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Heartbreaking photographs reveal doctors and nurses working a 12-hour night shift in an NHS intensive care unit that fights coronavirus
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The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated the dedication of NHS staff. None more than the ICU doctors and nurses who treat the most critically ill among us.
Nine photographer Christopher Bobyn of BBC News Scotland gained exclusive access to the NHS ICU at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride, Scotland, over a 12-hour period.
According to the BBC, Hairmyres Hospital typically has an intensive care unit, but they have now added two Covid wards and two Covid patient ICU areas.
The primary ICU has been operating at 240% capacity for most of the pandemic, and is now equipped to accommodate up to 400%.
The photos show the realities of working in high intensity work as many are doing on the front line of the NHS at this difficult time.
Dressed in cumbersome but life-saving PPE, healthcare workers continue their work under the added stress of an increased risk of infection.
Hairmyres Hospital Dr. Austin Rattray leads the ICU nightly team of 30 nursing staff and clinical support workers, three consultants and two junior physicians.
Much of the ICU staff has been brought in from other departments, specially trained to assist with the coronavirus effort.
Doctors and nurses help other staff members put on PPE at the beginning of their shift.
Dr. Austin Rattray leads the ICU nightly team of 30 nursing staff and clinical support workers, three consultants, and two junior physicians.
NHS staff with their names on their teams so that patients and colleagues can recognize them
A nurse monitors a patient recently removed from a ventilator. Strict isolation is applied to limit the spread of the virus, which means that families cannot enter the ICU to visit desperately ill family members.
Doctors monitor a patient in an induced coma, patients generally remain sedated but alert, but not if they have coronavirus
Katie Maguire, an anesthetic trainee, shows the marks left by her PPE after a 12-hour shift. She does not normally work in intensive care, but has been recruited during the pandemic.
A doctor supervises his team as they put on their PPE at night taking care not to leave any inch unprotected.
The ICU team works together seamlessly as they discuss the treatment of a patient
A doctor examines a patient’s chest x-ray to make sure there is no fluid in the lungs.
A coronavirus team is raised by the ICU team, in preparation for a chest x-ray. He was one of five patients who required extensive 24-hour care throughout the night.
Covid-19 patient Lynn Plunkett is recovering after spending time in the ICU. She says: ‘The doctor asked me if I should be resurrected if necessary. I said you keep me alive no matter what. I have my first grandchild born in two weeks and I need to meet him. You keep me alive no matter what.
In the dramatic moment when the medical team ‘pronates’ a patient whose oxygen levels suddenly dropped dangerously low, turning the patient forward to facilitate breathing.
ICU doctors help desperately ill patient breathe with the help of a pump
ICU Nurse Morag Malcom monitors the breathing of a desperately ill patient
Doctors care for a patient in the ICU at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride
A coronavirus patient has been unable to breathe without a ventilator for 23 days.
An NHS staff member with full PPE finds a quiet time to pose for a photo at the end of his shift
A doctor adjusts a patient’s device while checking his vital statistics.
Nurses and doctors cooperate to treat a patient who has been admitted to the ICU
The team treats a patient who needs urgent help in the ICU, the priority is to facilitate the patient’s breathing.
