WORKING in the NHS throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has been an experience “no one ever envisaged or ever wanted to experience.”

Salli Pilcher, associate director of Nursing and Quality for Community Services and Integrated Care Communities, said the past nine months have been undeniably challenging for everyone in healthcare.

And while staff are relieved to move into the new year with a vaccine, the NHS continues to face immense pressure as infection rates rise.

“Whether you are senior nurse, a ward or team lead, staff nurse, health care assistant, therapist, porter, domestic, or part of the administration and support team, everyone has been challenged in some way,” said Mrs Pilcher.

“Our staff have been truly, truly amazing. I can’t sing their praises enough. They have been resourceful, innovative and flexible and gone above and beyond. That is a statement that has become a little bit normalised during Covid but staff really have gone above and beyond what you would ever envisage.”

Initially, she said, there was a lot of concern and a lot of worried staff but as everyone got used to the new ways of working and wearing PPE - sometimes for 12 hour shifts - it brought out a real team spirit across all NHS services.

Theatres were turned into intensive therapy units (ITUs) in less than a week, staff updated their skills to look after patients on a ventilator, retrained and were redeployed from services that were stood down to areas that were completely new to them. In one case a dental nurse was redeployed to one of the frontline acute wards as a healthcare assistant.

There have been changes to all health settings and ways of working both in the hospitals and in the community, as health centres incorporated red hubs and vaccination centres.

“It has taken us all out of our comfort zone and been hard on everyone. There are lots of tired staff now. We are nine months in and counting but there is a real commitment to do the best for our patients and communities of Cumbria. Everyone has gone the extra mile,” she said.

As well as overcoming hurdles in their day to day work, NHS staff have also had to contend with the same challenges as everyone else - not seeing family, juggling childcare, and self isolating and shielding, knowing the pressures this puts on their colleagues.

Some have experienced bereavements due to Covid and have kept on working, while others have had to leave home to protect their own vulnerable families.

“It’s been challenging, it’s been difficult, it’s been a rollercoaster. People have had highs and lows but it’s just been an amazing family to be part of the NHS is north Cumbria.

“The NHS is like one big jigsaw and without a piece of the jigsaw it isn’t as effective. Each area is interdependent on the others.

“Truly, everyone has pulled together no matter how personally difficult it has been,” said Mrs Pilcher, who contracted the virus in March and is still suffering from long Covid symptoms.

Mrs Pilcher, who has worked in health care for 30 years, is responsible for the quality and safety standards across services including community nursing, community hospitals, integrated care communities and specialist palliative care. During the early part of the year she also covered the Surgical and Cancer Specialist Care Group.

She said that the on-going activity of community services has gone unnoticed, with the media largely focussing on acute settings and residential care settings.

Across Cumbria, 4,000 people are supported by district nurses and a further 3,000 patients are supported by other community services.

“Our community services have kept going 24/7, day in day out, supporting people at home, keeping people at home or helping people be discharged as well as helping people to die at home.

“We follow the number of deaths in our hospital settings but there have been people who died at home with the support of the community nursing service and specialist palliative care with and without family members present,” she said.

Collaborative working between colleagues from general practice, social care, local authorities, the third sector, acute and community colleagues has strengthened. “Some of the boundaries that were there before Covid were broken down. Everyone has just come together and that’s been amazing because we have been able to move mountains as a result,” said Mrs Pilcher.

She added that the public’s support has been humbling. “Everybody has really appreciated the support and the public’s ongoing support because it’s not over yet. A huge thank you to the public for everything they’ve done and kept us going in Cumbria.”