Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis By Dominic Pimenta

Dominic Pimenta is a middle grade doctor halfway through specialist training in cardiology in London. 31-Jan-2020 was when the first two cases of Coronavirus were confirmed in the UK. He was picking up facts about COVID-19 in exactly the same manner as anyone that was not a doctor. Through the news outlets and social media.

Back in February there were many theories, ‘So we were dealing with a virus that easily spread, was 20 times more deadly than flu, was harder to detect in people and could cling to surfaces all around us.’ This is what we were being told at the time. The picture was very bleak. Was this going to be the same as Spanish flu back in 1918 that killed 50 to 100 million people? I remember reading the online papers showing Chinese people just falling down dead where they stood. Strap in folks, this is going to be rough.

Pimenta is in a position where he could assess the readiness of the NHS for a full-scale pandemic. He has concerns. Grave concerns. Lack of beds, lack of ventilators, lack of PPE equipment and lack of oxygen, 'Although nearly every hospital bed will have a port for oxygen to be supplied, not all the vents can be used at the same time, raising the very real possibility that in a hospital full of respiratory patients, suddenly we could run out of oxygen.’ Yikes!!

I am reading this book at the end of November 2020. The first wave is over, and we are in the middle of a second wave in the UK and a second lockdown, of sorts. Pimenta is outspoken to the point where he feared he could lose his job, but he felt the risk was worth it. He appears on BBC and Sky news. His concern about the lack of resources for the NHS pushes him to create a charity to fund the equipment required. There is no denying that the author is a bit of a media whore with an ego to go with it but you cannot knock him for what he has done. Truly terrific. I honestly do not know how he fits everything into his day.

It is an easy read but feels a little rushed. It is as if he has stopped a third of the way through the story. With life changing almost constantly the book already feels like a piece of history. I did not learn too much from it but what I hope the government and the NHS have learned is that this virus appears to be just a dress rehearsal for something bigger. Keep those 3D printers going Dr Pimenta. I think we’re going to need more visors. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis

(Throwback Review) COVID-19 offers us a great opportunity for individual and collective recession. It is time to go back to the drawing board and rewrite the next phase of our existence. The upcoming generation has to read about how we fought this Pandemic in order to overcome similar situations during their times.- Olawale Daniel

This book is an engrossing account of Dr.Dominic Pimenta's life as a front-line NHS Doctor in the UK. We might have read many cursory articles about various people's experiences in dealing with COVID-19 in social media. This is one of the first books published which has an in-depth analysis of the Pandemic. He mentions all the events he encountered in chronological order from the 8th of February 2020. He also vividly says where all we went wrong in dealing with the Pandemic and what we should do to prevent similar mistakes in the future, and how disparate interest groups united in the fight against the Pandemic in a concise yet discerning manner.
If this was indeed, as people are referring to it, a war, and the front-line will be the hospitals and the GP surgeries, then none of us are soldiers. We didn't sign out to be in the firing line. So no one is prepared, and many of us needed help.


What I learned from this book
1) The importance of going on a digital detox once in a while
The author tells us about a self-enforced social media ban. He immaculately construes the importance of taking a break from social media.
Social media follows your brain with all the right social cues and impulses, but it doesn't feed your soul like an actual interaction should. It is like junk food for your mind ”


2) How demagogues egregious neglect made the COVID-19 worse in many countries
This is a vital topic that needs in-depth evaluation to prevent future pandemics. This happened in many countries, including China and the UK. The Medical Journal, BMJ mentioned UK's response to covid-19 as too little, too late, too flawed. The problem which most of the countries faced was political advisors giving wrong advice to the scientific advisory group.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson mentioned a strategy called, 'take it on the chin, let the virus pass through the population all in one go.’
1) This was when there was no vaccine.
2) There was no substantial evidence that being infected with the coronavirus actually produces protective immunity.
3) COVID 19 spectrum of illness showed about 15% needing intensive care, 1-3% dying, infecting 80% population which means millions will be requiring intensive care. NHS didn't have the capacity to deal with it, which in turn will cause other people to develop life-threatening conditions other than the coronavirus. They will also die which they otherwise wouldn't have.'


3) How all the Doctors from various specialities worked together to face the pandemic crisis
The number of patients getting infected and admitted to the hospitals was increasing exponentially. There was a severe shortage of hospital beds, ventilators, and Doctors. Doctors from various specialties from both clinical and non-clinical sides came together and worked as a single team to tackle the crisis. Field hospitals were built in places like Central Park in NYC due to the severe hospital bed shortage. Even Medical students who had zero exposure to treating patients admirably jumped to the front-line to help in whatever way they can.

“The best Specialists are always the best Generalists as well.”


My favourite three lines from this book
“You can do Medicine good or fast. But you can’t do both.”


With the proper information and rationale, which it is my job to provide, people have a nearly limitless capacity to adapt and to rise to the occasion, whether for themselves or their family members.


“Stay informed, stay safe and be kind.”


Rating
4/5 This is a must-read book if you are working in health care or if you want to know more about the virus that erased an entire year from all our lives. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis (3.5) We’re going to see a flood of such books; I’m most looking forward to Dr Rachel Clarke’s Breathtaking (coming in January). Given how long it takes to get a book from manuscript to published product, I was impressed to find this on my library’s Bestsellers shelf in October. Pimenta’s was an early voice warning of the scale of the crisis and the government’s lack of preparation. He focuses on a narrow window of time, from February – when he encountered his first apparent case of coronavirus – to May, when, in protest at a government official flouting lockdown (readers outside the UK might not be familiar with the Cummings affair), he resigned his cardiology job at a London hospital to focus on his new charity, HEROES, which supports healthcare workers via PPE, childcare grants, mental health help and so on.

It felt uncanny to be watching events from earlier in the year unfold again: so clearly on a trajectory to disaster, but still gripping in the telling. Pimenta’s recreated dialogue and scenes are excellent. He gives a real sense of the challenges in his personal and professional lives. But I think I’d like a little more distance before I read this in entirety. Just from my skim, I know that it’s a very fluid book that reads almost like a thriller, and it ends with a sober but sensible statement of the situation we face. (All royalties from the book go to HEROES.)

Some favorite lines:

“this will be akin to the Blitz, and … we need to start thinking of it like that. A marathon, not a sprint. … The challenges to come – a second or even third wave, a global recession, climate change, mass misinformation … and political and societal upheaval … – will all require more from all of us if we hope to meet them. The challenge of our generation is not behind us, it is only just beginning. I plan to continue doing something about it, and perhaps now you do as well. So stay informed, stay safe and be kind.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis This is so interesting! We've all lived through this Covid-19 pandemic, so to see it through someone working at the NHS and have the brutal reality from that point - wow!

It's eye-opening, I definitely did not realise how bad things got for the NHS last year. Dr Dominic Pimenta and his team are absolutely amazing, battling at the hospitals every day and then doing the charity to help get PPE etc too!

This book is going to be read for years and years. This is a huge part of history, one of the biggest things that has happened. One of the deadliest. This book is brutal, honest and exactly what is needed for the NHS staff stories to be told. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis Whilst it highlights the events that happened, I can’t help feeling this is a book that comforts Dr Pimenta’s ego more than anything else. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis

The first book to tell the full story of the COVID-19 pandemic, from an NHS doctor working inside hospitals to save lives and combat the virus on the front line.

We weren't prepared, we weren't listened to, but together we fought it.

On the 8th of February, Dr. Dominic Pimenta encountered his first suspected case of coronavirus. Within a week, he began wearing a mask on the tube and within a month, he was moved over to the Intensive Care Unit to help fight this virus.

'DUTY OF CARE' is the first book to tell the full story of the COVID-19 pandemic from someone on the frontline, working in one of NHS's hardest hit areas. From the initial whispers coming out of China and the collective hesitation to class this as a pandemic to full lockdown and the continued battle to treat whoever came through the doors. Dr. Pimenta tells the heroic stories of how the entire system shifted to tackle this outbreak and how, ultimately, the staff managed to save lives.



KINDLE AND PAPERBACK ⇒ 320 pages
AUDIBLE RUNNING TIME ⇒ 10hrs. and 4mins.

©2020 Dr. Dominic Pimenta (P)2020 W.F. Howes Ltd Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis

Duty

Free download ✓ eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB ¶ Dominic Pimenta

Published too soon, in my opinion. This book started off strong but quickly became repetitive. I think a truly reflective piece on the pandemic experience will need to be written once it's over - this felt rushed and unfinished. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis An informative and often shocking tale of the build-up to and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, told by a frontline doctor. His analysis of the failings of the Government handling of the crisis and the way the NHS somehow managed to cope despite everything, together with details of treatments and what really happens in ICU, was revealing and gripping. An excellent read if you can face it! - 9/10. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis Duty of Care is the first hand account of Dr Dominic Pimenta, a doctor that finds himself on the front line of the COVID-19 crisis. Recalling his daily experience from the days before COVID-19 was thought of as nothing to concern ourselves about, to being in ICU dealing with the pandemic head-on, Dr Pimenta shows us the very real picture of what life was like for those dealing with the most fast-spreading virus the world has ever seen.

More than being a voice for doctors and nurses within the NHS, Dr Pimenta shows us what family life was like throughout, about the concerns in the early days to him and his wife taking action in pushing the government to enforce a lockdown and starting up the charity HEROES.
I was in awe of how Dominic and his family had this real 'can-do' attitude towards anything, despite having two young children to care for and being a full-time doctor on the front-line, how in the world he found the time to start charities, make TV and radio appearances, do extensive research and experiments on anything that could possibly help his colleagues all over the country with the PPE shortages, with always the constant fear looming of catching the virus and making sure his family are always as safe as possible.

We are still not anywhere near the end of this pandemic, as Doctor Pimenta ensures us more and more towards the end of the book, I find his epilogue the stark reality of what is potentially to come if we all as individuals do not take COVID-19 seriously and do everything we can to keep one another safe, for those people that think we are over the worst I implore you to pick up this book and let it tell you the story of a loving father, husband and friend that had to take a daily risk to ensure his patients had the best chance of survival possible.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis So odd to be reading about the pandemic while we are still in it. Very intriguing to hear from an NHS doctor on the front lines. So much respect for those healthcare workers. Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis 3.5/5⭐
enjoyed that the audiobook was read by the author who has a very calming voice -- which worked nicely to at least somewhat balance out the distressing matter of the book and make it more easily digestible. it also felt like listening to someone just casually chat to me about their day and lockdown has made me so lonely that I really appreciated that! (god, I sound sad lol) Duty of Care: One NHS Doctors Story of the COVID-19 Crisis