FRONTLINE VIEW OF THE COVID BATTLE
Breathtaking: Life And Death In A Time Of Contagion Rachel Clarke L ittle, Brown €20.99 ★★★★★
What is it like to watch as a patient gulps for his last breath, eyes bulging at you in terror? How does it feel to be breathless yourself, stuck behind a sweaty visor that steams up so badly you fear making a life-threatening blunder? And why does being hailed as a ‘hero’ by politicians every Thursday evening start to seem like a sick joke? Welcome to the world of the hospital doctor in a time of pandemic.
Rachel Clarke is an NHS consultant in palliative care. In normal times her work involves helping terminally ill patients leave this world as gently as possible.
But in the spring of 2020, her hospice is repurposed as a ‘Covid Response Centre’ and she is tasked with caring for critically ill patients who, a mere fortnight earlier, were commuting by train and taking their grandchildren to the park. This is the story of what happened next.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Clarke and her colleagues watch in disbelief as the British Government sleepwalks into disaster. When colleagues in the NHS start to die – devoted nurses, skilful doctors, hard-working porters – her disbelief turns to anger.
There is a terrible moment early on when Clarke is told that the hospice has only 24 hours’ worth of paper masks left. The NHS has refused to supply more, which means her patients – all of whom are dying – will be sent home to die. In desperation Clarke contacts two charities set up to support NHS workers and within 12 hours 1,000 masks are on their way. It is a wonderful result, but she believes there is something profoundly wrong about having to rely on public donations to protect the most vulnerable.
Clarke finished this book in August, at a time when lockdown was lifted and daily UK Covid deaths were in single figures. Her mood is sad but proud and grateful at the way in which the NHS has triumphantly come through the greatest challenge in 70 years. What we wouldn’t give to be living in those times now.