Maureen Clements, senior nurse at Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex and COVID-19 patient at Harefield Hospital
Senior nurse Maureen Clements was admitted to Harefield Hospital with respiratory failure as a result of contracting COVID-19.
Maureen, who works at Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex, went on to spend a month in Harefield Hospital’s intensive therapy unit (ITU) and a further month on its wards. She said: “As a senior nurse I have been involved in delivering patient care for years as well as assessing nursing practice. I was absolutely blown away by the care I received and continue to get from Harefield Hospital. Incredible is the only word.
“The standard of care I received and standard of practice I witnessed was second to none. From the moment I woke up to the moment I left, it didn’t falter.”
Maureen was one of an unprecedented number of critically ill patients admitted to Northwick Park Hospital at the height of the pandemic who needed mechanical ventilation, which is provided to patients with acute respiratory failure when they are unable to breathe for themselves.
The hospital’s accident and emergency department admitted one of the highest numbers of coronavirus patients in the UK and, despite trebling ITU capacity, was unable to manage the sheer volume of patients requiring ITU. Hospitals with available ITU bed capacity were able to help out via the North West London Critical Care Network, which co-ordinated transfers of critically ill patients between hospitals.
Via this network Maureen was transferred to Harefield Hospital on 10 April 2020 and admitted to its ITU. Harefield’s lead nurse and associate general manager, Peter Doyle, said: “When Maureen came to us, she was seriously ill. She was ventilated and had very low oxygen levels.”
While in ITU Maureen’s condition worsened as she suffered kidney failure and did not respond to proning, a procedure where patients in intensive care are placed on their stomach to help treat acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Peter continues: “We had a large number of Covid patients in ITU. It really was a highly emotional and traumatic time for many of our staff, who had seen Northwick Park overwhelmed and were desperate to support them in any way possible.”
After a month in ITU with several close calls and further recovery on ‘step-down’ COVID-19 wards, Maureen was discharged in June 2020.
“It’s always an incredible moment to see someone who was so very ill recover and go home to their loved ones,” Peter said.
“So many of our staff got to know Maureen during her time with us and were involved in her care. I know that she has a story to tell about so many of our staff of all disciplines. The thing we’ll always remember about Maureen, and her husband Jay, is their great sense of humour at such a stressful time in their lives. I’m not sure whether she realises how much she helped our morale at a time when we were all feeling real pressure. It was an emotional and joyous day when she was discharged, and lots of staff gathered to clap her out of the hospital.”
“It sounds strange to say it was a good experience being in hospital, but it really was,” adds Maureen. “Of course, it was challenging and frightening, but within the realms of that it really was such an enjoyable experience. The teams that cared for me – the nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and occupational therapists – treated me like I was someone very important.”
Recalling the lengths staff went to during her long stint in hospital, she said: “I had only ever seen the staff who were taking care of me in full PPE (personal protective equipment), which can be really disorientating. One day, a group of nurses and physiotherapists got together and stood apart outside my window so they could take their masks off and I could see their faces. I won’t ever forget that.”
< Contents