'On a brighter note, the amount of goodwill and generosity from the public has been truly amazing.'
The wards have quickly filled up this week. They had previously been emptied out in preparation for Covid-19, but now almost every ward is full of suspected or confirmed cases. To increase capacity, consultants’ offices and outpatient departments are being turned into extra wards. Our theatre recovery space has already been turned into an extra ITU [Intensive Treatment Unit]. And both ITUs are full.
What I’ve been most saddened by is the age of people dying from Covid. Many are only in their 50s and 60s. Whilst many have underlying health issues, often they are only mild, things such as high blood pressure and diet-controlled diabetes. These are medical issues that, when well controlled, are not particularly life-limiting.
On a brighter note, the amount of goodwill and generosity from the public has been truly amazing. The Thursday night clapping has made many of my colleagues shed a tear. A non-profit called Cook-19 delivered me a box full of community-cooked meals when I was in quarantine.
It would also be wonderful to see some of this kindness towards NHS staff extended in the long-term. Each hospital department has to fund and provide its own tea, coffee, milk and biscuits. Some departments don’t even have a staff room to have a tea break in. In those that do, we raise funds for our own sofas, chairs, tables, cutlery and crockery. The sofas inevitably get worn out and break, so then we spend months fundraising amongst ourselves for new ones.
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