Page 29 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

The Gazette QARANC Association 27
Name: SSgt Julie-Anne Fulford Cap badge: QARANC
Age: 32
Length of service: 15 years Previous experience: Includes two Op Herrick tours at the role three hospital at Camp Bastion, Op Gritrock in Sierra Leone in response to the Ebola crisis Joined Frimley Park: March 2018
“We’ve had
to psyche
ourselves up
and go again”
Senior NCO charts the challenges faced in critical care
As the military head of department for critical care, SSgt Julie-Anne Fulford has seen patient numbers rocket during the Covid-19 crisis.
In normal times, the intensive care unit (ICU) is a 12-bed facility, but its capacity has been stretched to three times that – with a surge to 40 beds at some of the worst points.
“The ICU is usually about one-to-one nursing,” she explained. “However, it is now one-to-two or one-to-three. It has even been up to one-to-four on occasions.
“There are just not enough of us to go around, so we are stretched thinly.
“There have been shifts where I’ve started at 0700 and finished at 2300 because I’m handing over more than 30 patients.
“It is long and taxing.
“We’ve had staff redeployed to critical care to help, but I’d say nine out of ten of those are not specialists and do not have the experience of working here.”
After seeing the first patients admitted in February last year, SSgt Fulford said the numbers plateaued over the summer before the arrival of a traumatic second spike.
She added: “They now seem to be a
lot sicker. Maybe that’s because people
have stayed at home for longer before
coming to hospital, I’m not sure, but it
definitely feels worse this time round. “Personally, my husband
“It was bad enough last year, but now we’ve had to psyche ourselves up and go again.
“I’ve done two tours of Afghanistan and this has been more difficult. That is due to the staffing situation and the sheer relentlessness of it all – it is day in, day out and there is no let up.
“I have a one-hour commute which I use as my thinking time and there have been occasions where I have cried all the way home.”
With a long-standing relationship with civilian counterparts in place, JHG SE saw its military commitments reduced by the chain of command so it could fully
focus on supporting the NHS.
And in these challenging circumstances, their Forces mindset came to the fore.
“We are used to long hours at work, as well as being away from our families,”
understands the situation and that I may be on a 16-hour shift.
“I have two young children who need my attention, and I am worrying whether I’m bringing Covid home to them.
“But I’m immensely proud of what we have done. When you are away on ops all you have to
think about is work.
“Now we are fighting on
home soil. You can have an awful day, but you also have the normal lifetime pressures to
deal with.
“You see different
things on social mediawithpeople asking what the military is doing. But we have been here since the beginning and are continuing to support the NHS.”
SSgt Fulford explained.