ICU medics in London plead with public to follow Covid rules

Intensive care medics in London have made a fresh appeal to the public to comply fully with England’s coronavirus restrictions, as they struggle to deal with more patients than at any time over the last four winters.

Morale among ICU staff is tumbling and concerns have been expressed about a “mass exodus” as the second wave of Covid infections escalates rapidly in London and elsewhere in England. Some doctors and nurses have already quit.

Dr Rebecca Lewis, a co-secretary of the Doctors’ Association UK and a senior intensive care registrar at the Royal Brompton hospital, said the government had done little to look after doctors and nurses, and that many had in effect been forced to work for 10 months without a break as a result of cancelled leave and staff shortages.

“NHS staff repeatedly warned the government against relaxing guidelines over Christmas but unfortunately these warnings were not heeded, and we are now seeing the grave consequences,” she said.

“It is becoming more and more difficult to see how we will avoid a mass exodus of doctors and nurses after all this is over, due to the impossible mental strain working through this pandemic has put them under. Little has been done to look after and protect those who are tasked with looking after us, and we will continue to see the consequences of this even beyond the pandemic.”

Morale has also been sapped by some people’s flagrant breaches of restrictions, protests by Covid deniers outside some London hospitals over the past week.

Matthew Lee
(@mbklee_)

Worked the late A&E SHO shift on NYE and came out to this. Hundreds of maskless, drunk people in huge groups shouting «Covid is a hoax», literally outside the building where hundreds are sick and dying. Why do people still not realise the seriousness of this pandemic? pic.twitter.com/KTkCtNf62A

January 1, 2021

“It makes me feel so angry,” said an intensive care nurse at University College London hospital (UCLH), who asked not to be named. “I just saw them on the ground floor, not wearing any masks, but we didn’t discuss among colleagues because we don’t have any time.”

The stress reached a peak this week seeing women like her, in their 30s, severely ill with the virus and fearing she could suffer the same fate.

“I’ve got palpitations going into work, it’s so horrific. We’re not immune to trauma either,” she said.