Cynthia and Wendy helping to keep our patients and staff safe as part of their redeployment journey
Team UHDB’s Wendy Holmes-Taylor and Cynthia De La Cruz have shared their experiences of being redeployed to a new team; set up to protect patients and colleagues alike from Covid-19.
The last few months have seen Wendy and Cynthia’s roles change completely because of medical reasons, with both being transferred to the Trust’s Derby Swabbing team earlier this autumn.
As well as operating a drive through swabbing clinic for UHDB’s pre-operative patients, the team also support Fit Testing at Royal Derby Hospital by equipping staff with FFP3 protective masks.
Wendy, a pre-op assessment practitioner, contracted Covid-19 in March and was then required to shield when she eventually recovered.
Having worked in pre-op assessment at Royal Derby Hospital for 22 years, the idea of joining a new team is something that Wendy admitted to being quite daunting at first, although she was quick to thank her colleagues for making her feel so welcome.
She said: “I worked with an excellent team of people in pre-op assessment but Covid put a stop to that, so I wasn’t allowed to patient face while I was shielding. When I had to be off work and shielding, it felt so bad not to be doing things in the NHS, an NHS that’s meant so much to me for so many years.
Wendy and Cynthia share their redeployment stories from UHDB Communications on Vimeo.
“Coming into the swabbing team, I’d not changed jobs for many years, so to be accepted into the team – welcomed into the team – and given the guidance, has been really good. It’s fantastic to be part of such a wonderful team and to know that we’re doing something that’s vital.”
Likewise, staff nurse Cynthia was redeployed to the team in September after undergoing neck surgery in the summer, which resulted in her needing to take a break from her substantive post on Royal Derby Hospital’s Step Down Unit.
Cynthia said: “This is a really wonderful team and I am very thankful for my colleagues for being so kind. We came from different departments but we’ve all put in all of our efforts to make this swabbing and fit testing helpful to our staff and to our pre-op patients also.
“I know that it is a light job but it has a big impact to our staff and also to the patients. I feel very proud to be able to protect our staff because, without us, they wouldn’t be able to be fitted with the proper masks they need when fighting this Covid-19 virus. I felt afraid also working on the wards but if we have the proper PPE, and are equipped with the knowledge and skills to look after our Covid patients, we can overcome this.”