
The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers - OJFord
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/03/your-nhs-needs-you-nhs-call-for-volunteer-army/
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mmhsieh
Taiwan, which has one of the best medical systems in the world, is heavily
reliant on civil society -- which is many things, but one of which is heavy
participation by unpaid volunteers. Social capital is a real thing and a
valuable thing.

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Traster
One of the problems the UK has is that "The Big Society" was used as a
political punchline for the best part of the last decade.

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e40
Similar to the problem in the US, where one party has been talking about how
incompetent government is. For decades. And working to ensure that it is (so
parts of it can be privatized). Now, look at it, when we need it.

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DuskStar
> where one party has been talking about how incompetent government is. For
> decades. And working to ensure that it is (so parts of it can be
> privatized).

I'd be much more likely to accept that this was causative if not for the
existence of San Francisco and other one-party cities that nonetheless
_exemplify_ incompetent governance.

~~~
andromeduck
I feel the same. SF turned me into a libertarian/neoliberal.

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neilwilson
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate just to hire people and set them to work in
the NHS?

It’s way past time the government stopped messing around and just hired all
the spare labour - which can then be directed to assist the NHS or directed to
stay at home as required.

When there are so many people without work that want it we need to stop QE’ing
Gilts and start QE’ing workers hours instead.

All this could be done with an off the shelf PAYE system and a few scripts to
generate the BACS file to hand over to the BoE.

It fixes the layoffs, redundancies and the lack of work for the self employed
and it will automatically back off when things recover.

Pay people and they spend it - keeping the economic circulation ticking over.

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dageshi
What will they spend it on?

They can't go out, can't spend it on anything but essentials and some
percentage of those essentials are difficult to get anyway.

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gridlockd
> What will they spend it on?

Amazon.

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dageshi
Prioritising essentials and even it is out of stock of some stuff you'd want.

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bmsleight_
Mixed feeling about this. The NHS should be funded to run some of these
services. However, it a good way for people to contribute.

Still worried about a slippery slope - free at the point of need. No relying
on extra support. If we need it pay people to do the job.

~~~
thomasedwards
It’s a global epidemic. The NHS is funded to run all of these services, but
not when 1.5 million people have been asked to shield themselves.

~~~
bmsleight_
Then supply more funding. People are being made redundant, this should not be
just for a person that is boring being inside.

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thomasedwards
The Government is providing 80% of your pay to anybody not able to work. Self-
employed measures are being announced soon. Redundancies are limited in
comparison.

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grey-area
Instead of or as well as doing that, they could pay people for volunteering to
help the nhs. The other measures you mention are very costly in comparison.

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wintorez
Would it be safer for people who has recovered to volunteer?

~~~
Reason077
There isn’t yet a test to say with certainty if you’ve had Covid-19. (EDIT:
its coming, but isn’t available yet)

I’m fairly sure I had it, but can’t be 100% certain until the test for
antibodies is available.

~~~
dharma1
There are antibody tests. The UK just ordered 3.5 million of them

[https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/24/uk-buys-3500000-antibody-
test...](https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/24/uk-buys-3500000-antibody-test-fight-
coronavirus-12450702/)

~~~
Reason077
Right, but they’re not available yet.

~~~
dharma1
They are, there are dozens of suppliers. I don't know how quickly we will get
all the 3.5m tests but in smaller quantities they are available now

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victorantos
Just heard there will be a round of applause for courier and delivery drivers
on Monday It will be some time between 9am and 5pm.

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ozzyoli
Seems like a nice positive way for people to feel useful and lend a helping
hand.

The headfake could be that this leads to an improvement to the health and
well-being of the 250k volunteers some of whom might otherwise suffer from
feelings of loneliness and helplessness

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haack
Interesting to see the comments suggesting that we should expect the NHS to
pay if there is a problem that needs solving. It seems the implication is that
labour should never be done voluntarily (even in a crisis situation) in a free
economy. I find it bleak that we expect our societies and markets to function,
solely driven by "selfish" value-chasing individuals.

As someone who has grown up benefitting from the NHS, I will sign up to
volunteer, and am glad to do so. I wouldn't be surprised to see ample response
from the rest of the nation.

Interestingly, in the past I've also experienced private health-care in the
US, and yet wouldn't consider volunteering in the same situation on that side
of the pond (and, of course, they likely wouldn't ever ask).

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grey-area
That’s not the reason people are suggesting it, the economy is in dire need of
stimulus, and many people are out of work..

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nothrabannosir
This reply is underrated. It’s not about community vs selfishness, it’s
killing two birds with one stone.

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kaisix
I think the initiative is laudable. We know that on a regular Friday or
Saturday night, the NHS is already struggling with waiting time up to 4 hours
in hospitals and low bed capacity. Mass COVID-19 infections would certainly
cripple the NHS in no time. Yet, the problem is how do we ensure that those
250K volunteers do not become carriers of COVID-19 ?

~~~
timthorn
> the NHS is already struggling with waiting time up to 4 hours in hospitals

Interestingly, my local hospital emailed today and said that "Emergency
Department attendance figures have fallen by 130 cases per day, or around 40%
as a result of this crisis"

~~~
ketzo
A friend made the surprising point to me that a hugely helpful element of
quarantine is reducing traumatic injury across the board -- dramatic reduction
in DUIs, car accidents, construction accidents, things that take beds in the
ER.

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ionwake
How does one find out if they are an at risk group? Edit> I’m asking. See if I
can volunteer to help

~~~
thomasedwards
They have almost all received a text message by now. (A few are being reached
by other means.) I know a couple of people that have received them, they’re
pretty serious.

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GordonS
A couple of my family members received letters 2 days ago, saying they are to
stay at home for 12 weeks. That's in Scotland though, so things might differ
elsewhere in the UK.

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tanilama
The government needs to provide PPEs for volunteers, this should be a must.

~~~
thomasedwards
Some of the jobs include telephoning people isolating to check on them, so
everyone can help in some way.

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kazinator
Can UK's NHS protect 250K volunteers? Or even get them gloves and masks?

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emayljames
National Health Service. Free at the point of use. No insurance. No "co-pays".
No ultimate death panel of them all: provision based on financial or social
status. A basic human need provided to all.

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derision
* Needs volunteers to function

~~~
toomuchtodo
During my brief visit to the Midlands many years ago, the U.K. seems to have a
community cohesion that we don’t have much in the US (many rescue services are
non profit and operate exclusively with volunteers for example). They will
benefit from it through efforts such as this.

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chrisseaton
> the U.K. seems to have a community cohesion that we don’t have much in the
> US (many rescue services are non profit and operate exclusively with
> volunteers for example)

Counter-example: I thought the majority of fire and rescue people in the US
were volunteers?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_fire_department#Unit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_fire_department#United_States)

~~~
toomuchtodo
It’s a good point, but quite a bit of the US population lives in urban areas,
no? Which is going to overlap with where quite a bit of healthcare system
strain might occur, making volunteers necessary.

Will citizens heed the call? To be determined.

