A good cup of tea, baking and a sense of humour helping intensive care nurses treat coronavirus in Leeds

It comes as the Yorkshire Evening Post today celebrates our health heroes - whether that be nurses, doctors, porters, cleaners and admin staff making sure the whole system keeps working as it faces its greatest pressure for decades.

As of the end of Tuesday this week, there were 340 cases of coronavirus in Leeds and 53 deaths had been recorded in Leeds hospitals.

How are staff on the front line dealing with it?

Jane Atkins is a matron on the adult critical care team and has been working on intensive care wards for the last 25 years. She admits the last few weeks her job has evolved quickly as Critical Care has merged with Theatres and Anaesthetics so a larger number of bed spaces and staff can be available to increase capacity.

This has involved coordination and delivery of staff training, procurement of additional equipment and supplies as well as adapting different environments to accommodate Critical Care patients.

She said: "These are really different times for staff and their families and everyone is being asked to work differently. Staff are supporting each other to face the daily challenges. Some shifts are more difficult than others as we are required to work very differently in teams with staff we don’t know but everyone is really working together to share knowledge and skills to provide the best care we can."

Appreciation

It has been an emotional ride she added, from the sadness at seeing patients desperately ill, to the public clapping to show its appreciation.

Ms Atkins added: "The public have been amazing. Friends of members of staff have been sending in baking which really lifts your spirits, and the 8pm “clap” by my neighbours just as I got home on Thursday night brought tears to my eyes.

"ICU can be a difficult and emotional place to work as all our patients are extremely unwell, but there are always good news stories and patients who do recover that remind us why we do what we do."

Meanwhile, Dr Lorna Eyre, the Lead Clinician Adult Critical Care, Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia at St James' said a good cup of tea and a sense of humour are key to staff morale at the moment.

She told the Yorkshire Evening Post that after watching the coronavirus situation unfold in China and Italy, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust knew that the Intensive Care Unit would bear the brunt of cases in the region.

She said: "We knew from experience across China, Italy, and then London, that Intensive Care would be often the first point of hospital contact for the sickest patients and that we could expect to see many more patients than we would ordinarily deal with on a day to day basis. I am extremely proud to say that LTHT has stepped up to the mark with a robust surge plan, ensuring we will continue to deliver the best care to as many patients.

"One of the consistent themes in the NHS at times of stress, is the fact we all pull together to achieve the goal which is doing the best for our patients. Many teams are having to work outside their normal areas of practice and we have put in additional training and support for all these staff. A great sense of humour and a good cup of tea go a long way as well."

Dr Eyre said that staff well-being was being prioritised by bosses and that a team of psychologists were working alongside the nursing staff to help them.

"Having worked in ICU for a number of years, I think we do have an inner resilience and it is great that LTHT continue to put staff wellbeing as a key priority. At the end of the day we all want the best care for our patients and in some way, it really is business as usual even in these challenging times."