“It felt like we were live streaming someone’s death”

A doctor at one of Wales' worst-hit Covid hospitals said he had seen families “decimated” by the virus.

Dr Ceri Lynch worked at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital near Llantrisant and said she tried not to think too much about time.

But the most painful memories are those of people who die without their relatives being able to be there.

The impact of the pandemic on NHS workers like Dr Lynch will be in the spotlight when the UK's Covid-19 inquiry committee resumes hearings in London on Monday.

Part three of the inquiry looks specifically at the impact on the NHS in the four UK nations.

“Honestly, I try not to think about it. It was a very uncomfortable and stressful time for everyone,” she said.

“We saw entire families decimated by Covid, several members of the same family came to our ward and died.

“It was heartbreaking.”

She said of people who die alone and without relatives: “It felt so wrong then and looking back, it still feels wrong now.”

Dr. Lynch is convinced that her own intensive care unit and other departments were at times close to being overwhelmed.

The entire pandemic has exhausted staff, she said.

“We had to try to represent the family, take care of the patient, deliver messages and be there when he died,” Dr. Lynch explained.

“We often communicated via tablets and iPads, and that also felt very wrong.

“It felt like we were live streaming someone’s death.”

She added that there has been little respite for staff since then as the pandemic has led to a huge increase in the number of patients waiting for scheduled treatments.

“We are all involved in working through the waiting lists,” she said.

“It is more complicated for patients today because they have had to wait longer for an operation and other problems only appear later.

“In addition, there is Long Covid, which has affected a large part of the community and staff.”

The third part of the study examines, among other things, the following questions:

• the impact of Covid-19 on people’s experiences of healthcare
• Decision making and leadership
• Staffing levels and intensive care capacity as well as the use of field hospitals
• Quality of care for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients, treatment delays and waiting lists
• The impact on doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers
• Preventing the spread of Covid-19 in healthcare facilities, including infection control, visiting policies and personal protective equipment
• Issues related to Long Covid, including its diagnosis and treatment

During the Covid pandemic, the number of infected patients in intensive care or on ventilators peaked at 164 in April 2020.

To cope with this, beds were freed up; at the worst there were 50 more patients in Welsh hospitals than usual.

In the year before Covid, an average of more than 4,100 pre-planned operations were performed on inpatients each month.

During the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, that number dropped to less than 600 per month.

The number of inpatient operations fell to 1,400 procedures per month during the pandemic year.

Groups representing the families of Covid-19 victims in Wales say that since there is no announcement of a Welsh Covid inquiry specifically into these cases, this phase of the UK inquiry must look in detail at what happened in Wales.

“This health module is so important for our families. It is now the only mechanism we have to find out what has happened in Wales,” said Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees, head of Covid-19 Bereaved Families Cymru.

“We already know that these deaths could have been prevented with proper preparation, proper understanding of SARS-2, and proper infection prevention and control.

“In module three, we need to find out why GPs in Wales were not taking calls or treating patients, why no one knew all the Covid symptoms, why our loved ones were being taken to non-Covid wards where over 20 patients and staff had Covid, why even when PPE was available, it was not the right PPE.”

The family groups say they are demanding accountability from the Welsh Government, as well as Public Health Wales and NHS Wales.

Meanwhile, the Welsh NHS Confederation, which represents health authorities, argued that the after-effects of the pandemic were still being felt.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had and continues to have a huge impact on everyone, including health and care services,” said Director Darren Hughes.

“The most obvious impact is the growing backlog of planned care resulting from the disruption of non-urgent treatments during pandemic peaks,” he said.

“The pandemic has also had a huge impact on employees, who have had to work under sustained pressure for long periods of time. Not only is this exhausting, but it can also have a long-term impact on morale.

“The system is still working exceptionally hard to catch up … and must cope with increasing demand and financial constraints.”

Despite all the painful memories, Dr. Lynch also looks back on the pandemic with a certain amount of pride.

“I am proud of how we all worked together as a team… we worked hard, especially in our hospital,” she said.

“I think we got people through who might not have survived otherwise.

“I think we learned a lot.”

However, she is concerned about the ongoing pressure and believes a key question for the inquiry is whether the NHS is adequately funded.

“We are still in a very bad situation because we do not have enough staff and resources… and I think we need investment,” she added.

“So my question would be: Please invest in healthcare.

“Or will we lose it?”