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March 29, 2024, 01:25:33 AM

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Who's doing well out of the pandemic?

Started by Fambo Number Mive, October 16, 2020, 06:15:39 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Fambo Number Mive

Serco certainly are, despite how poor Serco Test and Trace is.

QuoteOutsourcing giant Serco has said it expects profits to exceed expectations in 2020 as a result of the uptick in work since the global pandemic.

Updating the London Stock Exchange in an unexpected announcement, the company said the excess profits could now be returned to shareholders, with a consultation on dividend payments under way.

The company, which is one of the largest companies involved the UK Government's Test and Trace scheme, said it had achieved strong revenue growth in the three months from July, highlighting extensions to contracts to provide test sites and call handlers.

Bosses said this was "an indication of our customer's satisfaction with the quality of work we have delivered" as part of the £12 billion committed by the Government to the system...

The announcement comes a day after NHS Test and Trace recorded its worst ever week for contact tracing as cases of coronavirus continue to rise.

It is understood senior Government officials have expressed concern that Test and Trace could become "overwhelmed" if case numbers get too high.

New data showed 62.6% of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England were reached through the system in the week ending October 7.

This was the lowest weekly percentage since Test and Trace began, and is down from 69.5% the previous week...

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/10/16/serco-says-profits-set-to-soar-after-test-and-trace-contract-extension/


jobotic

Now that's how you cause death and profit from it.

BAE Systems must be looking on admiringly.

steveh

Must have been around this time last year that the press was full of stories about how the big government outsourcing companies were about to go bust and this method of operating had no future...


Outdoor heater manufacturers and outdoor furniture sellers.




JaDanketies

Quote from: Blinder Data on October 20, 2020, 04:29:49 PM
Andy Burnham

I suspect he's shoring up support in Manchester but I reckon Southerners hate him even more. Might help him get reelected as mayor but I can't think it'll help him step to a higher-profile job like PM.


Sebastian Cobb

He was pro austerity and pro business when he was trying to rise in Labour. The fact people are acting like he's che guevara is genuinely depressing.

Highlights how shit Starmer is too.

JaDanketies

At least Andy Burnham didn't do any public Corbyn-slagging.

idunnosomename

Silver screen, hang him on the wa-ah-awl

TommyTurnips

Companies that make transparent plastic screens and floor stickers with arrows on them. They must be doing very well.

Icehaven

Quite early in the first lockdown that G-Tech bloke was on the news as he'd invented a ventilator and started manufacturing them instead of overpriced vacuum cleaners and garden equipment. Then a few weeks ago he was on again for employing apprentices or something and it was casually mentioned that the ventilators were never actually used. So he got a nice little publicity boost in early on despite the product seemingly being a bust for some reason.


Fr.Bigley

Quote from: icehaven on October 21, 2020, 12:44:08 PM
Quite early in the first lockdown that G-Tech bloke was on the news as he'd invented a ventilator and started manufacturing them instead of overpriced vacuum cleaners and garden equipment. Then a few weeks ago he was on again for employing apprentices or something and it was casually mentioned that the ventilators were never actually used. So he got a nice little publicity boost in early on despite the product seemingly being a bust for some reason.

Gaz-tech.

Sebastian Cobb

I think the ventilator thing was overplayed, everyone scrambled for them at the start and now there's a shit load in the Nightingale not being used.

I think CPAP was good enough in a lot of cases, and far less invasive, but created aerosol, I think they've got better at mitigating that now.

Another problem with ventilators is once you stick an old, weak person on them they may never be able to come off it while they're still alive.

scarecrow

RE: ventilators, isn't it the case that they weren't being used because Nightingale hospitals didn't have any staff? Due to capacity issues, patients were only being accepted once they were very, very sick, by which time it was mostly too late for them anyway? Compared to Germany where people seemed to be afforded medical care very early on in their condition so were being treated with comparative success? The handling of the crisis is as much about staffing as it is facilities.


steveh

Think now ventilators are only used for the most severe cases for which only the most sophisticated models are suitable.

One difference to other illnesses is that Covid seems to damage the lungs such that they don't bring in as much oxygen as they should but causes less problems with the exhalation of CO2 so giving oxygen can be sufficient.

Zetetic

Quote from: scarecrow on October 21, 2020, 01:44:24 PM
RE: ventilators, isn't it the case that they weren't being used because Nightingale hospitals didn't have any  Compared to Germany where people seemed to be afforded medical care very early on in their condition so were being treated with comparative success? The handling of the crisis is as much about staffing as it is facilities.
Far more about staffing than facilities.

The four NHSs of the UK all have extremely low numbers of staffed medical inpatient beds compared with most Western countries.

Part of the issue with the "Nightingales"[nb]and their equivalents in the other parts of the UK that the lady of the lamp thought were full of illiterate subhuman scum[/nb] is that no-one seems to have a good idea of how to use them other than in an absolute worst-case scenario. It's maybe possible that we could have used them as discharge holding areas even with fairly poor staffing.

Blue Jam



Sebastian Cobb

Smashes a winner against PSG on Tuesday night and is hectoring the government on Wednesday morning. What a guy.

Sebastian Cobb

Good happenings today with Rashford.
This prick whinges he's not replying quick enough, debate me pleeeaseeee!


Oh right he's literally out feeding people with his mum.


https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/23/marcus-rashford-takes-his-mum-to-food-charity-after-mps-rejected-free-school-meals-13467778/

His twitter feed is now just a wall of him just naming councils that are openly defying the government without comment. No comment passed:

https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford

Blue Jam

Total legend, and I say that as a Liverpool supporter.

Head Gardener

£120 for a covid test in Boots with results in 12 mins seems a bit rich, but may be a bargain as I've not done my research

olliebean

Surely if you're sufficiently concerned you might have it to be willing to pay £120 for a test, you shouldn't be going into Boots but staying the fuck at home.