The NHS has had to adapt its practices to meet the challenges of the pandemic – the rapid change of use of clinical areas, new ways of working using video conferencing, ramping up of medical device supplies and the setting up of Nightingale hospitals
Dr Scott Brown discusses what we have learnt during this time and what needs to be considered for the future.
The worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus (COVID-19) causes the acute respiratory symptoms from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The UK’s first two patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were Chinese nationals from the same family staying at a hotel in York who fell ill on 29 January. (Embury-Denis, 2020)
In preparation for the first wave, hospitals turned off almost all of the elective activity freeing up valuable bed spaces that could be switched to critical care beds quickly if needed and also to minimise unnecessary exposure. Providing this surge capacity so quickly meant equipping areas of the hospital rapidly to the level of infrastructure and medical equipment in a critical care unit.
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