NHS workers - how are we all doing?

[frapefruit]

Haven't seen a thread for a while.

My hospital is way under capacity in a low numbers area. Doesn't stop the trust changing processes, plans and systems every 5 minutes. Wards and services moving on a daily basis for no clear reason. Crap communication. Mass redeployment which has been handled very badly with people having no clear idea what is expected of them or for how long. Lots of upset people who are so sick of being told 50 million different things per day that many have started handing notices in.

PPE has been an absolute farce. Still waiting for clear guidance and still being shouted at if you even look at surgical masks.

Care of patients is poor as the only thing cared about is getting people out or if they have corona or not. That's about it.

The thing most people are worried about is how on earth do we come back from this. All surgery, procedures, appointments cancelled. Most chemo, 2 week wait unless extremely obvious is cancelled. No ENT, no specialist services, no paediatric team etc. The list goes on. How will people ever be allowed to access non corona health care again? Management suggesting this is the way we will be long term....

Hate work. Hate my job now. Used to love it.

Anyone else?

I meant to add - I am full of admiration for all you on the front line, and everyone who is being asked to work so far outside their comfort zones. to you all.

Pleased to report cancer services being maintained as ward plus day chemo unit are moving to the local private hospitals. What infuriates me is the way management keep everything secret. I know about the move from talking to people I know around the hospital who are in the know. But surely it's a good news story - it was my first thought when the deal to secure private hospital beds was announced. Cancer patients are incredibly worried. Obviously they are being notified as arrangements are made, but a good news story in the local newspaper would surely give wider reassurance. Our own staff (or at least some of them) will be going over too, so continuity and knowledge of patients and procedures is maintained.

Meanwhile, daughter who has been spending her gap year working as an HCA in theatres and now finds herself occasionally in the thick of it, doing "clean" running in the Covid ICU that has been created in part of the theatre suite, tells me the hospital is running out of oxygen and propofol is also in short supply.

They're still doing some surgery, and lots of elective stuff has been transferred to the private hospital, including all the breast surgery.

I do wonder if a lot of this will ever return to the NHS after this is over....

A&E can't stay empty for long. I'm waiting for the DIY accidents that must be around the corner if the banging and sawing to be heard all around where I live is anything to go by. And the absence of traffic means some people are indulging their Top Gear dreams - colleague spotted someone practicing handbrake turns in the empty road as she headed to work the other day.

My wife is a nurse, she came off maternity leave to go back, currently living elsewhere, they have 4 wards of suspected covid19 and confirmed, she got an email about working at nhs nightingale the other day

ICU and we,ve now been told we have to wear our ffp3 masks for the full 12 hour shift even though manufacturers state to change after no more than 6 hours. gowns and shieids being reused because stocks are running low. We get no relief and only 2 x 30 min breaks and by the time you have disrobed and got to break you literally have 20 mins to eat and try to drink. We are sweating past ourselves and only get 2 drinks in a 12 1/2 hour shift. I have a banging headache this morning, this is going to make a lot of staff ill. I have never felt so stressed going into work and I usually love my job.

That sounds awful reesewithoutaspoon we were doubling up for breaks every couple of hours or so on nights last week, taking 20-30 minutes. We
weren't using our staff room, just sat outside the bay so constantly being disturbed to run for things so wasn't much of a break. Am back on days tomorrow so will see how different it is. We don't have air conditioning and it's supposed to hit 25 degrees on sat - going to be sweltering
We were discarding our masks etc each time we came out of our isolation bay although I've not been in work for a few days so that might have changed. We were using hospital scrubs instead of our own but now they've run out so we are back to our own. Quite a lot of concern now about how to transport infected stuff home, also washing them in domestic washers. We were told to put them in a red dissolvable bag but they are clogging up the drum bit with debris

Morning all, nice to find a thread for all of us in this position
I’m a scrub sister & currently juggling icu shifts & covering emergency surgery lists, I had a 3hr crash itu course & a walkaround so well out of my comfort zone as is everyone, we’re currently full of CV patients in our regular ITU 12 beds, paediatric recovery is non CV ITU with 4 patients & yesterday opened ITU 3 in theatre recovery potential for 12 more beds (& that’s before having 10 theatres prepped & ready to go)
PPE supplies ok at the mo, arriving at all times of day & night.
Like others I’m really struggling with the dehydration & headaches but trying to keep on top of it.
Precious day off today so going to do an essentials shop, I hate food shopping at the best of times! 😂 then a few jobs in the garden before crashing out early again! Take care everyone, we are not alone x

Good morning. All the best to everyone struggling.

That sounds terrible reesewithoutaspoon
When removing masks eg the FF3 you are meant to lean slightly forward over the bin, chin out and carefully reach up to grasp the elastic straps and gently peel them forward letting the mask drop straight into the bin without touching it. THERE IS NO WAY you should be putting the same mask back on after your break.
Plus breaks - our nurses are being limited how long they can be doing direct patient care, rotating out about every four hours and working a stint in the clean area drawing up drugs and doing the other support stuff.
Loading with fluid is really important.
I just went into the ICU for a couple of hours yesterday to assist my manager who does minor surgical procedures and places venous access lines. We preloaded with water before we went. It was very stressful, the patient woke up half way through the procedure and it took four of us to hold them down and protect the ET tube and lines while the nurse gave a bonus of sedation.

12 hour shifts are too long for this work.

I wear scrubs but if I've had direct dealings with a Covid patient I drop all my clothes just inside the front door and walk naked to the kitchen to put them straight in the wash and go up to shower. Glad there's no neighbours hanging around looking through the windows. I've got some of that Dettol In Wash disinfectant I use. It's expensive though.

*bolus not bonus