2020 will forever be remembered as the year the Coronavirus pandemic
changed life as we know it across the world. Economies crashed,
livelihoods were eradicated, and thousands of lives were shortened or
devastated by the effects of this novel virus. In the UK, the National
Health Service was thrust into the limelight as the country watched our
healthcare system respond to the consequences of this disease.
This book traces a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting key
events in how the UK and the NHS approached these unparalleled events.
Comparisons are made with tactics used around the globe and the
decisions of our leaders questioned.
Alongside the facts, are stories. Every one of us has a 'Covid story' to
tell, and this book is a collection of some of these stories from our
frontline staff. As the country went into rapid lockdown in March, the
staff of the NHS donned their PPE and continued to go to work. They tell
us what peak pandemic was like in the emergency departments, wards,
ICUs, GP practices, care homes and the ambulances of the UK. We hear
from a nurse who became a covid patient in her own ICU; staff from the
rapidly constructed Nightingale hospital; a GP who returned from
retirement to assist with the response; as well as stories from
international healthcare professionals such a as a cruise ship nurse in
the Caribbean, a public health consultant in Australia and ED doctors in
South Africa.
