“It’s been a really interesting and eye-opening experience”
We talked to lieutenant Harriet Burns one of the army personnel that was deployed to Whipps Cross to support our A&E department for three weeks.
She talked to us about her experience and some of her highlights during this time.
Hi Harriet, can you tell us a bit more about you?
I’m a lieutenant working for the army and I work as a vehicle patrol commander in Catterick, North Yorkshire. My normal day job is managing a patrol vehicle mechanics.
How did you support the hospital over the past few weeks?
Over the past few weeks, our team of 10 has been mainly moving patients around and doing any jobs which the nurses or the health care assistant need us to do within the different units in A&E so things like re-stocking draws and stock rooms, but mainly moving patients.
We’ve also helped with things like running to the pharmacy to get stuff that they need. It’s been basically whatever job needs doing so the nurses can carry out the important jobs themselves.
How’s your experience been like? How did you find A&E?
It’s been up and down, not being working in a hospital environment before none of my colleagues knew what to expect but it’s been an eye-opening and really interesting experience getting to work with the nurses and see what they do day-to-day and see all the challenges that come through A&E. Things change every few hours so it definitely keeps you on your toes and seeing the constant flow of patients it’s quite astounding.
Is there something in particular that you’ve enjoyed the most?
I really enjoyed the patient-facing side of it, obviously with A&E patients move through quite quickly but I still enjoy it very much.
Equally working with the nurses has been quite interesting and it gives you a massive appreciation of what actually goes on at a hospital, because when you are a patient, you don’t really see that side of it, you only get whisked through place to place and come out the other end, whereas actually working in a hospital you can see what’s going on behind the scenes and you really appreciate what everyone is doing.
Is there a particular experience or patient that you remember?
There was this older lady that came to A&E, she was 92 and she had dementia and I spent some time with her and it felt really good that I was able to keep her some company, keep her at ease and took her through the whole process. I spent a good four hours with her and it was really interesting.
Also some names of people that I worked and that definitely stand out are Rosie, Rachel and Julie, who runs the department, she’s been great with us the whole time from start to finish. To be honest, everyone has been really welcoming.
What would you tell staff working at Whipps Cross?
Watching staff over the last few weeks, the hard work they do speaks for themselves and seeing the work they do has given me a massive appreciation about how hard they work everyday.
The last two years has been really tough for everyone coming here and it’s amazing to see them, despite all of that, coming here and do their 12 hour-shift. They work really hard and care a lot about their job. It’s been really eye-opening and interesting.
Is there anything else that you’d like to share?
One of the things we saw from the majority of the patients is that they are really appreciative of the NHS. A lot of patients I spoke to really value all the work behind the scenes and the care they get. And a lot of the time, you only hear the bad stuff but when you actually speak to patients that are in the hospital’s care, they are really happy with the care they get and they appreciate the work the NHS does even if it feels like they don’t some times.