Medical staff reveal the faces behind the masks
THE NHS has faced one of the biggest challenges in its 72-year history over the last few weeks, and doctors have warned it is far from being over.
As the whole world slowed down, doctors, nurses and health care professionals had their work life sped up.
Healthcare workers across the Welsh NHS are still getting used to a strange new reality of wearing full PPE when treating patients.
“They can’t see your face behind the mask which also makes your voice muffled so it also makes it very difficult for them to hear us too,” said Dr Raja Biswas, a consultant physician at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Dr Biswas specialises in elderly care, so many of the patients he cares for at the hospital already have hearing and sight challenges to overcome.
“We can’t do much about the sound, but by putting the pictures of ourselves onto our uniform, it at least gives them a face to look at and remember.”
Dr Biswas, who has worked as a consultant at the hospital since 2006, said his patients have been very appreciative of seeing the faces behind the masks of doctors on the ward who have adopted the idea.
NHS staff have been rightfully commended for their work during the coronavirus pandemic and many have spoken openly about the fears surrounding a shortage of PPE as well as the disproportionate effect the virus is having on health care workers from BAME backgrounds.
For Dr Biswas, he just wishes the Government had been honest about the PPE shortage from the beginning.
“If they were honest and said they don’t have any, I think people would have respected that much more. We have to work as a team.”
Dr Biswas cares for patients on the Covid-19 wards at the hospital, and said some of his colleagues have had the virus.
“The moment they are better they are coming straight back to work. I have even said to them to stay home for a bit longer. I think initially, when this all started around February, there was a big sense of guilt if you were not working.
“But now everyone is coming to realise this is a long-term thing. It is a marathon, not a sprint. We need to rest and take time for our own wellbeing.”
Dr Biswas, who is in his early 50s, came to the UK from India to work as a doctor in 1995, and said he has been welcomed by Wales with open arms and considers the country his home now.
He lives with his wife and 15-yearold daughter in Cardiff, who he is trying to keep on track with her studies since her GCSEs were cancelled.
The hospital he works for has ramped up their staff well-being support since the coronavirus outbreak, installing various recharge rooms and providing access to consultant psychologists.
As well as this, Dr Biswas has been making sure he takes care of his wellbeing at home by ensuring he switches off from work and has been appreciating his downtime taking walks along the Taff Trail.
“My wife is a psychiatrist, which helps because she understands the pressures of working in health care but she also understands the things which I am going through.
“The other thing that worries me a lot, and I think it is the same for any doctor from overseas, my parents are elderly in India.
“I am here, if something happens to them I can’t even go back. I can’t go back to see them or care for them so I am worried about that. But I know they are more worried about me than themselves.”
Dr Karina James works with Dr Biswas as a registrar. The 34-year-old mum-of-two has also adopted wearing a photograph of herself to show patients the face behind the mask.
“We are so used to putting on the mask and visor we forget what we look like. I have definitely noticed how it affects our patients who often have poor sight and hearing. They definitely look to me and smile since we have started wearing the photos.”
The staff on the ward have also been using voice enhancers, which allow staff to talk into a microphone which patients can listen to through headphones.
Dr James said most of the staff have had to make many adaptations to their work and home lives since the
pandemic began.
At home, Dr James has used the extra downtime from not being able to go out by reading a lot more, and avoiding social media.
“I found every time I would go on Facebook I would see other doctors discussing coronavirus, it just feels so overwhelming. On my days off, I try not to check my email too, you do have to make a conscious effort.
“I think you need the time to sit and talk about it, but I spend my time in work thinking about it and learning about it. I have tried to put that in the work box and try to force myself to switch off.”
The health board has also arranged mandatory time off for the staff, to ensure they get the muchneeded respite.
“My husband is a doctor as well, so we can offload on each other, it’s good because we understand the stress.”
Life for the doctor’s two children, three-year-old Alys and two-year-old Daniel, also looks
Everyone is coming to realise this is a long-term thing. It is a marathon, not a sprint DR RAJA BISWAS
very different. Dr James, who usually works part time, is now picking up extra shifts.
“On our days off before, you always felt like you needed to be out with them, but now we are at home and spending time together very differently, it makes you realise you don’t always need to go out to spend money.
“And I have got so much better at keeping in touch with people. Me and my husband have been doing a weekly quiz with our university friends, we never usually speak to them this much.”
Dr James, who graduated from Cardiff University in 2009, added how this has shown just how resilient the NHS is.
“There are going to be some positives we can take away from this, like how people are so able to adapt and work on something totally different.”
Clare Wright is in charge of well-being across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, and as well as setting up recharge room areas across all their district hospital sites, she has also overseen the introduction of mindfulness and well-being sessions.
“It is about concentrating on the now and not worrying about the future. We are encouraging staff to seek out peer support which we know is very beneficial, to stay active physically which is good for your mental health.
“It is about making sure that staff have enough time to recover when they are not in work both physically, if they feel exhausted, and mentally.”
Clare said they are taking things dayby-day, but ultimately the support they put in place now will have a long-term impact on the well-being of staff.
“We are looking to buy in training on TRiM, a programme that was developed in the armed forces. It is a peer support approach designed to help people who have been through a traumatic event.
“The evidence shows that this peerto-peer support really works, and we want to make sure that is available for our staff.”