In March 2021 I started interview people that had worked through the pandemic. I wanted to interview a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds. I wanted to talk to people that where not being focused on by the media. I invited people that worked in the NHS as Nurses, Allied Health Professionals, Senior Managers, and people who did not work in the NHS, including a Funeral Director, CEO of a Charity, a Managers from commercial companies and managers from Government organisations.
In the end I interviewed 25 people via zoom. Each interview lasted about an hour and focussed on 4 questions:
- What has been challenging during the pandemic?
- What could be possibly be seen as helpful?
- What would you ask of others to support you in the coming months?
- What would you offer to others to support them in the coming months?
Initially I was considering writing the interviews up as a research paper, to be honest I attempted a thematic review of all the transcripts, but I found it far too challenging and time consuming. I sat on the data for a few months playing about with different ideas. Then I decided to use the interviews as a basis of a novel. I started this late in 2021. By Spring 2022 I had got the arc of a story and the first Chapter was coming together very nicely. Then my Mum got very ill and died in the August, and since then I have really struggled to get any momentum with it. Yesterday I decided to revisit all of the stories and decided to share some of them with you via this blog. I am hoping that it will re-spark some inspiration in my to start writing the novel again. I have anonymised the stories including removing where they work, this was part of our agreement when I started this project to allow them to be as candid as possible. Reading some of the transcripts and listening to the recordings has reminded me how extraordinary these people are and how incredibly surreal that whole time was. So here is the first story of a remarkable Clinical Nurse Specialist, she was the first person I interviewed and she blew me away.
Interview 001
What has been challenging during the pandemic?
It all started on a Monday in March 2020 for us. I was told on the Friday before that we could no longer run the service in the Hospital we were currently doing it in, as we could not adequately socially distance. We had been given space in a clinic in a town just outside the city we worked in, in a community hospital, away from medical cover in a completely new environment.
So on the Monday morning, myself and my colleague packed our cars with as much equipment as we could and transported it to our new facility. The rest of the bigger equipment was brought in a removal van later that day. When we arrived we had the hospital to ourselves more or less, we had a completely empty hospital. It was bizarre, a completely surreal situation. We then set about contacting 300 patients to tell them their treatment centre had moved, and they would have to travel to a different town (only 10 miles away). This for people who are used to going to the same place, and are anxious about their condition and now on top of that are worried about catching COVID was difficult to take in. So we spent quite a bit of time reassuring patients.
We all just pulled together and got on with it, it was completely surreal.
We had minimal staff to help, we were all by ourselves, giving potentially dangerous treatments with limited medical back up. But we just got on and did what we needed to do.
The surroundings were beautiful, it was like a scene from the Teletubbies, with grassy hills, flowers and rabbits. It was so calming being away from the hustle and bustle of the inner city hospital. We were seeing 20 patients a day, none of them tested, we just cracked on and did it.
We were there from March to June and then as activity started to get back to normal the community hospital wanted their space back. The only problem was we could not go back to our original space as it was not suitable for patient safety (we could not socially distance).
So our Matron had found us a space at another hospital in the trust. This was a large room in the old administration block that had been used for storage for quite some time.
When we went to look it was floor to ceiling with chairs and furniture, there was mouse droppings on the floor, it was no way fit for purpose.
Within 3 weeks however it was emptied of rubbish, cleaned and decorated it now looked like a clinical space. So we let the 300 patients know that we had moved again, which you can imagine was another challenge. This was a really testing time, it was completely surreal but we created a fantastic space. We saw the challenge, saw beyond the muck and grime, saw what was needed and cracked on and did it. How did I do it? I just saw what it could be and set about sorting it. When I think about what I did to set up a stand-alone unit, a completely different unit to what we had, I giggle to myself. I felt excitement, adrenaline, fear, but I also felt pride. I was proud of what I had done. I was proud that we had managed to keep our patients and colleagues safe.
Me: Why do you do your job?
I love it, I do it for the patients, I want recognition for my patients, I did not want them forgotten. I wanted to put the patients first not the circumstances.
I believed I could do it.
At one point I worried that I might die from COVID, being a smoker, then I pulled myself together, and got myself out of that mindset.
Christmas was horrible, it was lonely, followed by January that was a real lull, it was so mundane with no mixing.
We are due to get a new purpose built unit and I am involved again and that makes me feel better. We can make things 150% better.
I always need a challenge.
When I think back to March and then June last year, I had nothing, I had to get everything. I had to find out everything there was nobody else.
What could be possibly be seen as helpful?
(Her answer to this was not exactly what I expected it turned into more of an extension to the first question, however we did resolve that a lot of what she relayed to me in the first part of the interview as helpful)
The 2nd wave was surreal, it seemed to hit harder. None of my patients are swabbed, and they are high risk patients. I think we are one of 2 departments that don’t swab.
Me: why is this?
It is just not viable they would need to have PCR tests so frequently that they would spend too much time in the hospital. So we screen them very carefully. To my knowledge only one of our patients has become seriously ill, and considering they are all immuno-suppressed that is quite remarkable. We have had no outbreaks amongst staff either.
Me: I wonder if this might have something to do with your mindset as you know none of your patients have been tested.
Maybe.
We have been the only service that has kept going, this is despite having 2.8 nurses to 5000 patients. Quite remarkable. We just crack on and do it.
What would you ask of others to support you in the coming months?
Understanding of how our department works.
Do not make decisions on my behalf.
Believe me when I say we need more staff, and it is not about COVID. We need more staff our patient group don’t get better; it just gets added to.
Trust me I know what I am doing.
I want to expand my service, there is no cure to the condition we treat therefore expansion is necessary, the more we improve outcomes the more patients we get.
This is what I want, this is what I need!
What would you offer to others to support them in the coming months?
Honesty
I will be clear, and open.
There is no right or wrong
I will listen.
Connected Coaching 