Page 28 - QARANC Vol 18 No 2 2020

26 The Gazette QARANC Association
we were not ultimately faced with the initially predicted numbers of COVID-19 patients. However, each of us was able to find an area we could add significant value to in support of KEMH activity. The team was very well received by the hospital and wider Falkland Islands population, and whilst I understand the general reaction to QAs wearing maroon berets, there is no doubt that they still carry significant weight in the Falklands.
Staff Sergeant O’Grady was pivotal in supporting the setting up of a 50 bed ‘Nightingale’ style clinical facility in the local sports hall, which would have provided vital increased capacity and was recognised by the Falklands Government as having utility as an emergency response well beyond COVID-19.
We were honoured to be invited to participate in the Liberation Day Parade and other events local to Stanley, which although low key this year, are still important dates in the Falklands calendar.
Another first for all of us whilst deployed was receiving a visit from our RSM’s Mum! I would add that Warrant Officer 1(RSM) Sara Halford, RSM 16 Medical Regiment is a Falkland Islander and I know is immensely proud of her heritage and our support
16 Med Regt Med Support Team, OP BROADSHARE at KEMH following Liberation Day Parade. Rear rank L to R – L/Cpl Jakob Ricketts RAMC CMT, SSgt Ryan O’Grady RAMC CMT, Sgt Brett Harker RAMC ODP. Front rank L to R - WO1 Phil Attridge RAMC ODP, Major Andy Robinson Critical Care Nurse, Captain Marie Llewellyn RN(A)
From theatres of war to operating theatres
I was asked to share some of my experiences as part of International Nurses Day, which also marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, who founded modern nursing and pioneered infection control.
I work as the Deputy Director of Nursing and Quality, and I have drawn on organisational and leadership skills learnt in the QARANC in my current role at Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
I am currently leading the CCG’s Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) cell as part of the Covid-19 response. I trained and worked as a nurse in the Midlands from 1989 for two years but was inspired by a recruitment presentation to join the Army and applied to the Queen Alexandra’s Royal
Army Nursing Corps. During my Army career from 1992 to 2014, I have had many experiences, including service in Cyprus, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as being based at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Medical Centre.
One of the highlights was training to be a midwife for a posting in Cyprus. The journey from the base to the hospital took two hours from one end of the island to the other so I got very good at delivering babies in the ambulance, which often meant we would just turn around and head back home! While working as Matron at Sandhurst Medical Centre, my team looked after the officers and families and provided medical cover for high profile ceremonial events and parades. I was a Regimental Nursing Officer
to her homeland.
One of the highlights of our careers,
I will look back on our time in the Falklands with pride and gratitude for the opportunity to select and lead such a fantastic team on a unique journey. The tactical and strategic effect of our rapid deployment, the warmth
of our reception and success of our integration was humbling. Indeed, when all is said and done, we could not ‘have wished for more’.
Major Andy Robinson
Vanessa wearing the traditional ward dress with tippet and medal as a Regular Army QA officer
(RNO) in Bosnia in 1996, running a medical centre, and again in Iraq in 2004. The RNO role was similar to the advanced nurse practitioner role we know so well now; in 1996 it was