Intensive care specialists are like the canaries in a coalmine. They’re often the first to spot something that’s new and worrying; and it was around Christmas time last year that I remember first hearing about doctors in Wuhan, China seeing some unusual symptoms that concerned them in their patients who needed mechanical ventilation. By January I was sure that there was something very nasty heading our way.
This is the very challenge I’ve been trained for. My specialism within intensive care is in respiratory illnesses; and I had previously been part of the preparations for one of the previous waves of a coronavirus - MERS. It’s no exaggeration to say that my career has been exactly about preparing for a pandemic. I couldn’t be sure how bad it would be - but I suspected it was likely to be the biggest challenge in our lifetimes so far.
I was chosen to lead the bronze ICU crisis team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, which meant I was involved in the managerial and organisational challenges alongside the medical ones. We completely reconfigured the entire hospital: our starting position was 32 intensive care beds, and in mid-March there were projections that we would run out of space by the end of the month. In fact, we rapidly increased the number of beds to 84, and thankfully they have never all been full. But at times I was waking up in the night wondering “will it be enough?” It’s not just about equipment; it’s also about the vital human resources, such as having enough suitably trained nurses. We needed to rapidly train nurses about the needs of the Intensive Care Unit.
Charlotte Summers is a University Lecturer in Intensive Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine, and a Fellow of Selwyn College. She was awarded a Pilkington Prize in April 2020 for her commitment and excellence in teaching.
A Clap for Carers will take place this Sunday, 5 July at 5pm to mark the NHS’s 72nd birthday.