Hospital visit inspires hope
I paid my first visit of the year, fortunately, to the Royal Blackburn last week.
Normally, that wouldn’t warrant a mention in the column but what I experienced is worth celebrating.
Back in March, hospitals effectively became no-go zones for anyone who didn’t have Covid.
Everything bar the most pressing procedures were postponed.
Last week, despite the huge pressure on beds still being caused by Covid, the hospital was, largely, functioning as normal.
People were coming and going to routine appointments, and save for the presence of masks and temperature checks (hand sanitizer has always been a feature of hospitals!) it was essentially business as usual for patients.
As we reach the end of a year when we’ve spent a lot of time celebrating NHS workers for what they did during the peak of the pandemic, we should surely also be celebrating their ability to juggle the ongoing challenges of Covid with the day-to-day services the hospital is expected to provide.
In short, a brief trip to the Royal Blackburn was simply inspiring – and the AA signs going up pointing people to the newly-created vaccine centre was very uplifting too.