Submitted by ‘Dad’s Army’
We are a group of Cardiac Specialist Nurses based on or around ACU, many of us have not worked in ward areas for more than 20 years.
During Covid we have tried to keep offering our Cardiac Specialist Services as much as possible, albeit in a very different way using telephone and virtual methods.
During the second wave we were acutely aware of the pressure on our ACU ward which had become an Acute Covid Area. We teamed up and set out to offer whatever help we could. This was a scary prospect knowing that for some of us our experience of current IT systems used in ward areas was very limited, and many of us had been out of ward based work for some time.
We set up a WhatsApp group so we could communicate with each other and coordinate our support and we called ourselves ‘Dad’s Army’. We arrived on our ACU at St Richards on a daily basis and rolled up our sleeves to help where we could. We were working with an amazing team that were always very supportive and grateful of our help. Seeing us going out daily to help, the Fitness Instructor attached to Cardiac Rehab offered her help too. Having never worked in a clinical area at all she was happy to turn her hand to anything that was asked of her, from stocking up trolleys to assisting bed baths and feeding patients on NIV.
Scary at times, lots of sadness and despair was witnessed by all, but the overall sense of team spirit and satisfaction that we were able to be of use and support was the most positive, and far outweighed the negative. We would do it all again if needed but let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
