Thread for NHS staff

[LucheroTena]

How prepared do you think your place of work is? I work clinically in large teaching hospital and not at all confident we’re ready. Outside of wards there is very little planning and yet we have massive outpatient services. Elective stuff is being limited now but nowhere near enough capacity will be created. Millions in deficit so we’re operating on skeleton workforce and even when we can recruit no one wants to work here. Dozens of calls to our small team each day from worried patients, it’s taking up so much time to answer them all on top of already manic workload. Loads of staff with symptoms that are concerning but we’re not swabbing them and 111 uninterested unless they’ve travelled. Admin staff gleeful that they might soon be ‘working’ from home when truth is it’s difficult to get them to do much work on site let alone unsupervised. It doesn’t feel as though there is much consideration for clinical staff and now we’ll no doubt also be burdened with doing the jobs of admin. Never been as close to saying stuff it and quitting.

Good luck with getting masks. Family member is hospital doctor expected to train medical staff in how to face-fit those masks correctly. Only there are no face-fit-masks arrived yet, for them to use. The covid patients have arrived though.
I was in hospital pharmacy when the bird flu started; we all had training for PPE, but no equipment was ever issued.

THANK YOU so much to all NHS staff. You are on the front line and should get paid more than anyone else in this country

We have also been told we should only isolate if symptomatic otherwise to work as normal. Apparently we also don't need masks and they are happy for us to look after confirmed and suspected CV patients day after day then return home to our own families. Some of our at risk colleagues wont be expected to look after respiratory patients which is good imo but doesn't really help the rest of us out. 2 of them are asthmatics prone to attacks and have been told to attend as normal - no self isolation on our watch. It's a shambles to be honest but what can you do but keep going & making the best of it? I must say the public have been so kind we have been sent in coffees, sandwiches, cakes (all in packaging) and thank you cards just for doing our jobs. I have also been spat on and screamed at by another member of the public this week though so swings and roundabouts!

ITU nurse here. My unit is incredibly prepared, everyone is fit tested, being updated with new policies and procedures daily, and we have plenty equipment required. Everyone has a "we've got this" attitude, but so far we only have 1 confirmed case so feels like the calm before the storm.

I'm actually self isolating from today as both myself and DP have woken up today with fever, cough and chest tightness. Hoping I will be symptom free once my 7 days are up so I can be back in the thick of it ready for when the shit hits the fan.

In Norway the government is providing free childcare for all public health workers and anyone else whose job is deemed essential.
Surely our government should be providing the same kind of fundamental care? It's ludicrous to lose vital roles at this point in time.
All you NHS and other medical staff are incredible - you're doing a fantastic job in a very difficult and unsupportive situation. Hats off to you.

I’m not NHS (although my retired dad was an anaesthetist); so have an idea.
I just want to give my heartfelt thanks to all of you professionals who are putting yourself on the line everyday.
I am in France, and I am telling everyone I know in the U.K. to stay home.
I hope that the schools closing at least in Scotland and Wales and hopefully England soon gives you some respite.
Good luck and thank you again

@Iprefergin
I remember reading that courage is about carrying on even when you are scared. It would be unnatural not to be scared. You are being very brave by going in because of your fear. If you weren't scared, you wouldn't be being brave.

Am not clinical but running medical examiner service within bereavement in a busy acute Trust, and also work regionally overseeing other Trusts. Is still quiet on the bereavement front where we are, but it is the calm before the storm I think. Been going through the proposed emergency legislation today about relaxing death certification and cremation regulations, which hopefully will help us somewhat in processing deaths. I'm worried though, we have no contingency plan if the team become sick, and I don't know what will happen if we're overrun with deaths.

We've run out of fit masks where I work so we're now using surgical masks which are fucking pointless but someone stole thousands of masks this week from A&E. just strolled in wearing scrubs and told the staff they were moving them to icu and took off with them

It sickens me.

Throw them all in one cell -throw away the key

@Iprefergin. Don’t feel bad about posting that xx. You’re incredibly brave. I hope I get you or a nurse like you shoukd I end up in hospital.

I wish you didn’t have to go in. I wish no one was dealing with this.

You’re incredibly brave. 🌷

So many people at work in tears today. The atmosphere has changed and staff are scared to death.

Schools are to close
Just announced now
Making a terrible situation even worse , I’m not nhs but want to thank you all for your hard work and dedication

Spread thin on the ground like all of you. I'm a midwife and they can't even figure out where to do elective patients now. Dreading going back in tonight. Still haven't been fit tested as I was on a/l when it first started.

I’ve had a year off work for maternity but due back imminently, I’ve kept in close contact with my colleagues and found we’ve been taken from our own speciality to go work in ED to help fight the influx. This means a complete different working environment, illnesses and conditions I haven’t managed before, a change in our working hours from days to nights, oh and only one member of staff per shift to deal with whatever comes in.

I’ve had mixed emotions about it, at the start of the week I was so worried I was considering extending my leave to avoid the situation as long as possible. We are a team of only 6 ANPs, two of which have now been isolated for two weeks following exposure to the virus. But listening to Boris and seeing how the country is pulling together and taking a war time approach to these unprecedented times I am now eager to get back, to support my team and community and do all I can to fight this. I will probably have to work additional shifts to cover the shortfall at work and also financially as my DH is self employed and we will now struggle. I worry about exposing my baby to the virus but I know I have to dig deep and get this done, and hopefully we’ll come out the other side in a couple months time and life can return to some normality 🤞🏻

I'm so scared. Staff in our dept are feeling unwell but are still coming in. We are being told to wear surgical masks to treat positive COVID patients and there is no communication from the management.
I'm scared and don't want to go in anymore. There is an strange atmosphere everywhere

If I may interject briefly. If it’s any reassurance, the surgical masks are fine if you are looking after a pt with covid. Obviously the FFP3 masks are gold standard but unless you are doing an aerosol-ising procedure (intubation/ extinction etc) you should be ok with the surgical ones. It’s with covid should also wear them as much as possible.

Extubation not extinction 🤦🏻‍♀️

And pts not it’s. FFS!

Agree with the above, FFP3 are for aerosol generating procedures only.

The rest of the time it's surgical masks.

Hoping I will be symptom free once my 7 days are up
The advice changed on Tuesday...a household with anyone with symptoms ie fever/cough self isolates for 14.

I would just like to say a genuine thank you to anyone working within the nhs. Even before all this, you all worked tirelessly. We are so incredibly lucky to have the NHS and my only regret is that I can’t supoirt you all more.

A massive problem in the NHS is no one will make a bloody decision.

I highlighted to a line manager last week that there are currently no engineers qualified with experience to fix our ventilators.

Result...shoulder shrug.

@ephe17

I highlighted to a line manager last week that there are currently no engineers qualified with experience to fix our ventilators.Result...shoulder shrug

For the love of fuck

@notmyhusbandsproperty

What slip 😖😳is kaugh if it wasn’t so scary!

The advice changed on Tuesday...a household with anyone with symptoms ie fever/cough self isolates for 14.
It's more specific than that. If you are the one with symptons then its 7 days as long as your symptoms have stopped. However the rest of your household must isolate for 14 days. There is fairly decent guidance in the gov website about it.