'We are all fighting this virus and we will never stop' - Wakefield's frontline NHS staff share their stories of battling Covid in hospital

A new campaign from Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust seeks to offer a look at the realities of supporting Covid patients and their families.

In a series of videos, staff offer a glimpse at life inside the district’s hospitals during the pandemic.

Among those featured is Lindsay Hudson, who works as a domestic service assistant on a Covid ward at Pinderfields Hospital.

She said: “I used to work on the Acute Assessment Unit, and coming up here has been a little bit of an eye opener.

“The first day coming on, seeing everyone on the machines, the amount of people that were actually on the unit, it was a little bit scary at first.

“In the first lockdown and the first wave I was going home crying. I was getting up through the night.

“Home life has been really strange. When we finish work you want to go do stuff to relax, but you can’t.

“Since I’ve been on here a friend of mine was on the ward and unfortunately passed away.

“That was hard, that was really hard.”

Ms Hudson, 43, says her colleagues have struggled through the pandemic, but praised the support available to those who needed it.

She said: “There’s a lot of stress from colleagues, a lot of crying. A lot of not knowing what to do with themselves.

“It’s been hard for them, and it’s not nice to see either, when you can see that they are as stressed as they are.

“They have counsellors that come on everyday to speak to staff and there’s always somebody around if they need to talk.

“We have a wobble room as well that they can sit in if they feel it’s getting a little bit too much for them, which is used quite a lot.”

Barry, 62, works alongside Lindsay on the domestic service team, and presented a video showing the cleaning processes staff undergo before leaving or entering Covid wards.

He said: “I can wash my hands 20 times a day. I can get changed eight times a day. That’s how bad it is on this unit now. It’s hot, it’s intense, it’s frightening at times.

“It is frightening because I’m going around every bed, cleaning beds, cleaning floors.

“I’m seeing it day in, day out, and I get emotional about it. I get upset when I hear folk say it’s not real.

“It’s horrendous at times. It’s hard work, it’s frustrating. And I still do worry.

“We’re more organised now than the first time we did it, but it’s still a worry that one day it will get me. Hopefully it doesn’t, but please believe me it’s real.”

But despite the challenges they face, staff have refused to compromise on standards of patient care.

Addressing the families of their patients in a video, members of staff from the Intensive Care Unit said: “We promise we will try our hardest to save them. At times even our best efforts are not enough and the fight is lost.

“We will not let them suffer. We will not let them be in pain.

“We will show them love and give them comfort. We hope you can hold their hand and say goodbye, but please know if this is not possible we will hold their hand and be with them and pass on your messages of love.

“We wish this wasn’t happening. We wish there was a cure.

“We are all fighting as a team with all we have every day and we will not stop. We will never stop.”