Hospital staff gave their all as snow gripped city

On a normal week I usually work Monday to Friday. When I began my working week, we all started to prepare for the bad weather by making staff lists and checking availability of staff.

By Wednesday we knew that a lot of snow was definitely coming, so those scheduled to stay on shift either tried to stay close to the hospital or swapped shifts with those who lived nearby so that they could get in easily.

I went into work on Thursday morning as normal and packed a bag to stay the night just in case.

My staff were asking if they could come in early to make sure they were in for their shift.

We rang around trying to find accommodation for staff, and Ronald McDonald House kindly let us have two rooms, where we managed to bed down eight staff and we looked at the possibility of using wards to set up temporary beds for staff.

When the storm hit we weren’t really sure how it had affected the world outside as you become so focused on what was happening internally.

We were checking social media for updates on the snow. Everyone apart from two members of staff managed to get into work.

I stayed up most of Thursday night, liaising with Cath Heath (children and woman clinical board director of nursing) and Avril Gowman (senior nurse) co-ordinating the shifts, pulling together and swapping around rotas so that people could walk in who were closest – although some walked for over two hours!

Myself and Avril then stayed Friday night to help support and facilitate staff and to ensure the wards were safe.

Staff who were walking into work asked ‘did anyone need anything bringing in?’ as they knew we’d not left work for days.

Our nurses put a call out to friends asking for help to get to work, and so many amazing volunteers gave our staff lifts into work.

It was the most amazing experience, if not rather surreal.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and so many amazing volunteers offered their help, as well as our colleagues who provide health board transport services.

All the acute child health staff were amazing, clinical and non-clinical, not only looking after babies and children, they helped answer phones and provided support to the nurses. We couldn’t have maintained the service without them.

I could have gone home but stayed to support my staff. I could have left them to it, but I know how much difference it can make to just be there to offer advice, help and to answer questions.

I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

The team spirit was amazing. Despite the difficult conditions and people not knowing when they would be able to get home, everyone was laughing, smiling and just getting on with it.

I’d like to thank all my colleagues in the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital of Wales and on the neonatal intensive care unit.

Special praise goes to Mary Glover, Avril Gowman, Joanne Clements, Janice Gracie, Kathy Pearce, Sian Connors, Carol Davies, Fiona Thomas, Suzanne Davies, Heather Gater, Anne Baldwin and their teams who helped us, and the kind volunteers who helped us get to and from work.

The whole experience reminded the team why we chose to go into nursing and brought us closer together, working to each other’s strengths during a challenging time, with our focus always being to provide the essential care required for our babies and children.

And the families of our babies and children were incredible. Several of them were already staying in the Ronald McDonald House here in UHW, therefore they were able to continue spending quality time with their babies without the stress of travelling in the snow.

However, the snow meant that our families were without their support system as relatives and friends were unable to visit.

With this in mind our staff took extra time, kindness and compassion to ensure all the families were cared for during this unique time.

Once again they showed how special they are, going the extra mile for the job they love.

Len Richards, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale UHB said: “This is a wonderful example of how our staff, local community and volunteers have gone the extra mile.

“I’d like to say a huge thank-you to everyone for making extraordinary efforts to get into their hospitals and the local community to provide services for our patients.

“During the snowy weather, I visited wards at University Hospital Llandough and University Hospital of Wales and heard some amazing stories of people walking many miles and staying for days in on-site accommodation so they were available to care for our patients.

“Seeing the commitment that staff make on a daily basis and going the extra mile makes me feel very proud to lead this organisation. Thank you to you all of you for helping us to deliver our services.”