The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
DINGLE NURSE ON LONDON’S FRONTLINE
STAFF at London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital are working extra shifts to cover for those who’ve tested positive or are self-isolating – but despite the extra workload, Dingle nurse Katie Flannery remains nothing but proud to work on the front line and to treat COVID-positive patients.
Former World Health Organisation Director Anthony Costello said in recent days that 73 staff members at the hospital have tested positive for COVID-19, while more than 300 are in self-isolation. It is now believed that the number of positive tests among staff members has passed 100, but Ms Flannery has avoided all that to date.
“I’ve not been sick at all, I’ve been lucky,” Ms Flan- nery told The Kerryman. “But we’re definitely working more. We’re picking up extra shifts.
“I work in paediatric intensive care, and we’ve now split the ward into two. We have one side for COVID patients, and we’ve three [patients] in intensive care. The rest are managed from the ward. The other side is for non-COVID patients. Depending on the shift, you’d either be on the COVID side or non-COVID side.
“On the COVID side, we’re wearing full PPE, including the highest grade of mask. They test to make sure the mask is fitting properly. We also wear full gown and visor, that’s on 12 hours a day, with scrubs underneath.
“We have different staff changing rooms and showers. After your shift, you go shower, change into your other uniform if you’re moving out of the COVID side.
“The hospital is protecting us very well but also doesn’t have the stresses that the adult services have – as COVID doesn’t affect children as much. The adult services are stretched and PPE is at a shortage on the wards there, so I feel very lucky and privileged to work there!”
While the extra workload is notable, Ms Flannery said morale is high amongst staff. She said the hospital has been well-supported by the public and by businesses, while staff members always look out for one another.
“There’s a real ‘we’re in this together’ spirit,” Ms Flannery said. “Our management have also been very good and forthcoming.
“Because we’re in intensive care, if they [patients] come to us, they’re ventilated, they’re sedated. Parents aren’t allowed to come into the unit; they’re self-isolating. So we’re kind of the only people there for them at that moment.
“We’re trialling things, but we don’t really know what the answer is. There’s not any one thing we can do to make things better. With the sedation, it makes things less personable than they would be on the wards, and you wouldn’t be sure how they’re feeling – because they’re asleep, obviously! All we can do is support our patients and hope they get better.”
Ms Flannery said support from family and friends at home has been a massive boost, and while she did express frustration after members of the public took too much advantage of the good weather in London at the weekend, she has found a clear improvement. Where once London tubes would be jammed on her 40-minute connection to work, she said it’s now nothing out of the ordinary for her to have a carriage to herself.
Above all else, she would not swap her profession – for all its current stresses – for anything.
“I’m learning loads, and the support we get as a children’s hospital is brilliant,” she said. “I won’t be leaving any time soon.
“Just please stay at home. It’s very important – and keep checking up on your loved ones.”