data by work location and profession.
I haven’t (yet) been able to find an up-to-date breakdown by country.
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Thanks Stewartb
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I had a look through the 150 health care worker deaths recorded in the Express and Star on 6th May
Of those there were 7 in Scotland, 9 in Wales and none given for NI all rest were England (i checked elsewhere for all those with no place given).
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/05/06/the-nhs-and-care-workers-who-have-died-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/
SCOTLAND
Karen Hutton, care worker
The “much-loved” 58-year-old, who died on April 28 after testing positive for Covid-19, was employed as a staff nurse at Lochleven Care Home in Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
Angie Cunningham, nurse
Angie Cunningham provided “amazing care” as a nurse for 30 years before she died at Borders General Hospital, where she worked, on April 22.
In a joint statement with NHS Borders Trust chief executive Ralph Roberts, Ms Cunningham’s family said: “Angie was a much-loved wife, mother, sister, granny and great granny, as well as a friend to many more.”
Kirsty Jones, healthcare support worker
The mother-of-two died on Monday after working for 24 years with NHS Lanarkshire, where she was described as a “selfless and bright” employee.
Her husband, Nigel, said: “She was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and nurse… A void has opened in our hearts that will never be filled.”
Jane Murphy, clinical support worker
Aged 73, Ms Murphy worked at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for almost 30 years, first as a cleaner before being retrained as a clinical support worker.
“Jane would help anybody out, but would tell you if you were wrong,” a friend said.
Johanna Daniels, care home nurse
Originally from South Africa, the 67-year-old had been working in Pitkerro Care Centre, in Dundee, as a nurse. Said by friends to be “incredibly kind-hearted, selfless and dedicated”, she died on April 13 having fallen ill with Covid-19.
Janice Graham, nurse
The 58-year-old healthcare support worker from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde became the first nurse in Scotland to die as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on April 6.
Catherine Sweeney, care home worker
Ms Sweeney died on April 4 while being cared for at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. In a statement released through the GMB union, her family said she was a “wonderful mother, sister, and beloved aunty”.
WALES
Jenelyn Carter, healthcare assistant
Ms Carter worked on the admissions ward at Morriston Hospital and was well-loved by all her colleagues and patients, Swansea Bay University Health Board said.
Julius Sana, healthcare support worker
Mr Sana, 40, fell ill with Covid-19 while working at a private hospital which cares for people with neurodegenerative diseases in Newport, South Wales. He died on April 26.
Sharon Scanlon, care worker
The “dedicated, hard-working” 58-year-old, a member of Powys County Council’s adult social care team in Mid Wales for four years, died of suspected Covid-19 on April 23. From Brecon, she was married and had two grown-up children and a granddaughter.
Andy Treble, theatre assistant
Andy Treble, right, died on April 15 (Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board/PA)
The 57-year-old, a theatre assistant at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital in North Wales, died on April 15 after testing positive for the disease.
His sister, Maria Molloy, described her brother – who had worked at the hospital for almost 40 years – as a “kind man” who dedicated his life to his profession and “always had a smile on his face”.
Linnette Cruz, dental nurse
The 51-year-old senior head nurse at the Brynteg dental practice in Sketty died on April 14 having been admitted with Covid-19 in March, according to NHS Wales.
Brynteg practice owner Nik Patel said: “She brought love, light and joy to everyone around her and will be sadly missed by all.”
Gareth Roberts, nurse
The death of the “extremely popular” Mr Roberts, who came out of retirement in 2015 having worked since the 1980s, was confirmed by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board on April 11.
Mandy Siddorn, pharmacy checking technician
Described by colleagues at Swettenham Chemists as a “loyal, hardworking and dedicated friend”, Ms Siddorn was a registered checking technician, the highest ranked non-pharmacist role.
Donna Campbell, healthcare support worker
Donna Campbell worked at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff (Velindre University NHS Trust/PA)
Described by colleagues as “beautiful and kind-hearted”, the healthcare support worker from the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff died at the University Hospital of Wales on April 10.
Jitendra Rathod, surgeon
A “highly regarded” associate specialist in cardiothoracic surgery at the University Hospital of Wales, Mr Rathod died on the morning of April 6.
Surgeon Jitendra Rathod died in Cardiff after testing positive for Covid-19 (Cardiff and Vale University Health Board/PA)
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I can see the BBC Scotland headline: “Scottish Government DENY there are similar numbers of hospital acquired infections compared to England”
The article would then run through the information Sam has provided, but omitting mention of England. Then there would be a reprise of the pigeon droppings at the QEUH plus the deaths of two patients (not caused by the pigeons). At the end, there would be a single sentence giving the rate in Scotland,, with a comment from a trade union:”This could just be the tip of an iceberg.”
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Wow found this in the Sun.
It has country wide comparison of extra deaths.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11542171/englands-excess-death-rate-highest-europe-coronavirus/
The Financial Times does a great graph of this but not of the UK countries
https://www.ft.com/content/a26fbf7e-48f8-11ea-aeb3-955839e06441
The Sun data comes from here
https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps/
Z-scores:
England: peak 43.5 in week 15, now 31.52 in week 18
Scotland: peak at 15.65 in week 15, now 5.82 in week 18
NI peak 8.8 in week 15, now -1.1 in week 18
Wales peak 19.76 in week 15, now 2.44 in week 18
Z-score (y axis of Sun graph) defined as:
Z-scores are used to standardize series and enable comparison mortality pattern between different populations or between different time periods. The standard deviation is the unit of measurement of the z-score. It allows comparison of observations from different normal distributions.
In general, Z-score = (x-mean of the population)/Standard deviation of the population, which could be approximated in our context by S-score = (number of deaths – baseline) / Standard deviation of the residuals (variation of the number of deaths around the baseline) on the part of the series used to fit the model, used as the standard unit.
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I should have added that where England has a z-score of 43.5 at its peak, in Denmark and Ireland the extra deaths are not noticeable.
Denmark had 2.34 at its peak in week 14 and is now 1.16 (it was much higher in Oct 2018 at 7.35).
Ireland has hardly deviated from the mean at all. It was highest in November last year before the outbreak (and even higher in Feb 2018 and Feb 2017) and is now well below the mean at minus 1.58
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So the people of Northern Ireland have little cause for concern on public health matters about their neighbours in the independent nation-state to the south!
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