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Trapped in our homes, unable to see loved ones, fearful for a terrifying future – the pandemic brought the entire nation to a standstill.
But inside Britain’s hospitals, where doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals were fighting on the front lines of Covid-19, was a hive of activity, each day a battle to save lives and stop the spread of the disease.
Almost four years on, it’s easy to forget the trauma and tragedy wrought inside emergency units and intensive care wards at the height of the pandemic.
But for those who were there, Breathtaking, the three-part ITV drama based on a book by palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke, and written by Jed Mercurio, is bringing it all back.
Stark, graphic and harrowing, the series – which concludes tonight – has been described as “triggering”, but praised for its uncompromising reflection of just how bad things really were.
In response, medics have been taking to social media in their thousands, revealing the physical, mental and emotional toll of real life on the Covid wards. Here, in their own words, are their stories.
I’d just come back from shared parental leave for a three-month-old daughter when the pandemic hit. One of the things that will always stay with me is the sensation of feeling guilty every time I went home and hugged my baby girl. I felt like I shouldn’t be doing it in case I infected her.
I commuted an hour each way to the hospital. Getting in the car and driving to work felt like stepping into a different life.
A lot of the time I cried on the way home, blaring music. I’d get changed in my car, go in, shower a couple of times, get changed again – and then go downstairs to see my wife and daughter.
I was mainly covering the Covid ward, as well as treating patients in the Acute Medical Unit. There were lots of deaths in the early period. None of us thought about what was going to happen in the future – we took each shift as it came and did what we could.
I’d step on to the ward and people would ask me, “What do we do next?” And I just didn’t know: we’d do bloods, increase antibiotics, try something, anything – but most of the time it didn’t help. It was the biggest lack of control I’d ever experienced.
I still have nightmares, in which I’m on a ward round and 100 people are coming up to me, asking questions, and there’s nothing I can do. I talk to my wife about it – she’s a doctor, too – and she helps me work through it. --->READ MORE HERE
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is facing a number of legal claims in the United Kingdom over deaths or debilitating injuries attributed to an adverse reaction to its COVID-19 vaccine.
The roughly 80 claimants are part of a litigation group that says they are not anti-vaccination, but are seeking compensation from the company beyond the £120,000 ($152,000) allocated through a government damage payment scheme.
The cases being brought related to instances of Vaccine-induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT), a rare condition that can cause life-threatening blood clots that block the flow to vital organs.
A spokesperson for AstraZeneca told Newsweek that it does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings, but that patient safety was its "highest priority" and that "our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems."
They stressed that AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine had been approved by regulatory agencies based on its safety and efficacy, and that both clinical trials and real-world data have shown it has "an acceptable safety profile." In its first year of use, it saved "more than six million lives worldwide," they said.
The first batch of lawsuits were filed in the U.K. High Court in December, with a second following from January. A spokesperson for Leigh Day, the law firm representing the claimants, told Newsweek that so far 37 claims had been made, with a further 27 to be issued by the start of March.
They said that though the claims are not yet formally part of a group or collective action, they anticipate that the court will manage them together.
The litigation group claims that AstraZeneca is liable for the injury and loss caused in the rare cases, and that the lack of a "fair and adequate" compensation scheme left them "no choice" but to sue. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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