Nothing in our training prepares healthcare workers for what they faced during the pandemic.
In December 2020 I was working on a hot intensive care unit, this means all the patients were positive for COVID-19 and fighting for their lives.
Not only was I caring for very unwell patients, but a lot of my time was also spent supporting families who were not allowed to visit – this often meant heartbreaking FaceTime calls and increasingly often breaking the news that there was nothing more we could do over the phone.
Half of the time I’d drive home from work crying, the other half I’d be totally numb. Nothing in our training prepares healthcare workers for what they faced during the pandemic.
On top of my this my parents are vulnerable so I was keen to protect them.
A slap in the face.
Despite work being so bad, I spent the majority of last winter working overtime at work so I could at least spend the holidays with my colleagues.
Meanwhile, if media reports are to be believed, Downing Street was busy holding Christmas Parties with a flagrant disregard for the national lockdown rules we were all abiding by.
When I heard the news I was stunned at how irresponsible a group of fully grown adults could be.
While the majority of the country was locked up at home, away from loved ones, protecting the most vulnerable in society, these people were ignoring the rules and selfishly partying, presumably, taxpayers’ money.
To add insult to injury, it was today revealed that senior staff joked and laughed about telling the public about the events.
Their actions are a slap in the face to every healthcare worker in the UK.
Post-traumatic stress disorder.
In April 2021 I was diagnosed with a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have been unable to return to work in intensive care since.
The career I worked hard for is hanging by a thread. I now work away from the frontline in a non-patient-facing role and I am not sure I will ever be able to return to ICU or even a hospital.
My story isn’t unique, it is shared by at least three other colleagues I worked alongside during the peak of the pandemic.
What the Prime Minister does over the next few days will decide how he is remembered for years to come.
