‘ALMOST everyone is concerned, from the point of heightened alertness to being scared,” says Charlie McArthur, a speciality nurse in Forth Valley. “I’ll freely admit that I’m scared.”
For now, says McArthur, who works in minor injuries, the hospital feels as though it is experiencing something of a lull before the storm really takes hold. It is expected that Scotland will see the peak of the outbreak in coming weeks.
Meanwhile, hospitals are prepped and ready.
“Accident and Emergency has been split into two,” McArthur explains. “There is the potential Covid area and the non-Covid area. Everyone is screened on arrival by a nurse standing outside.
“It’s slowly getting busier, but in general we are seeing less non-essential cases. We have almost no sports injuries now, though we do have a few DIY ones due to people at home using tools that they may not have used for many years.
“In general numbers are down as people are heeding advice and only coming if it’s really essential. But it will get busier in coming weeks and stay busier.”
McArthur is not in the red zone, where Covid-19 patients are treated. “Hats off to the people who are,” he says.
But even in the relatively safer “yellow zone” he is still worried. An Icelandic study published earlier this month suggested that up to 50% of people may have the virus but be asymptomatic. That preys on the minds of medical staff.
“In the yellow zones we are not putting on the full protective clothing so we are aware that up to 50% of our patients could have the virus and be shedding that.
“So we are trying to keep up all the social distancing measures we can – we’ve been using ipads to help with examinations for example,” he says.
But that’s not always possible. McArthur himself is on medication that puts him at greater risk, and he also worries about bringing the virus home to his wife and teenagers.
“It’s true to say that death walks amongst us all just now,” he says.
“The best thing we can do is to follow social distancing, wash our hands regularly, and make sure that the best evidence is made widely available as soon as it is published.”
THE new ways of working need to become the new normal for a while, he claims. On his 12.5 hour shifts he sees patients as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of spreading any infection, and makes sure that he is well rested at home.
“Most of us accept that this is a marathon and not a sprint,” he says.
“We just need to say to ourselves that this is all we are doing for the next few months – we go to work, we come home and rest and then we go to work again.”
But, he insists, there are silver linings too, in amongst the tragedy, not least that the public seems to have finally awakened to the importance of the NHS.
“I think it’s a measure of society how it looks after its sick and its elderly and we will see now how countries do that.
“For those that do not, those governments should hang their heads in shame and they should never be allowed in government again.”
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