We’re now aware it’s a marathon, not a sprint

We asked a James how the first wave of the virus viru panned out compared to the projections proj made.

He H said staff coped“very well,” learning lear quickly and delivering new forms form of care in a very short space of time.

He H explained:“to do this we cancelled a great gr deal of planned care, to which the public pub were very helpful and very understanding. und Attendances dropped and this gave us space, staff and equipment to deal with the pandemic.

“Our intensive care capacity expanded to approximately 200 per cent, which was utilised. During the first wave our intensive care teams were very busy, but other areas of the hospital were affected to a lesser degree.

“The second wave is different as we are now aware this is a marathon rather than a sprint and we are keeping as many services going as possible while dealing with even more patients than during the first wave.

“We are able to do this safely during the second wave due to learning from the first wave. However, it does mean that all areas of the hospital are now affected and under pressure.”

James said the hospital transitioned back to a‘more normal way of working’ very well following the first wave and were able to clear the backlog of care needed by many patients.

He pointed out that A&E is now known as the emergency department and that attendances now have reached more “normal levels,”which is one of the challenges faced by staff as part of the second wave.