Lincolnshire NHS staff reflect after a year on the Covid frontline

A year on from the start of the first coronavirus lockdown, NHS staff in Lincolnshire have been reflecting and sharing their experiences of being on the ‘frontline’ during the pandemic.

“Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives” was Boris Johnson’s message when he announced the first lockdown.

There have since been two additional national lockdowns, and more than 120,000 people have died after testing positive.

This saw most people instructed to work from home, but for key workers, the “stay at home” rule did not apply.

Speaking to the BBC, Beverley Underhill, who has worked at Boston Pilgrim Hospital for over 40 years, said that the past year had been “very hard”.

“It’s been a very extraordinary year. None of us expected this and at some times it has got me down,” she continued.

Sarah Wright, a midwife in Lincolnshire, added that she had found the experience “a bit frightening”.

“You don’t know how you’re going to be affected if you get it.

“And for us it’s a bit more tricky because having to isolate ladies with Covid, it’s not nice to have this birth experience without your loved ones with you.”

Nurse Roxanne Jackson has worked on the ICU ward since she qualified three years ago, but said that her ward changed overnight when the pandemic hit.

“I have definitely been challenged mentally and physically. We worked our socks off and there where times when I was scared to my core,” she said.

“There were times when we were completely alone and we were expected to try care for these critically ill patients alongside teaching other colleagues who bless their hearts had never stepped foot into an ICU before.

“The pandemic has definitely made me reflect more on my own practice and I want to learn and do as much as I can in the future so that I never again end up feeling as scared as I did back then. Entering the unknown was definitely the scariest part of the pandemic.

“Overnight our ward changed and we were introduced to our dreaded PPE that we have grown to love to hate. The first time wearing that tight mask and being locked inside the ‘red room’ was a moment I will never forget.”

“There has been far too many sad cases that I wish I didn’t have to remember and far too many hands I’ve held as they have left the earth,” she said.

“But it hasn’t all been bad.

“I am so proud to have been part of my ICU team and the NHS.

“I am very proud to be where I am and I hope to work my hardest to be able to continue to better my ability to help others.”

Stephen Pintus, public health director for North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, also handled the 2009 Swine Flu outbreak.

But he says he’s that this is the first time he’s seen anything on the scale of Covid-19, calling it “very eventful, very full-on and a really strange experience.”

Both North and North East Lincolnshire have seen infection rates rise in recent weeks and are now among the worst affected areas in England.

Mr Pintus says Lincolnshire may be in for a “bumpy ride” as a result, but added that with the knowledge gained over the past 12 months his team and the NHS are better equipped to meet the challenge.