Page 18 - RADC 2020

COVID
‘Suns out, Guns out!’ socially distanced PT session at the Imperial War museum
Brown, was working on a mental health initiative to be rolled out to NHS workers during the crisis, based on providing them with the same support our Armed Services are given during and post an Operational tour.
Eventually, NHS SE started to look towards returning to business as usual, whilst still retaining the ability to increase capacity again if required. Huge work was done towards lessons learnt and taking
the positives forward, and also reopening services as quickly and safely as possible.
I was pulled into the South East Dental Task and Recovery group; this looked at how to ensure all NHS dentists around the region were fit tested and able to reopen. Being firmly in my comfort zone, this was the most comfortable I had been during Op RESCRIPT - it was finally nice to know a bit about what I was talking about!
Our final big task before the end of our time in London was to host the NHS SE Chief Executives on a training day in the Wavell Mess at Aldershot, where the ‘Top 7’ of NHS SE used the 7 questions handrail to help form their recovery plan going forwards, guided by the planning team. Throughout Op RESCRIPT, it was a privilege to be sat
in meetings at the highest level of decision- making and watch the NHS SME’s and top levels of Brigade HQ work, and this was no exception. As someone who is usually on the coalface, it was fascinating to see the higher echelons in action and be able to follow their thought processes to overcome each hurdle as it came.
Overall, being given the opportunity to deploy on something non-dental related, and to be able to help with the COVID efforts in some small way has been a fascinating experience and one I have enjoyed every minute of. I have greatly enjoyed working with our NHS colleagues, and in addition, I feel Op RESCRIPT was probably the best preparation for ICSC I could have had!
Park, past Buckingham Palace, circling Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, back down Oxford Street (which was the eeriest of all when deserted), through Holborn, past St Pauls Cathedral to the Tower of London, over Tower Bridge, round the Imperial War Museum and back to Waterloo. I set off first as the anticipated slowest and the boys set off in pursuit to try and catch me, which they did at Tower Bridge, less than 3 miles from home!
Another challenge a week later was
the Bridge-to Bridge race – 10 miles, 10 bridges. This started at Vauxhall Bridge and ended at Tower Bridge. I found this much harder than the half marathon due to the constant changes of direction and the up and down of steps but made it home before the rest of the team this time. After our challenges we always treated ourselves with a take-away delivered to the hotel lobby, a can of G&T/Beer from the local supermarket, and a Quiz night. This became extremely competitive with ever more bizarre questions and finished off with a music round if there were joint leaders. We, by this point, had become a family bubble yet endeavoured to maintain social distancing at all times where possible.
Once it became apparent lockdown was working and the extra bed capacity would not be needed, the NHS SE shelved its extra Nightingale Hospital plans, but a new
challenge emerged instead. Data showed recovery times, particularly for ventilated patients, were far longer than they had anticipated and recovery beds were the limiting factor. Therefore, our team turned
to look at Seacole’s, smaller recovery centres for patients with ongoing medical requirements post-COVID. Headley Court was chosen as a site that could be opened fairly easily, our team had the chance to visit whilst building works were ongoing. It was amazing to see how the old recovery centre was being reutilised and to see how it was being adapted for its new role.
Other work strands included ambulance transfers; some of the team had the chance to spend a day with the ambulance service and the RAF to work out how to transfer patients via airframe, as our region had
to consider the Isle of Wight in its transfer plans. Tom and I worked on COVID testing as a liaison between military mobile testing units and the NHS SE in the initial stages, then joined the larger testing team as it grew. Another highlight was visiting a mobile testing unit in action and seeing how military teams were operating out on the ground. Here we were able to appreciate how hard our military colleagues were working, stood out in all weathers testing hundreds of people a day, often for many days at a time without a break. Alongside these strands, the Deputy Commander, Colonel Simon
16 RADC BULLETIN 2020