Karen Chui (pictured below), an orthopaedic registrar at our Trust, and amateur photographer in her spare time, shares why she was so keen to join her intensive care unit (ITU) colleagues on the frontline during the second wave of Covid-19, to document the impact of the pandemic.

Pictured above: one of our critical care nurses squeezes a bag of IV fluids to increase the flow for a patient whose blood pressure had dropped.

“When Covid admissions rose dramatically in December, the severity of the situation in critical care units across the country was understood by all NHS workers.

All our elective work in orthopaedics was postponed while we continued to see high numbers of acute admissions. We kept running our trauma service for urgent patients and were also redeployed to support our medical colleagues. Nearly half of our inpatients had Covid, and sadly many died.

We weren’t the only hospital to have ambulances queuing during particularly busy times. I also found it tough seeing our A&E department fill up with patients needing to be intubated when I did shifts there.

The terrifying effects of Covid-19 rippled through every area of our hospitals.

We could see how real this was, however, due to visiting restrictions, the public couldn’t. During the peak of the second wave when we were at our busiest, there was very little media presence allowed in hospitals. We’d invited ITV London into our ITU earlier in the pandemic, but at this time were unable to have them back.

I felt we, and the public, were missing out by not being able to show the incredible work of our NHS colleagues against the challenges of the pandemic.

As an amateur photographer, who loves portrait photography and photojournalism, I wanted to capture this moment in time – the experiences and interactions of my colleagues with the Covid patients they were caring for.

I was lucky to be able to spend two days on our ITU at Queen’s Hospital, shortly after the peak of the second wave. While I’ve been wearing PPE to keep safe in my own areas throughout the pandemic, donning a full gown, gloves, mask and visor was something else, but it was important everything was done safely. It gave me a real insight into what my colleagues in this area, including those who had been redeployed, were dealing with every day.

The unit was full of Covid patients, most of them intubated. It was eye-opening walking in even for me, someone who had worked in that same hospital throughout the pandemic.

Above: one of our physiotherapists works with an intubated patient.

I had the privilege to talk to a myriad of staff: veteran ITU nurses who have worked there for over 20 years; foundation doctors starting their careers during the pandemic; redeployed theatre staff and members of the proning team; and anaesthetic and critical care doctors.

They told me about the challenges of the prolonged pandemic and the toll it had taken on them personally, as well as professionally. Many felt the weight of responsibility for being the only source of contact between patients and loved ones who couldn’t visit, and how they felt they were constantly breaking bad news. They also described the emotional impact of constantly breaking bad news when they were speaking to relatives.

I was awed by their resilience and relentless dedication to their patients. I also saw how important it is to look after the incredible NHS teams, who have all given so much of themselves during this pandemic.

Pictured above: our proning team working together to ‘prone’ a patient – lie them on their front to improve their breathing.

We need to care for those who cared for us and our loved ones, which is why our Trust’s steps to safeguard the wellbeing of our staff are so important.

I hope, as we continue to move through measures to ease lockdown, these photographs commemorate the remarkable work of our staff during an unprecedented time, and capture the unique moment of this period in history.”

Pictured below:

One of our critical care nurses places a cardiac monitor on a patient.