During the exceptionally snowy and icy conditions of Tuesday and Wednesday last week, hundreds of doctors, nurses and support staff have made extra-ordinary efforts to reach hospitals across North Devon. Some have stayed overnight as they have been unable to get home due to the snow.
Many members of staff walked for miles in blizzard conditions to get to work – including several who walked from Braunton to North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) in Barnstaple. One member of staff arrived for her shift on a tractor, while another walked for two and a half hours from Bratton Fleming to Barnstaple.
Karl Nottage, Glenn Palliser and Carmen Sykes from the Radiology Department walked for an hour through the snow from Braunton. Karl says: ‘We got as far as Chivenor Business Park where we asked at the Chivenor Trade Centre garage if they could give us a lift to NDDH in one of their four-wheel drives. The garage owner was more than happy to help and brought us in to the hospital. He said he was pleased to help: “you never know when you might be in need of healthcare”, he said’. Graham Docking from the Trust’s Haematology Department also walked to NDDH from Braunton, while Staff Nurse Mary Anderton from the Acute Stroke Unit bravely walked from all the way from Bratton Fleming.
District Nurse Julie Williams knew she wouldn’t be able to get out to many of the towns and villages where she normally visits her patients in their own homes: ‘Several times I had to leave my car in the middle of a town and walk through the blizzard to patients’ homes. Some of my people are palliative patients and once I reached them I could make sure they had the medication and pain relief they needed. I knew they wouldn’t get these if I didn’t get to them. It never occurred to me not to carry on. I’ve worked for the NHS in North Devon for 15 years and I’ve never missed a day because of the weather’.
Several Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy staff walked for two hours to care for their patients. Darren West, Musculo-skeletal Physiotherapy Service Lead said: ‘We cancelled outpatient lists so that our therapists could support our colleagues on the ward to provide essential treatments to patients. It has been a great effort from the whole team’.
The Accident and Emergency Department has been particularly busy. Jo Hope, Matron (Emergency Department), said: ‘ED staff have stayed with others overnight to ensure that they are close by in case they are called in at short notice. Some have stayed overnight in the hospital to ensure the department remains safe. Staff have given 100 per cent’.
Karen Fasey, Ward Manager in the Acute Stroke Unit lives on Exmoor. She and her partner dug their way out of the snow and travelled for six hours to get to the hospital on Wednesday night so she could work on Thursday, staying overnight in hospital accommodation. Karen’s colleague Emily Munro said: ‘She doesn’t know when she will be getting home but has not complained and has shown real commitment to us all’.
Kathy Osborne started her trek in on foot from Bishops Tawton outside Barnstaple on Tuesday at 4pm to get in here for 7pm. She worked for two nights, staying in the hospital residences, accompanied by three colleagues the following day who also stayed here overnight to make sure they were available to work their shifts.
Lyn Green, Endoscopy Unit Manager, said: ‘Staff here were up early to walk to NDDH from the surrounding areas to ensure that all patients coming to the endoscopy unit could have their procedures completed’.
Most of the Hotel Services staff at Bideford Hospital walked for miles to get in from Westward Ho!, Appledore, East-the-Water and Landcross. In Torrington Hospital, one member of staff walked from Monkleigh.
The Trust’s IT team maintained a near-normal service by planning ahead. Neil Partridge, IT Manager, said: ‘We knew that the snow was due again today and we agreed that each team member would get to their nearest community hospital, where they could access the IT network. Nikki Davies walked for an hour to get to Bideford Hospital and Sue Larkham for two hours to South Molton Community Hospital’.
Mortuary and Bereavement Services Manager Mike Elton was on-call throughout the treacherous weather: ‘I realised it would be impossible to get to the hospital if I went home, so I said goodnight to my wife and children and put up a guest bed in the mortuary staff room – it’s there for exactly these kinds of emergencies’.
Other staff have driven to outlying towns and villages to pick up nurses and doctors who have been unable to drive themselves in hazardous conditions. Volunteer drivers Paul Humphreys, Lisa Edmondson and Iain Roy worked until past 11.00pm on Tuesday and repeated their journeys before dawn on Wednesday to ensure that clinical staff got in to care for our patients.
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