I’ve just finished a shift and heard the news and I’m fuming.

Are you SERIOUS?? Is Matt Hancock seriously still talking about the amazing hard work (“herculean effort” in his words) the government are doing to try to secure us with PPE? Why are we still having these conversations??!! This should have been sorted WEEKS ago!

I’ve used the same (disposable) mask for 3 days. We’re still sharing a limited supply of visors. Last night a nurse from another department turned up in mine and begged me with tears in her eyes for a FFP3 mask as she didn’t have access to any, despite caring for respiratory patients. (We’d also ran out, so I couldn’t give her one).

We’ve had multiple staff members coming in as patients (many healthy and young), and three of them die. All of us at work are talking about which of us is going to be the next one to fall ill.

NONE of us have been tested yet, despite all this chat about testing being prioritised for healthcare staff. We’ve all had (or have) mild coughs, colds, sore throats etc and are constantly paranoid about these being the onset of Covid symptoms. When we’re exposed to so many Covid positive patients, it feels cruel not to offer us testing. We need to know if we’ve had it and are immune, or if we’re still at risk. Not having access to PPE and tests is causing us real psychological distress.

I know healthcare workers are getting in trouble for speaking out about this but bloody hell, our colleagues are dying and we are STILL not protected and I am terrified, so it feels important. This government is a shambles.

From GP

Fond Memories at Pembridge

“How we live our lives, whether in wealth or poverty, matters. Dying with dignity is equally important, if not more so. I was able to spend time with my late brother at the Pembridge or, for those of a certain generation, the generic name of the complex, St Charles Hospital, until his death.

My brother died in 2012, but I will always have fond memories of the facilities and staff at the Pembridge which allowed me to overnight until he had exhaled his last breath.

My last memory was seeing the staff nurse attempting to ask all his friends and family to keep the noise down. However, she understood that we were not just watching history in the making – Usain Bolt had just set a world record for the 100 metres – but also the joy my brother’s friends and family shared and celebrated with him.

If we cannot show compassion at end of life, when can we? Let’s remember 2020 with pride.”

Cllr. Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray, Brent Council
January 2020