Just when my faith in humanity was being restored, I received this email from a celebrity life style business asking about special medical treatment for their clients . . .
The most important thing in ICU is not the ventilator or the drugs. It is the care of a skilled and dedicated nurse. They are what makes the biggest difference.
#NursesStrike
After a year of working in Australia 🇦🇺, here are my top 5 things the NHS 🇬🇧could replicate to help prevent a fatal haemorrhage of staff alongside pay restoration 🧵
#medtwitter
#NHS
It is
#RoaldDahlDay
. He did as much for medicine as he did for literature. Have a read below about how he influenced brain surgery, vaccination policy and stroke care. 1/6
- Long service leave
Staff are given an extra 13 weeks leave every 7 years. Mini-retirements, extended breaks or using small amounts regularly helps reduce burnout, sickness rates and rewards commitment with more than a fake gold clock. It also helps retention in the sector. 5/5
Labour will reform the NHS:
Self referrals for patients.
Double the number of graduating doctors and district nurses.
Increase training places for nurses and midwives.
Free up GPs to focus on patients.
With Labour, patients will get the service they need.
After 25 years of training & working in the NHS,
@Qantas
is taking us Down Under for the next adventure. Have shedded some tears, now time for a 16hr flight - I'm thinking of it like my last night shift.
On holiday in Cornwall, wearing a mask inside shops for 2 selfish reasons. 1 - don’t want catching COVID to ruin our holiday. 2 - don’t want transmitting COVID to ruin my return from holiday. I don’t want to return to a full ICU again.
#MinorTroubleMajorGood
It is the start of a new - new normal today. Heading to get the
#CovidVaccine
today with pride and hope and thanks. The most dangerous bit will be the car journey there.
Thanks for the comments about my letter on
@BBCr4today
this morning.
"You may be cracked, but not broken."
Thanks
@DrJulie_H
&
@catrinjourno
for your edtis and suggestions.
Winter will end, Spring will come, daffodils 🌼 will grow, COVID will recede. But you don’t throw away your coat on the first sunny day in January. Vaccines are being given but now is the time to keep up your guard more than ever.
Thanks to
@BBCWalesNews
for featuring this story and everyone for so much support. Where I work is called the Intensive Care Unit for this very reason. Even when treatments don’t work, care does.
- 2 week pay cycles
With frequent movement of NHS staff in training, pay errors are common and distressing. Having a shorter pay cycle allows these to be quickly captured and corrected. It may also allow easier financial planning for those on low incomes. 1/5
- Up-front study leave
Rather than using slow, bureaucratic claim processes that reimburse in retrospect, Australia pays a study budget in your regular pay. This encourages professional development and staff can afford to pay for courses prospectively. 2/5
I really think “I don’t know” are the most underused words in medicine. Yet they never feature as the correct answer in a multiple choice exam!
#BMJDebate
- Tax breaks
Rather than punitive pension tax driving staff to retire/reduce, Australian healthcare staff have tax breaks. You "salary package" many aspects of life that support service from rent to groceries. This makes public service competitive against private industry. 4/5
- Link work to pay
The NHS uses complex formulae for out-of-hours payments. Australia links shifts to pay - work a Bank holiday one week, get paid more the next. This encourages flexibility, swaps, fairness and feelings of worth as work is linked to an outcome. 3/5
Sad, relieved and hopeful all in one. Empty chairs around the table this year will hopefully mean people you love are safe, not being cared for by people like me in hospital. 2021 will bring Spring and vaccine hope meaning life can slowly return to something more normal.
As an ICU doctor I would love to say that the biggest difference in this pandemic was made by ICU's but this is not true. The real difference is made daily by you, individual citizens adhering to simple effective measures: mask wearing, hand washing, social distancing: Thank you!
“Instead of... being clapped we are now being told that we are killers, liars, frauds.”
NHS workers reveal the online abuse, attacks and even death threats they've received during the pandemic.
Working in the NHS can be tough but I know I’ll be paid. Not so for many. I’m trying to keep paying for all the things I normally do - gym membership, haircuts, dog waking. We can all support others without giving more than we normally do every week.
#virtualGivingIsRealGiving
20 mins before live on
#C4lockdowndebate
- dog in a different room ✅, no food in my teeth ✅, children asked not to use the internet (oh dear) ✅ & so just the thought of going live to the UK left to worry about . . . 😰
Here's the view staff and patients leaving the ICU are greeted with. When the PPE comes off, seeing these vivid colours helps us remember the support outside of the hospital walls. Thank you all.
Dear 2021,
You’ve been like the worst dinner party guest ever.
Annoying when you arrived, bored us to tears in the middle, then got really drunk and acted like a twat at the end.
Looking forward to putting you in the back of a taxi and cleaning up the kitchen.
TTYN
I hope this year's birthday honours will be filled with porters 🛏 and cleaners 🧹and cooks 🥣and care staff 🏩 as well as the key workers who are more visible. Support them all here
Massive congratulations to lead research nurse at
@UHWCriticalCare
Jade Cole for recognition in the Birthday Honours list. She made a huge meaningful impact in the care of patients with
#COVID19
through research. We are one proud team.
@UHWResearch
@ResearchWales
@CV_UHB
Finally, hope on a sunny, cold day. No safety shortcuts, no drop in standards. The amazingly short development time was thanks to focused attention, massive investment & global cooperation. Let’s hope the new new normal will be where
#COVID19
’s impact is read in history books.
I’ve had lots of questions about safety after this tweet - the most dangerous bit of this vaccine will be the car journey to get there. Everything in life has risks but we do them due to the benefits. 1/3
Delighted that lead research nurse at
@UHWCriticalCare
Jade Cole was the local PI for the biggest oxygen trial ever done in ICU just published, the HOT-ICU trial. A role model for nurse led and delivered research.
@UHWCriticalCare
@CV_UHB
@ResearchWales
Given the world cannot even agree on a single type of electrical plug ⚡️, the mere suggestion this pandemic is a coordinated hoax blows my mind. 🤷
#C4LockdownDebate
#COVID19
I wonder whether the numbers of people who have survived COVID and been discharged from ICU should be included in daily briefings along with those that have sadly died?
@CMO_England
@CMOWales
It’s strange how much difference a few hours can make. A year will pass from one minute to the next. And in those last few minutes, I’ll be holding on the the hope that next year will be brighter, lighter and better than last.
A daily checklist for critically ill
#covid19
patients. Concentrates on reducing harm, big wins and efficiency. Comments, suggestions, thoughts, shares very welcome.
@iceman_ex
@Wilkinsonjonny
@FICMNews
Dear
@realDonaldTrump
, please read this short letter I have written to you inspired by the founder of the British National Health System. Thank you for your time.
Very happy looking after critically ill people but can’t deal with the stress of driving an electric car to Cornwall and back. 5% charge on arrival at a broken charger 🔌 😧
On
#InternationalNursesDay
, I want to emphasise that the most important thing in an ICU is not the ventilator or the drugs. It is the care of a skilled and dedicated nurse. They are what makes the biggest difference.
📚 When Mrs Jenkins, my primary school teacher, shouted at me for misspelling my own name, I never thought I would have a book review in
@thetimes
. 📚 Thank you all for reading these stories from the brink of life - paperback now on discount🙏
Proud to be wearing my
@2wishupon
hoodie on the way to another night shift in critical care. So many families have benefited from their support at the toughest times during shifts like this. Thank you 🙏.
The opening chapter of my book describes how intensive care started with the story of a 12-year-old girl called Vivi. It was 1952, it was the Copenhagen polio epidemic. Intensive care now stands at the foot of another epidemic ready to do what it was designed to 68 years ago.
Researching before writing can be a lot of fun. Today I learnt that assholes are the first thing to develop in the womb. Basically you were once just an asshole. Some people never change.
Many asking why masks in crowded indoor places are needed given vaccines.
Even with a seatbelt on, you don’t drive at 100mph. You can still get hurt and hurt others.
Another sunny weekend in work for me and colleagues in ICU. Although COVID numbers are down a lot, we are still working a lot more antisocial hours due to the logics of care and PPE. 1 in 2 weekends for 21 weeks nearly at an end . . .
What is it like working in ICU during this time? A bit like this. Thanks to
@bmj_latest
and the public for their massive outpouring of support. It means a lot.
Last village walk with our Chester for a few months 😔. He’ll be staying with family before joining us in 🇦🇺. The village was perfect this morning with friends waving from bikes and cars. Like a wholesome episode of Postman Pat.
4 months ago our precious Mum, Marion Lupton, was admitted to ICU with Covid. 2 months ago, she was discharged from hospital and here she is now-so happy and grateful to everyone
@UHWCriticalCare
and UHW, as am I and the rest of our family. We can never thank you enough 🌈
Today, each resident in the NHS received a free cup of coffee made from powder that is hard to distinguish from gravy with milk that was probably ok. One of the many perks of training. Now time to get better at drinking it very quickly!
As in medicine in life - just as important to breathe out as well as in. First proper trip out on my bike since the accident. Still nervous but getting better. 🚲
This 👇 is why looking only at deaths from
#Covid_19
missed the full story. Surviving & recovering from critical illness is a long book with some chapters that are hard to read. Thank you
@MichaelRosenYes
for your honesty.
I’m honoured to be asked by an organisation that has impacted the lives of so many families that I’ve cared for. Thank you
@2wishupon
and
@rhian_burke
🙏
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that
@dr_mattmorgan
has agreed to become an ambassador for 2 Wish. To have somebody, who works on the frontline and supports bereaved people throughout his job, agree to become an ambassador for 2 Wish means so much. Welcome to the team. x
There are 3 things on my Christmas list - rapid COVID testing, a safe vaccine & a cwtch (hug) from my family. Hopefully one step closer today. However, like all Christmas wishes, the gifts have to get there safely, work after being unwrapped and come with batteries. 🤞
#COVID19
My daughter learnt about mean, median and mode when she was 12.
She is very happy to do some home tutoring of the prime minister on the issue of average age of COVID deaths and life expectancy.