COVID-19: Urgent plea from nursing chief as NI prepares for week like no other
‘Please help us to help you’ Niki Patterson
Last updated 12th Jan 2021
Staff in the South Eastern Health Trust are bracing themselves for what they anticipate is going to be the most challenging time in their careers .
Officials have said the third surge is expected to be the worst of the three with pressures currently building, particularly in their inpatient wards and critical care.
Director of Nursing, Niki Patterson, said the next phase of the pandemic will be the worst she has had to face in the 37 years she has worked.
She said: “For ourselves in South Eastern we are not perhaps feeling just the extent of the pressure that our colleagues in some other trusts are feeling, we have no doubt that across the region these incoming weeks are going to be extremely challenging,''
She has also asked people to follow the public health messages, to behave as if they have coronavirus and minimise their contacts.
Niki also urged people to come to the emergency department when they need to, but only when they need to .
She added: “The service is here for you, but for those who don't require an emergency service or a hospital, we're appealing that people make a measured judgment.
“In the incoming weeks, unfortunately we are not going to be able to care for everyone in the way we would normally want to, but we will do our very best.
“When those families can't be there, we will be, and particularly for people who may be coming to the end of their life, we will be here, we will be with them and we will be holding their hands.''
Ms Patterson also paid tribute to their “remarkable'' staff and said employees have been working “shoulder to the wheel for months.”
She said it has been difficult for everyone and that she cannot thank staff members enough for the degree to which they have got behind the Trust.
Nikki added: “There is no doubt it is exhausting, wearing personal protection for long shifts is physically tiring, it is dehydrating, staff find they are very thirsty.
“Then from an emotional point of view, many staff will speak very articulately about their personal experiences through this journey of being with people at the end.''
Director of Hospital Services, Dr David Robinson, said as part of its surge plan, the Trust has closed most of its outpatient services except for time-critical emergency patients and maternity appointments.
The move is designed to free up staff to support colleagues in hospital wards.
Dr Robinson said the trust is maximising the number of critical care beds it has at the Ulster Hospital and supporting colleagues across the country.
Health minister Robin Swann is due to update the Stormont Executive later today (Tuesday) on the preparedness of the NHS.
The number of inpatients at midnight was 736 – the highest since the pandemic began.
The Southern and Northern Health Trusts recorded the greatest numbers in hospital.
The number of daily admissions of confirmed cases is around double what it was at the height of the peak last spring.
Covid intensive care units are currently 85% full.