“In the second wave, you still had the same type of sick patients coming in, but this time you had people with other things who weren’t showing up in the first wave – so we were struggling with staff numbers. There were new areas of the hospital that we desperately needed to open up, but we just couldn’t staff them. Nurses had to try and organise their time to manage very poorly patients without having enough resources and knowing that they couldn’t do their best for them.
“That was really hard on them. When you can’t give your patients 100% then you have that added pressure of potential complaints.”
To cope, Annemarie said around half of staff worked overtime to cover shifts. Swansea Bay University Health Board introduced an increased pay initiative for overtime which she said was a big morale booster.
“Because the [health board] recognised this, it has stopped some nurses from taking on agency shifts in their spare time in other health boards.”
Although more than 870,000
people across Wales have now received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Annemarie warned that the danger of infection still remains in communities.
“The numbers have gone down because the majority of people are sticking to the rules. What people need to realise is when things start getting lifted, they shouldn’t have wild parties and congregations even though we all want to be doing that.
“We’re seeing a fall in Covid numbers coming through our doors in ED, but with that unfortunately comes the increase in nonCovid patients with problems.
“You are also getting people who have not been seen by a doctor for ages who have four or five different issues that need to be addressed.”
Despite A&E being the most difficult job she has experienced, Annemarie admitted it was also the most rewarding.
“When you’re an emergency nurse you cannot think of doing anything else. It’s something that’s part of you. When people leave they often come back as they miss
that drive and that adrenaline that comes with it.”
In a bid to boost morale, Morriston Hospital’s emergency department held its own in-house award ceremony in February.
The awards were held in the hospital’s cardiac rehab centre gymnasium over four evenings to allow for social distancing, and was also streamed virtually via Teams.
Annemarie, who was presented with an award for her dedication, said: “It was a real honour to be part of the ED awards. It really made me feel like my hard work during this pandemic had been appreciated.
“However, so much hard work went into its organisation, especially from Jessica Baugh and Sian Orton. They both deserve to receive an award for the sheer determination it took to make the awards happen.
“The ceremony itself was very emotional and showed how much of an amazing team we have in the ED.”