RBKares - caring for Kingston hospital staff

The staff at Kingston Hospital have worked so hard for 10 months. over the summer they didn’t get enough time to take a breath and recover. As you have probably all seen and heard this wave is hitting hard and staff are reporting ‘The worst days of my career’, ‘Hell on Earth’ and ‘It’s absolutely relentless’. They are exhausted and running on fumes. All our local hospitals are buckling under an unprecedented number of extremely sick patients - they simply do not have the beds, equipment or staff to treat all the patients that need help. They are being forced to choose who gets treatment. They are on their knees and having to make very hard decisions. This is taking its toll and they deserve and need our care and support.The intensity of how ill the patients are and the death rate are emotionally and physically draining. Not to mention the sick rate of their colleagues. 100’s of staff are off sick, many with Covid or stress. They have psychologists and pastoral care to help them deal with what they are facing and help them process this very abnormal, unexpected time in their careers .

These staff members were unprepared to be the front line soldiers in such a huge and brutal war, but step up they did, without question. We can’t do a lot to help them in their jobs other than stay at home and follow the rules, but we can show them that we are grateful to them, that we appreciate what they are doing for us and that we care and and to those who are off sick we can wish them a speedy recovery. We can keep sewing face coverings, scrubs, laundry bags, ear savers and headbands through Sewing4Kingston. RBKares are working to raise money for staff welfare at Kingston Hospital Charity and all moneys will specifically will go to the hospital charity’s staff health and wellbeing fund. To find out more about how Kingston Hospital Charity has supported staff during the pandemic please visit their website www.khc.org.uk

Yesterday we sent out 28 mindful care packages but we would like to send out a lot more. The matron at A&E drove round delivering some last night. One went to a nurse working on the frontline who passed covid on to her mother, her mother died and she herself ended up on ITU, another to a nurse who has been discharged home from from ITU but whose father died while she was in ITU. We hope their packs made them feel appreciated, valued and that we are aware of what they’ve been through.