{"id":23118,"date":"2020-08-07T12:44:38","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T11:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=23118"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:00:47","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T12:00:47","slug":"we-were-in-the-thick-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=23118","title":{"rendered":"‘We were in the thick of it’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than 500 UK health workers have died in the line of duty battling the coronavirus pandemic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is among the highest health staff death rates from the pandemic in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as the pandemic continues, all NHS workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from cleaners to porters, doctors to nurses, paramedics to health visitors and many more in between \u00e2\u20ac\u201c continue to risk the very same fate as their colleagues who paid the ultimate price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even those who did not contract the virus are left with psychological scars that could take years to heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left many nurses with PTSD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Thomas’ Hospital A&E staff nurse Mark Boothroyd, who also serves as Unite branch secretary for Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital branch in London, described the shocking nature of the sacrifices that he and his colleagues have made throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPPE provision was very badly affected by the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to not replenish the pandemic stockpile that was set up by the previous Labour government,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government basically let the stockpile expire, run down and run out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCompounding the problem was the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to privatise the distribution network of PPE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it just wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit for purpose when the massive extra demand arose when the pandemic hit. It just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe were left in a situation where hospitals were scrambling around to get whatever PPE they could. Masks were changing from day to day; some wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit. Staff were going into Covid wards exposed and there was a general shortage. It was an unbelievably horrendous situation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark told of the immense pressure intensive care nurses were under at the hospital during the peak of Covid-19 hospitalisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo cope with the extra demand for intensive care, we went from having 75 ICU beds to 300. An intensive care nurse typically cares for one patient at any given time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c maybe two maximum if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re short-staffed. Because of the huge increase in patients in ICU, their workload quadrupled to four intensive care patients.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, nurses covering other services such as out-patient or surgery which were then suspended, were redeployed to work in ICU because of a shortage of staff at a time when these intensive care units were flooded with patients, Mark explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese redeployed nurses didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have intensive care experience so they were basically given odd jobs to do. In turn, intensive care nurses then had to manage these redeployed nurses as well manage four patients. It was incredibly stressful. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s frankly left many nurses with varying levels of PTSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bStaff just feel generally let down that the government hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually followed the scientific advice on how to tackle the pandemic — and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now looking straight at a second wave. And so we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all going to have to do this all over again.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098We were all very worried and distressed’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite rep and health visitor Victoria Thorpe, who also works for Guy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and St Thomas’ Hospital Trust, agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt the height of the pandemic, it was incredibly scary time for health visitors,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEverything was mismanaged from the beginning and we were told because we worked in the community and not in a hospital setting we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need any PPE. So were expected to have contact with our clients without any protection at all. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until weeks later when Public Health England (PHE) and others realised the severity of the pandemic that we were given PPE.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Victoria noted that initially, there was a plan to redeploy health visitors into the acute sector, but then this plan changed when public health experts realised the importance of continuing a health visiting service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMothers were still giving birth to babies so there was a need for consultations, and there were a lot of safeguarding issues amid the pandemic as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe quickly redesigned our service to meet the needs of the population, at great risk to our lives. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe developed what we called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098hot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and cold\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 teams where some people worked from home and did virtual consultations and then some would go into health centres to see clients directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe were in the thick of it really. At first some of us were going into uncontrolled areas like people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s homes. And we know that the majority of the population first became sick from Covid-19 at home before going into a hospital setting.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria and her colleagues were especially angry that at one point during the pandemic, they were asked to do increased contact visits, despite it going against PHE guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSome of the babies were from families we had never visited before and there was this assumption that they had to be physically seen by someone and have the baby physically assessed by someone. There might also by a partner at home while we were doing a virtual consultation so we weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t able to ask those domestic abuse questions. The rationale behind it was understandable but it just wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t assessed or managed properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter all, asking those mums to leave their homes during the pandemic and get onto public transport with their young babies, come to the health centres and then travel back home  \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it significantly increases their risk of contracting Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen we pushed back against management, they just said it came from \u00e2\u20ac\u0098command and control\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and we had to work that way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite our argument which was that midwives were already following up with these families so extra contact visits weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessary.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many health visitors as whole are doubly at risk of catching and dying from the virus \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is because a strong majority, 80 per cent, are from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAEM) backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this added risk factor, Victoria said that this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taken into consideration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA Covid-19 SOP (standard operating procedure) was developed it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an equality impact assessment to see how it discriminated against staff in protected categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe were all very worried and distressed because we knew the statistics say if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re BAEM then you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re much more likely to contract the virus and die from the virus.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark, Victoria, and all their colleagues and other NHS staff have made tremendous sacrifices and risked their lives amid the pandemic, as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in Part 1 of our feature. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we hear from Mark and Victoria again, who explain why because of these sacrifices, they deserve a pay rise now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 500 UK health workers have died in the line of duty battling the coronavirus pandemic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is among the highest health staff death rates from the pandemic in the world. And as the pandemic continues, all NHS workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from cleaners to porters, doctors to nurses, paramedics to health visitors and many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,17],"tags":[1295,77,29,63,745],"wps_subtitle":"In Part 1 of our two-part series on NHS pay justice, Unite health members reflect on the sacrifices they made at the height of the pandemic","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23118"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23133,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23118\/revisions\/23133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}