National Day of Reflection – “It’s taught us the importance of looking after each other”

As part of the National Day of Reflection, we spoke to a few members of staff to get their thoughts on the last 12 months.

Yasmin Acquah, Senior Phelebotomist, has worked at the Trust since 2018 and spoke with us about how the Covid-19 pandemic affected her and how the team had to adapt.

“At the start, there was so much uncertainity and pressure. It was quite frightening how quickly the virus spread and the impact it had on our services. As part of our roles we will visit wards across the hospital, and we saw first hand how patients were affected too.

“As time went by things began to change – infection control measures, mask wearing and other precautions became part of all our lives. It went from being a big scary thing, to ‘ok this is how we are going to handle it.'”

Yasmin also felt that there was a lot to be learnt from our experiences during the pandemic. She said: “Both personally and professionally, I feel that it’s taught me something. This has been a challenge we can all get through. In the past we’ve faced pandemics, such as the Spanish flu, but people back then got through it and so can we.

“It’s also taught us the importance of looking after each other, which can too often be overlooked. We can look after each other by just wearing a mask or getting a Covid-19 vaccine. I’ve recently had mine and I’m looking forward to getting my second dose, as well as the day when things can start getting back to normal.”

Thank you to Yasmin, and to all our staff who have worked so hard during the Covid-19 pandemic.