Medical Engineering
By Jason Marston, Head of Medical Engineering, Medical Engineering
What was your experience of the pandemic?
Hectic to start with, the small team lost staff to isolation – additional workload due to additional equipment requiring commissioning.
What was the hardest part?
Dealing with the work load with reduced staffing levels and an increase in demand (needed to commission additional equipment) this coincided with new staff joining the department.
How did you cope?
The teams changed their operating model to accommodate social distancing – and reducing the risk of the whole team having to isolate if there was an issue and therefore not be able to provide a service at all.
Additional hours and a different shift system needed to implemented this included additional on call – one member of part time staff came back full time to assist.
What did you learn?
The team pulled together, some staff shielding undertook different roles - it’s a difficult job to undertake from home.
How do you think it changed the team?
It galvanised the team, made them think outside the box to identify solutions to the additional workload with reduced staff.
Beyond your team, who has inspired you during the pandemic?
Everyone – many people have made changes.
Everyone appeared to be ‘nicer’ and they understood the pressures staff were under.
Celebrating BWC Spirit
We are highlighting the amazing things our colleagues have done and achieved during the pandemic.
Our teams have bravely stood by the side of our patients, changed how they have worked to keep key and emergency services running and gone beyond the Trust to help colleagues in other parts of the NHS.
They have done so with an approach and spirit that is uniquely BWC and we want to celebrate that and what has been achieved.
From frontline clinical colleagues to our unseen and often unsung heroes in labs, offices and in our corridors - everyone has had a part to play and we’re sharing some of their stories over the next two weeks.
If you would like to thank individuals or teams either by sharing some kind words, pictures or a short video we would love to see them. You can submit your messages, pictures or videos by emailing bwc.communications@nhs.net