New research published in
Anaesthesia (a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) shows the huge pressure that anaesthesia and critical care staff in the UK have been under throughout the winter wave of COVID-19, as the number of newly admitted infected patients surged and most planned surgeries, including a substantial number of critical cancer operations, were cancelled. These findings have important implications for understanding what has happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, planning recovery and building a system that will better respond to future waves or new epidemics, explains co-author Professor Tim Cook, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, Bath, UK, and Honorary Professor, School of Medicine, University of Bristol, UK.
At the height of the initial Covid outbreak in March last year, Leilani Medel, a 41-year-old mum, posted a picture of herself and her 13-year-old daughter Carmina on her Facebook page with the caption: ‘Don’t ask me to stay home, I’m a nurse! We fight when others can’t any more.’
Leilani, who lived in Bridgend, South Wales, was born in the Philippines and had worked in NHS hospitals and care homes for the past ten years.
She was described by colleagues as ‘the kindest of souls’ a ‘passionate’ nurse who would do anything for her patients.
Three weeks after that Facebook post, the fit and active young mother was dead.
GPs are again reporting a worrying trend of an increase in people being referred for coronavirus tests as the daily number of cases rose to 646 yesterday amid warnings another surge will curtail next month’s easing of restrictions.
It comes as fears grow that a rise in cases in recent days may be a signal of complacency setting in which could trigger another increase in spread before the Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out to more at-risk groups in the coming weeks.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned yesterday that progress made between now and April 5 will determine what level of loosening of restrictions will be possible from that point.