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A senior doctor has described how the staff at Wales’ largest hospital are dealing with a “massive” number of Covid patients and how their colleagues are “pushed to the limit”.
Dr Andrew Lansdown, a consultant endocrinologist at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, spoke on BBC Radio Five Live Breakfast on Monday, the day after Cardiff and the Vale Board of Health issued an urgent appeal for help in intensive care.
Dr Lansdown, whose room has recently been converted to a Covid room, said: “It’s starting to sound a bit like a cliché, but it really is true that these are unprecedented times, we have really felt stretched to the limit. In the last week or two things have become relentless, we are under extreme pressure and the number of patients who are now going through coronavirus is huge.
“My room has recently been converted into a coronavirus room to make way for these patients and the weekend [we had] tweet for additional help due to the impact of that. It’s not just the new variant, which seems to spread faster, you also have the usual pressures of winter in the hospital, as well as staff who are ill and self-isolate.
“The workforce is really challenging, so we are feeling a lot of pressure right now.”
(Image: Dr. Andrew Lansdown)
Dr. Lansdown admitted that while asking medical students and volunteers for help is not “the norm,” it was “necessary” at such a critical time.
“These are unprecedented times,” he added. “This is not the first time we have asked medical students for help. Certainly in the first wave we used medical students and some people recently said that it was a fantastic move, proving that they are doctors in training rather than doctors on hold. Really has helped medical students and brought staff together.
“We were very grateful for the offers of support and anyone who followed him would see that in a few hours we were able to close that tweet because of the response we had, which was overwhelming.
“I think that shows that during these times, people are coming together and willing to help and that really helped with the staffing problem over the weekend.”
The call for help came as figures from Wales hospitals showed that intensive care wards are at a critical point.
Dr. Lansdown also said that staff were exhausted from a pandemic that has now lasted for nearly a year.
“During the first wave there was a great resource of energy in the staff,” he added.
“Also, a lot of regular procedures were canceled, whereas now in the second wave it’s quite different. We can see a lot of staff fatigue, at all levels, plus the staff is trying to balance regular outpatient work and regular work than us.” we’re doing, so we’re really seeing that pressure during the second wave.
“Besides the fact that we have a lot more staff because they isolate themselves, they are not doing well.
“It is a fatigue that is physical, but also very emotional. We are seeing staff members get sick, some have sadly died during the pandemic and we are trying to balance that with patient care.”
The challenge of continuing Covid-free treatment in Wales hospitals is also growing, even if previous experience has taught us that it is possible, continued Dr Lansdown.
“One thing we learned from the first wave is that we can potentially sustain some of that [non-Covid] job. But I think now, entering the second wave, it is a lot to review that day by day, week by week, depending on the staff and the demand.
“But it’s hard to say how long we can keep that going.”
Dr Lansdown said that not only is the University of Wales Hospital stretched to the limit, but it is a mirror image “across Wales” and especially South Wales.
He added: “The next few weeks will be very difficult for the entire UK NHS, including Wales, and we may have to look at our rotations, our workforce and how we manage to move forward in the coming weeks.
“These are times when we are pushed to the limits on the NHS, things are relentless, we are under extreme pressure, so I think other hospitals and other health boards may find themselves in a very similar situation.”
(Image: Getty Images)
One of those who responded to the call for help over the weekend was Sarah Jones, who often works for the NHS Information Service designing and implementing the systems that support healthcare on the NHS in Wales.
Having previously worked as a health support worker in intensive care and intensive care, Ms Jones also worked at Nightingale hospital in London in May and June so she was fully trained to enter Covid wards and convert to patients in a procedure known as “proning.”
It wasn’t about being a “hero,” said Ms. Jones, who fitted her hospital shifts around her normal job, but only used the skills and performed the jobs she had been trained for.
“I saw the tweet from Matt Morgan and the Cardiff and Vale board of health and it was free,” he explained.
“I also know many members of the UHW team through work and Twitter, and having worked on the training staff at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend to use the NWIS vaccination software a couple of weeks ago, I knew the pressures were mounting.
“To be honest, if you have the skills, you won’t volunteer to help.”
Ms Jones, who contracted Covid at the start of the pandemic in March, said she was fully aware of how “horrible” the virus is.
“My thought is that they could easily be my parents or friends in ICU and I wish they had enough staff and staff that I was not exhausted to deal with them,” he added.
“I am more than happy to give my time to help hospitals provide the level of care they need and I think anyone who could help would do it for that reason. Human nature is to take care of each other and this is all I am. doing.
“But also seeing a tweet like that that showed pure desperation on the part of the staff, how could anyone not reply and help? I just wish there was a way all hospitals could say what they need from clinical volunteers and it could be co – neat throughout Wales.
“Normally it is not necessary, but this year it is an exception and we hear from other hospitals saying that they need help, but it is knowing who to contact.”
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