I attended a memorial event at Brentwood Community Hospital, organised by the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), to remember NHS staff and patients lost to the pandemic. The event also offered an opportunity to thank all those, who helped deliver care at this difficult time.
I was moved by the stories told by staff who worked at the hospital during the pandemic about having to talk to relative who'd been allowed to visit those who were most seriously ill with Covid-19, and who'd comforted patients and families at the loneliest and most frightening of times.
Despite all the restrictions at the time, NELFT staff were helped by the Army, emergency services, family and friends to transform the hospital into a five ward Covid hospital, with everyone having to abide by strict hand-washing and social-distancing rules. It's rare, in peacetime, to see such rallying of support by so many people for the good of others, and I can only thank and commend all those who got involved.
NELFT has provided more information about the event, and further details of the work which was carried out at the hospital during the pandemic:
"The hospital became one of the main zones for treating people with life-threatening COVID-19 in the area.
Teams in NELFT worked tirelessly in challenging circumstances to create the new wards for recovery care in the Essex hospital. With support from the armed forces and the fire brigade, two purpose-built wards were raised from the ground up in a matter of weeks.
Patients who had contracted COVID-19 and required medical attention, but no longer needed acute care, were transferred to the beds created at Brentwood which meant that NHS staff at acute hospitals in the area could care for more seriously ill patients.
Mayor Gareth Barrett and MP Alex Burghart spoke at the event, where NELFT Chair Eileen Taylor unveiled the plaque dedicated to honouring the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in building the wards and a cherry tree was planted to commemorate those lost to the pandemic.
Paul Calaminus, NELFT CEO, said:
“It’s important to honour the memory of patients and staff we lost to the pandemic but also acknowledge the extraordinary resilience of all those, who went above and beyond to build these wards so that vital recovery care is provided to hundreds more people in the community.”
“That spring our world changed overnight. Before the pandemic we were a small rehabilitation ward for older people – then from Good Friday to Easter Monday we became a COVID ward. It was very scary, everyone was frightened, but we had to help our patients most of whom were at the end of their lives and alone in hospital. Everyone pulled together and we leant on each other for support.”
Sandra Kinnear, who worked at Brentwood with her daughter, said:
“Seeing patients struggling all alone without being able to talk to their families was devastating. We’d put our personal phones in blood bags so that they could call their loved ones. It made such a difference to morale not just for patients but also for staff on the ward.
“There were tears but there was also a lot of laughter, we had to keep going. We all kept each other going, and had each other’s backs – from management and nurses and doctors to the cleaners.”