We've closed our Covid-19 surge capacity
It is now almost two years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK. The first patient in our 44 bed Adult Critical Care Unit (ACCU) was identified as infected with the new virus on 7 March 2020. The first wave, which soon followed, saw us caring for critically ill patients in adult and paediatric operating theatre departments and squeezing extra beds into bays on the ACCU.
Second wave peak one year ago
By the second wave, which peaked at 156 patients in critical care on 19 January 2021, we were able to use brand new surge wards on the top two floors of the hospital (built in the space of 6 weeks during the first wave). So space wasn’t a problem anymore. But we only had staff for 44 patients. We managed to look after so many people only thanks to an incredible Barts Health effort – intensive care and ward staff from every hospital in the group were redeployed to the London; pharmacists, physiotherapists, GPs, retired doctors and nurses, medical students, and even the army came in to help. Doctors from other specialties joined us, some helping run the extra intensive care beds, many working nursing support shifts at the bed side, supporting our specialist nurses who normally look after one patient at a time, but were now overseeing the care of 3 or 4. Dentists looked after teeth and dialysis nurses dialysed. Bedside learning coordinators collected information to quickly fix processes that could work better while our ICNARC audit team expanded to cope with four times the usual number of patients. A whole team was dedicated to supporting the relatives of our patients, alongside our superb chaplains. Our efforts were recognised in national awards:
- Royal College of Nursing Nursing Team of the Year
- Nursing Times Award for 'Enhancing Patient Dignity' (for our Family Liaison and Support Team)
- Intensive Care Society Unsung Hero (for our lead chaplain Faruq Siddiqi)
- Shortlisted for the Health Service Journal Award (for the bedside learning coordinator project)
From the top floor…to the basement
It’s easy to forget that floors don’t clean themselves, that PPE doesn’t get restocked by magic, that equipment doesn’t service itself. A huge team of people worked away behind the scenes to support the massive effort on the top floors. From technologists managing the influx of extra ventilators and monitors, to stores workers keeping masks, gowns, gloves, medicines, giving sets, feed and fluids, tubes, drains, and so much more equipment supplied to the clinical teams. From cleaners keeping spaces safe, to catering staff, who kept us fed and watered, and scientists in our laboratories who analysed blood and other samples, day in, day out. From radiographers who took xray after xray, and technicians who plumbed large oxygen cylinders into the system to keep the pressure up. Let’s not forget our colleagues on other ICUs in the Trust, on our Critical Care Outreach Teams, in emergency departments and on general wards, who looked after many more patients with Covid who didn’t need a ventilator, and others who kept essential services going for non-Covid patients, often with reduced staff. And then there were, and still are, volunteers helping visitors around the building. The Barts Health Covid response was a whole Trust response. From the sharp end of that herculean effort, thank you to every single one of you.
Team ACCU, The Royal London Hospital