Published on 22 April 2020
Commitment and cooperation have seen teams across East Kent Hospitals take on different roles during the coronavirus outbreak.
As well as dozens of clinical staff who have volunteered to work in critical care units at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent and Canterbury Hospital and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, corporate staff have also moved to support frontline teams.
And staff working in departments such as ophthalmology, where there are now fewer patients than usual, have volunteered for roles ranging from answering the phones on wards to helping with cleaning.
Chief operating officer Lee Martin said: “Colleagues across all our hospitals and all our departments have been fantastic in rising to the challenge the coronavirus outbreak presents us with, and working in different ways to help and support our patients.
“We have been truly humbled by their enthusiasm and dedication – both from those stepping forward to volunteer for different roles and those who welcome them with open arms and take the time to guide and support them.”
Orthoptist Charlotte Swoffer is now answering the relatives’ telephone line on Mount McMaster ward at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Because of visiting restrictions, there are more calls than usual from relatives wanting an update on their loved ones in hospital and staff can find it difficult to answer them all alongside their other duties.
She said: “Every phone call we handle gives the ward staff more time with patients.
“Relatives are grateful they can now reach someone to speak to on the ward who can give them some insight into their family member’s progress.
“It is also their route to send messages of love to the patient, which is so important for them to receive.”
Meanwhile, staff who would normally be supporting the Trust in departments such as human resources, IT, information and finance, have taken over the day-to-day distribution of personal protective equipment, or PPE.
Angeline Newbery, from the Trust’s improvement and transformation team, is one of those in charge of making sure the stores are open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week, managing the redeployed staff.
They work with wards to keep a log of the equipment available and bring additional supplies if stock levels drop.
