Page 33 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

The Gazette QARANC Association 31
‘I have seen
some incredibly
high clinical
care’
Officer’s thoughts on nursing response
In numbers... 198
Service personnel are based at Frimley Park Hospital with JHG SE
85
per cent are directly involved in caring for Covid patients
18
of the unit’s 29 consultants have been deployed to hospitals across London, including King’s College, The Royal Free and Chelsea and Westminster
2,200
Covid patients have been treated at the hospital
500
deaths recorded at the site so far
800
Service personnel are working at four JHG facilities in the UK
Name: Maj Adam Hughes
Cap badge: QARANC
Age: 43
Length of service: 12 years Previous experience: Specialist nurse in the role three facility at Camp Bastion on Op Herrick 13, deployed on Op Gritrock in Sierra Leone, defence engagement tasks in Pakistan and Washington Role at Frimley Park: Deputy OC Nursing
“Fundamentally, my job is about looking after the guys on the clinical shop floor.
I have been nursing for more than 20 years – I did ten years in the NHS before joining the Army – and I have never seen anything like this.
I’d say the past two or three months have been more challenging than the first wave. It is the sheer volume of patients and how sick they are that makes it so demanding.
A lot of our surgical caseload has reduced. We are still doing emergency surgery, but the more routine operations have gone down in number.
As a result, a lot of nurses from those settings have been moved to support medical departments, or the areas they work in have been converted.
That has had a big impact.
COVID presents in a slightly different way and patients can look well but, in reality, they’re quite ill and the deterioration is fast.
In the south east we have been hammered in terms of numbers and having to deal with the high turnover across the wards has been demanding for all nurses.
But I’m so proud of everyone I look after, and I have seen some incredibly high clinical care.
One of the low points is just how big this second spike has been. We were ticking along before Christmas but then we saw the numbers start to go up.
I could see it on the horizon, and it has been a real challenge.
With any respiratory illness there is always a lull in the summer, so it was a case of waiting to see what the winter brings.
We’ve been able to draw on all sorts of experiences. For Sierra Leone we did a lot of training with PPE, what to expect medically and how to manage patients. We drew on that here.
My family lives 120 miles away in Birmingham, so when I get home that is when I attempt to switch off.
At the very beginning we made the decision that I would not come back, and I spent eight weeks away.
I’ve deployed before and they went into operations mode, meaning we’d deal with things as we went along.
While I was caring for sick patients, I was not under fire or in a far-away land and that really helped.
My wife has had to work, while also home schooling our children. It has been challenging, and she has been doing that while I’m not there to help out.
We have found a way to make it work and that is the way life is now – everyone is stretched, and these are unprecedented times.
I contracted COVID last March. The biggest thing was the fatigue – I felt absolutely shattered. Doing the simplest things was tiring and I was eating without tasting anything. I didn’t get my sense of smell back for nine months.
Anyone who goes down with this gets a bit of a shoeing, but by and large you will recover – it is only a small percentage who end up in hospital.
My advice is that if you start feeling bad get a swab as soon as possible. If it’s positive, isolate – the last thing you want to do is infect the people around you.”
Thank you to Soldier magazine for the use of this article and photos.
Report: Richard Long Pictures: Graeme Main
and Steve Parsons/ PA Wire