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Does the government do enough to secure our health? Health and disease.

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
When I speak of disease for this thread, I speak of communicable disease in particular - a disease that can be transmitted from one person to another. Examples include TB, Malaria, HIV, Measles -to name just a few.

Do the government do enough to prevent us from catching disease?

Take TB for example. A disease on a steady increase year on year. A disease that GPs often fail to diagnose due to early symptoms resembling that of a strong flu virus.

Do you ever worry? Do you know anyone who has been affected? Do you believe the government does what they can, or that they could improve in certain aspects of disease control?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Apart from issuing every man woman and child with a respirator and rubber suit the government can do very little to protect us, short of enacting very stringent quarantine procedures if there ever was a pandemic.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's fair enough. But that's not to say that the government shouldn't try harder in dealing with problem outbreaks or areas to curb spread? There's a lot they can do in that respect.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aren't we immunised as teenagers for TB?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    IIRC there was an item i rerad about the BCG becoming less effective over time and/or TB becoming more resiliant to it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whirlpool wrote: »
    That's fair enough. But that's not to say that the government shouldn't try harder in dealing with problem outbreaks or areas to curb spread? There's a lot they can do in that respect.

    As I work in the NHS and know what we do in cases of an outbreak, I'm wondering if you have any ideas what else we could be doing?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As I work in the NHS and know what we do in cases of an outbreak, I'm wondering if you have any ideas what else we could be doing?

    I work in HE, and when there have been threats we have been consistently well-briefed by the hospitals trust and the Primary Care Trust on how to handle a pandemic. I was actually really impressed at how quickly people reacted to threat, even though in both cases I'm thinking of (bird 'flu and swine 'flu) it came to naught.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    we've got pandemic plans in place as well, I was doing paperwork at work one day and sat through and read them all
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm wondering if you have any ideas what else we could be doing?
    lock up anyone who spits in public?

    fine people who don't catch it, bin it, kill it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    Aren't we immunised as teenagers for TB?

    Yes, but this doesn't last a lifetime. It lasts up until adolescence and then it wears off. That's why the immunisation programme was pulled for schoolchildren.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As I work in the NHS and know what we do in cases of an outbreak, I'm wondering if you have any ideas what else we could be doing?

    It;s not necessarily what doctors and nurses do, but how the government handles the data they receive and act on it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whirlpool wrote: »
    It;s not necessarily what doctors and nurses do, but how the government handles the data they receive and act on it.

    Again, what do *you* mean by that and how do you think we could do better. You'd be surprised at the amount of information and how we use it already...
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