NHSers - how are we doing / feeling? Calm before the storm?

[treebarking]

I'm in a low incidence area but even our covid ward has reopened with patients. No one on ITU but starting to see sicker covid patients coming in. Bigger regional hospital has a full unit already. No reduction in general admissions and if anything, they are more complex. Services were slowly getting back to normal, working through waiting lists etc but lags of 6 months for input. Infrastructure slowly going back to normal. Massive staff shortages as loads off with mental health sickness absence. Heating has gone on...hating mask life etc.

Today everyone suddenly realised that we might be going back to March or something similar. All the covid area processes again alongside running an acute service for non covid patients (as everyone won't stay at home this time round). Incorporating covid into the running of the hospital etc. Everyone has been in good spirits but today....really flat. Not sure we've got enough reserves to do it again.

We're therapies btw so go all over the hospital rather than ward based.

How is everyone else doing? Does anyone know what the plan is for the nightingales? 🤷‍♀️

Really hoping we don't have to cancel elective surgery yet again. We still aren't up to full speed yet. The our cleft lip and palate surgeons says operating on older babies is much more difficult. And the kids with scoliosis will be trucker as their curves progress.

Not another - that is beyond belief. I am so sorry you are being treated with such contempt.

Thank you all

Thank you so much for all that you’ve done and all that you will continue to do in the future 💐

So sad, frightened and worried reading this thread

@00YellowandGreenToBeSeen said 👇

I wouldn’t dream of doing it as it’s not my place but my god, I wish for Piers Morgan to pick this thread up. Not normally a fan but he’s been a voice of ‘where the fuck are the government?’ throughout this pandemic.

Piers is on twitter.. can someone also on twitter tweet him the link for this thread?

The MN posts about it all being an over reaction aren’t helping.

I wish others can see what people have gone through. People not being able to hold their loved ones hand as they die.
Loved ones not being able to visit sick relatives or attend funerals.
Young previously fit people deteriorating fast.
People missing out on care and diagnosis

It’s all heartbreaking and I don’t want to do it again

notsodimwit i did send this to Piers on twitter yesterday - will do again now

Anyone else on Twitter - @piersmorgan

There's an awful lot of 'the hospitals weren't overwhelmed last time so we should just carry on - sod the guidance' today.

Another who just wants to say a huge thank you for everything you do.

I would recommend having a quick search for nightingale.post on Instagram where a number of people have shared their thanks.

I just posted the below on another thread.

I was redeployed to iTu during COVID. I have never been a ward nurse since being a student. We had our own ventilated and filtered patient to look after from day one and it was sink or swim for us and our patient.
It was the steepest learning curve of my life.
I’m proud of what we did and how we coped, but I and many, many of my colleagues don’t have the mental or physical strength to do this again. Especially so soon after the last wave.

[ sad]

There's an awful lot of the hospitals weren't overwhelmed last time so we should just carry on

The willful ignorance of some posters as to why hospitals weren't overrun is depressing

@ChestyNut

The MN posts about it all being an over reaction aren’t helping.

I wish others can see what people have gone through. People not being able to hold their loved ones hand as they die.
Loved ones not being able to visit sick relatives or attend funerals.
Young previously fit people deteriorating fast.
People missing out on care and diagnosis

It’s all heartbreaking and I don’t want to do it again

But I think that’s what people saying it’s an over reaction are complaining about. They are saying people should be able to hold the hands of ill relatives and to keep them away is an over reaction.

I’m another one sending the utmost heartfelt thanks and appreciation for ALL that all of you do. I owe my life to the NHS and will never be able to convey my gratitude for the care I received (pre-Covid). This has been sobering to read, and one of the very few posts in the Coronavirus section worth giving attention to. I wish all of you fortitude and courage in the months to come

Another Non-NHS here. Just a massive 'thank you' for all you do. You are deeply appreciated. I am so sorry you will be facing this a second time.

Middle of the post night shift mucked up sleep pattern- hence on MN at 3am. I’m a student nurse, just returned to ward placements and loving being back. Not loving the sadness and stress everyone has been under or the worrying signs of increasing cases even here in a not-high risk area of the UK. My colleagues were very concerned about the usually returning/repeat patients their ward has on a monthly basis due to chronic conditions- where did they go during lockdown? How have their conditions been managed? Have they? Our hospital was not overrun and concern has been raised about all of the UK being treated as one. So I’m hoping that restrictions coming into force take locations into account and are based on what’s best for each area and it’s data. Not the rest of the uk. Here in Scotland our softplay areas haven’t even reopened for example- and our swimming pools only just. So life has not gone back to normal here- far from it. Though I have to disagree with a PP teacher on this thread who said she’d found less cough/colds than normal. On the Contrary locally we’ve had schools with less than 50% of kids in within the first few weeks of term due to coughing and colds and even a round of stomach bugs. It seems socially distancing kids has lessened their immune system somewhat. And worryingly shows how little the measures in place at schools actually prevent the spread of infection.
Worrying times all round but I’m still wanting to be a part of this.

@Squiffany as an ICU nurse I can tell you that your contribution was hugely valued. Honestly, those who were redeployed into ICU during the pandemic are my biggest heroes. It must have been terrifying. We hated not being able to support you properly.

If there is any help or support you need, please reach out to someone. Now is the time. I'm sorry to say it but it really could happen again.

I've just read on 2 different threads that we should all be on emergency contracts so we can be redeployed at a moments notice round the country to plug gaps and deal with surges. It makes me so sad that the public could believe we have nothing else to do or families to look after!

@treebarking some people have unrealistic expectations while also not wanting to do anything to support nhs staff.

I've just read on 2 different threads that we should all be on emergency contracts so we can be redeployed at a moments notice

That's absolutely horrific and so dehumanising. I'm so sorry covid is happening and you're picking up the brunt which you never knew you'd need too. It's not fair.

I've just read on 2 different threads that we should all be on emergency contracts so we can be redeployed at a moments notice round the country to plug gaps and deal with surges.

Which threads were these treebarking?
I am astounded... Is this really what people are thinking?

I am happy to be a team player in the NHS, but I didn't sign up to be cannon fodder

Hmm, I left the Civil Service because I was on a mobile contract and kept being moved, shame as it was a line of work I would have stayed in for a lot longer otherwise. If my NHS contract were to be changed to a mobile contract I would start looking elsewhere for work.

@labellesusage

I can not put into words the despair , defeat, death, and feeling like we were used as fodder.
I don't think the general public understands what this has done to us as a nhs family. Over 600 nhs staff died from covid. Possibly many more from suicide.

I know my Trust has had at least two staff suicide attempts that were directly related to COVID and its impact.

It’s heartbreaking.

[quote 30under]@Squiffany as an ICU nurse I can tell you that your contribution was hugely valued. Honestly, those who were redeployed into ICU during the pandemic are my biggest heroes. It must have been terrifying. We hated not being able to support you properly.

If there is any help or support you need, please reach out to someone. Now is the time. I'm sorry to say it but it really could happen again.[/quote]
I know, I’m not blaming the iTu staff. They were literally on their knees too.