Colleagues across our hospitals are working extremely hard to ensure we can continue to care for our patients safely during the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of our long-serving doctors, Prakash Naik, a consultant in our Intensive Care team, has shared his own message, and appeal to the public, from the frontline. Prakash, who has worked at our Trust for over 16 years, has been caring for patients on the Intensive Care Unit at Queen’s Hospital.

He said: “Guys, I am sure you all would like to know the situation out there right on the frontline. Yes, it’s brutal and yes, it’s relentless.

Numbers are enormous, but we are coping. We are coping because we all have pulled together, proactively anticipating problems and trying to find solutions.

We are seeing increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients being admitted to our High Dependency and Intensive Care units, but we have significantly increased our capacity so we still have more beds. We’ve even started taking patients from neighbouring hospitals which are struggling.

All patients on the units have received the treatment they need and our results are showing. We have discharged quite a few patients over the last week following non-invasive ventilation, and we’ve had a few successful extubations (removing breathing tubes) over the last couple of days as well.

When a patient is discharged home after recovering from Covid-19 it gives a huge boost to the whole team and, most importantly, it gives hope.

There is lot of talk about PPE. Be assured we have enough supply of the necessary PPE to cater to all ITU staff, and no one has had to take unnecessary risks.

Yes, it’s going to change our community, our demographics, and our patient population. Many of us will know someone who has died before their time, which will be a huge loss for the families, and the community.

But I think we ALL have left no stone unturned to care for our community in this very difficult time and I am sure my colleagues on the frontline will agree. This is a battle we must win, and with everyone’s support, we will.

I also have a request for our local population – please, please stay at home, especially if you have conditions which put you at a higher risk. Follow the social isolation guidance strictly and stay safe. We will get over this soon.”