Inside story: How the front line is dealing with the Covid reality
Inside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, staff reveal the impact of the pandemic,
STARK yellow and black warning signs punctuate the journey through the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, issuing instructions and urging caution at every turn.
At the same time, windows and doors are rainbow bright with hand-written thank-you cards and posters detailing gratitude for the work of the NHS heroes.
During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, public support for the health service was at an all-time high, the weekly Clap For Carers giving a chance to share overwhelming gratitude for those on the front line.
But that was last time.
“There was a period of time around July and August when the sympathy and clapping had all stopped and we were just noticing huge violence and aggression towards staff in the emergency department,” says consultant Alan Whitelaw.
“Thankfully it has very much settled down again over the course of the winter.”
It is about 11 months since Scotland’s largest hospital accepted its first Covid-19 patient.
Having made it through the exhaustion and trauma of the first wave last year, Glasgow is now experiencing a second sharp spike in the virus.
In the QEUH’S emergency department (ED), things are calm. Of 16 beds almost all are occupied but this number changes day by day and hour by hour.
A patient in the resus area is critically ill and double doors swing open then shut, showing a doctor in mask and gown rushing past.
Alan, clinical director of the ED, says numbers of patients coming in are still down overall, with less serious cases redirected to community healthcare teams.
But over the past week the number of Covid-19 cases has started to rise. Alan said: “We had a fair number of properly sick young people with Covid, people who are not in the target demographic for the vaccine at this time.”
The consultant is keen to make very plain that anyone who thinks they might need to attend the ED should first phone NHS24 for advice.
Those who do come to the department but who haven’t been through NHS24 are met by a screening nurse who will let them in or send them elsewhere, such as their GP or pharmacy.
“I think it’s important to say,”
Alan added, “that if your presentation here is not life or limb threatening and you could access treatment elsewhere you should do so, because there is a lot of Covid here.”
For the ED, one of the main differences from first to second wave has been the increase in people attending with mental health problems.
Alan said: “I think patients are still a bit afraid of Covid and large swathes of the population are doing what they can to avoid coming to the ED.
“But there’s no doubt that alcohol-related attendances and trauma-related attendances have gone back up. And we’re definitely also seeing the mental-health effects of 10 months of such a different world.”
During the first wave, everything bar emergency and urgent surgery stopped.
This time round, non-essential services are back up and running and patients are being called for cancer screening.
But there is a worry that the sense, from last year, of not wanting to burden the NHS is still prevailing and people with symptoms are avoiding their GP.
“As we moved into the second wave we’ve not caught up yet with what happened in the first wave and I’m quite worried there are people out there with things that we really should know about but they don’t want to be a nuisance,” says Helen Dorrance, consultant colorectal surgeon.
“Actually, we are here and please do come and bother us.”
Consultant endocrinologist and associate director of medical education Colin Perry was clinical director for medicine at the QEUH during the first wave of the virus.
Senior NHS staff say protecting staff mental health and wellbeing is vital and there are plans to sustain the R&R hubs after the crisis is finally over.
He said: “The NHS has probably demonstrated just how flexible it can be. And there’s a lot of pride, a lot of pride in working for the NHS.”
“The other silver lining is just more people look out for one another, people do look out for their colleagues a bit more.
“None of us are indestructible.”
We had a fair number of properly sick young people with Covid