 Hi everyone, my name is Claire Carmichael and this is my COVID-19 Diaries. Today is the 23rd of March 2020 and so far I, as you know, some of you may know, I work in a GP practice. The measures we've been taking so far is reducing patient contact, trying to triage over to telephone conversations instead of face-to-face. We have been triaging patients so anyone that doesn't need to come, they shouldn't be coming. We're only seeing urgent cases at the minute. So we're just reducing that risk of COVID-19 between patients as well as between ourselves and our colleagues, passing it on to family members, things like that. And as of today, we have reduced that a lot further. We've been told that nurses have to stay in the rooms, doctors have to stay in the rooms as much as possible, not to eat together in the staff room, to keep our windows open, to let them fresh air in. Just taking those extra safety measures to make sure that this is absolutely under wraps and we don't go around spreading it or we don't put ourselves at risk. Those that don't have symptoms don't have family isolation, anything like that. They can come here and we're just putting in those extra precautions still, even though they haven't got symptoms, just in case. And I think we're doing amazing, we're smashing it so far guys. Just had a 90 year old patient coming and they said to me, you're not, you're worth, you're waiting cold right now, you're very much on the front line and we need you more than ever. But he says, I just want you to know that you're not alone. The people are absolutely behind you. And I was just like, oh, it did make me a little bit emotional. It's making me tear up a little bit. But I just thought, what a nice thing to say that just words can't explain how that made me feel. But I just wanted to share that because this message is for every healthcare professional out there, whether you're a nurse, HCA, porter, cook, whatever your role, you're needed more than ever right now. You're amazing, you're doing amazing. And we're going to get through this stronger than ever. We're going to come out the other side. And it's just, yeah, we're going to have a big party when the other side comes. It is the 24th of March for my COVID-19 Diaries. I'm at work again, seeing very, very little patients at the minute, only those that I absolutely need to that are more risk of infection like wounds. We've just been told last night that we're going to lockdown by Boris, which I think most of us in the NHS or healthcare are ecstatic about this really needed to happen to save us and save nurses being overstretched as they are. I beg anyone that's watching this video, please, please, please listen to the advice, follow the advice and stay at home to save lives. This is not a joke. It's not April 4th. This is serious. So anyway, now I've had my little piece. So I don't know what my future holds. I don't know if they'll start redeploying us. I don't know what's going to happen. Like I'm just trying to think ahead and think what's going to happen to us. But yeah, we'll see what the future holds. I'll keep you all updated. And yeah, I've got a few patients booked in for their wound management. We'll see how the day goes. See you tomorrow, guys. Today is my day off. I'm exhausted. I'm making a cup of tea and some breakfast right now. The sun is shining, but we're all self-isolating. Even the NHS staff have to self-isolate. Today, I really do need to get some food because I'm running out and I've literally gotten us some for dinner. So I need to go and just get some little bits from the shop. I need to do my one hour exercise, get my one hour outside time with the dogs in a secluded area where I'm not going to be around a lot of people. If actually any people where I take them, it's usually quite quiet, to be honest. I'd be surprised if there's anyone there at all. And then I'm coming straight back home and I'm going to do nothing for the rest of the day. Well, I'm going to do things around the house, but I am self-isolating and the sun is shining. So I might sit in the garden with the dogs for a little bit. And yeah, that's going to be my day. Self-isolating. Stay at home, guys. Change your plan, guys. Actually, I'm not going to go shopping because I don't actually need to. I've just looked in the fridge. I've got some ribs. I'm looking to stay to this fridge. I'm so sorry. I do actually have some ribs and some eggs. So I'm good for tonight's dinner, I think. But I do need to get the dogs, their dog food. There's a little shop that I go to. It's really, really small local shop and they are open just for a certain period of time during the day. They're not open all day. So I'm literally going to go in, get the food, go out. That's it. And then I'm back. So yeah, that should be fun. So I'm out and about. I've got the dog queued. I'm going straight back to the car and I've just seen that there's a massive queue at the pharmacist. What is going on? But the good news is there's social distancing. So even though there's a queue, there's sort of social distancing. Let me see if I can show you. Hang on. Don't know if you can see from here, but people are queuing outside the pharmacy to get their prescriptions and stuff. But the kind of social distancing. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. So I am back now from my little essential needs must shopping. The dogs will be happy because they've got their food. I've to excuse the mess because I've put this down so that their muddy paws don't go on the new carpet. But as you know, the decorating has been put on hold. Although the decorating has done, but our sofa has been put on hold. So we've got to put up with the old sofa until all of this passes and we get on your sofa eventually. But we will get it eventually. You know, I would rather people stay safe than me getting a sofa. It is what it is. It's not going to bother me. So yeah, as you saw when I went into town, oh gosh. Dylan, what are you doing? What are you doing, Dylan? He's confused. He's confused. Oh, why did he come up and say hello? Nix wants to get in. She said, oh God, here we go. Nix, okay, you're covering the camera. She's a bit of a drama queen. She likes to be centre of attention on this one. Right, let's go lie down in your bed. So, where was I? Yeah, so I went just down to the local pet store. And as I came out, as you saw, I saw that gathering of people at the pharmacy. It just makes me think, what were people doing before? Because this has only just been since lockdown, since coronavirus has come about. What were people doing before? Why weren't you getting your prescriptions as normal? Why aren't you getting your prescriptions as normal? Why have you suddenly decided that you need that right now this second? Why? I don't get it. Yeah, I don't get it. I don't know why people are doing this. And also, from where I work, we've had patients demanding prescriptions that they've never used before. But because coronavirus has come about, they might need it now, even though they haven't needed it for years. And it's just like, why? Do you know what? If you're prescribed something to help your condition, you need to take it. You shouldn't be waiting for something like this before you take your medication. It's just, I don't know, it's baffled me, but there we go. Everyone is different and at each to their own. Everyone has their reasons for doing these things. But as long as everyone is safe and well, that's all that matters to me. So yesterday, as you know, I was at work and we had a big meeting in the afternoon about sort of what's going to happen going forward with our GP clinics. As some of you may or may not know, we have two surgeries where I work. So I work across both sites and there's some plans to change things around. I can't go into too much detail because confidentiality and all that jazz. But there is some plans to change things around. And one thing that really, really hit me that my manager said was, I mean, this is like an indirect sort of reworded quote, but it was something along the lines of, do you know what? Our priority is our patients, but also our staff. We want to have nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants, pharmacists, all of that, when this thing is over. And what if there's a need, if people start going down with coronavirus, if nurses start going down coronavirus, doctors start going down with coronavirus, we need nurses to be there to step up and step in for those people. So our second, our other priority is looking after the staff. So there are going to be some alterations to make to expose us less to situations. And that could be reducing clinics that might be sort of doing a rotation sort of thing. I'm not 100% certain how that's going to work and how they're going to do that. But the word is, you know, we want to protect the staff as well as patients. So that we've got nurses in the future basically. And I just thought that was so nice. And it sort of sat there and felt really humbled by it. And I thought, you know, that actually that's really, really nice because I haven't heard any management and matrix and things like that, sort of want to protect their staff like that. And I think that's a really, really important message as well. We're all for the patients and protecting the patient. I mean, I'm the first person that will help anywhere I can in protecting patients and doing my bit. You can throw a COVID-19 positive patient at me, I will go in there and I'll do it. I won't even think about my own health because that's what I come into nursing for. I've come into nursing to help people regardless of whether I'm going to get infected or not. But at the same time is about protecting us and making sure that we're safe so that we continue to nurse as many people as we can in the future. So I just thought that was just amazing. And it was a little bit like, it made me feel like I was back in a wartime. It was really, really strange because I was like, Oh my God, this is like the war days. That's the sort of vibe that I felt from it. But yeah, I just thought that was just a really, really nice moment in that room. And I think everyone was probably glad to hear that as well. And it did really, really make you think because I know I've been on social media and I've seen a lot of people saying, I don't want to go in and nurse those in the COVID crisis and stuff like that. I've seen some really down sort of comments and I thought at the time I thought, do you know what? That's actually really selfish because I came into nursing to nurse people. There's always been infectious diseases out there. There's been C. diff, MRSA, hepatitis. There's so many different things that you can get on a ward or patients that you don't know the status of their infection. You're at high risk already. So during a pandemic like this, it shouldn't make any difference because it's just an extra virus that you're going to be coming into contact maybe a lot more with. Maybe that's the difference because it is a lot more is a pandemic and spreading very fast or stuff like that. Whereas the other sort of conditions aren't as hot at the minute maybe. But at the time in my head, I was thinking, do you know what? Actually, that seems like a little bit of a selfish thing to say because I came into nursing and we should all be coming into nursing to help those in the time like this, definitely, at a time in need. Sorry, the dogs throwing sausages at me. Yeah, but now after that meeting yesterday and when they said about we need a future of nurses and people that can actually nurse people in the future, I thought, do you know what? Actually, I feel really bad for even thinking that anyone's selfish for saying that because this manager's right, we do need nurses and it's absolutely your choice if you want to or do not want to go out there on the front line and nurse people. You shouldn't be feeling bad for making the choice not to. It's absolutely your choice and we do need nurses in the future. So if you're making that choice to step back and stay safe and keep your family safe, absolutely perfect decision. And yeah, I feel really bad for saying that. I'm so sorry guys. I completely raised that selfish horrible negative thought that I had about anybody in there, but you are absolutely well in your rights to say that and you should not feel bad for saying that and for doing that because actually we need you in the future and we need you to protect yourself and your families right now because that's very, very important. So yeah, you're absolutely amazing and that is not an easy decision to make. So actually, a round of applause to all of you for making that decision because that is a really brave decision to make and I think you're amazing for making that decision. So thank you so, so much and absolutely when all of this calms down and settles down we can all come together, have a little party, have a little tea party, have a scone, however you want to say it and the world's just going to be a better place. I imagine after COVID-19 there's going to be a lot of changes. That's my vision for the future. There's going to be massive changes to our NHS, our healthcare system. There's going to be, I imagine some different policies and guidelines come out of this. There's going to be massive changes for the world in nursing in my heart and in my head. I can see the future and I'm just like, we're hopefully going to get a better recognition where student nurses are going to be treated far more better hopefully and recognised for the work that they do and I really think that a lot of good is going to come out of this situation. I think people are going to be far more grateful for the little things, for the pharmacists, for getting their prescriptions. I think a lot of people are going to be grateful for just walks along the beach. People are going to be grateful to see their families and spend that family time together. People are going to be just really grateful for stores being open. I think in my head the future looks amazing. I know it's probably a fairytale and the world isn't full of roses but that's how I like to see the world and I really do think okay it might not be perfect but I think a lot of people out there will be changing the way they think and the way that they act and like I said nursing is going to be changing massively I think out of this and I think it's absolutely for the better right now. So yeah, I'm looking forward to next week and seeing what next week brings and back in work tomorrow then I'm off for the weekend. I'm so glad. Do you know what's really, really funny? Everyone, well not everyone, okay this is my thinking anyway but my thinking and anyone I know who works in the NHS, who's a nurse, who's a healthcare assistant, doctor, whatever, whatever your role in healthcare, you're a care assistant out there in the community whatever your role they hear self-isolation and lockdown as yes I've got no excuses I can sit at home and not feel guilty for it. That's my thinking. Today's my day off and I'm loving it. I'm loving that I can't go shopping. I don't have to make excuses not to see people because I just want to just sit in and just chill out and it's keeping people safe so it's two in one right here, right now, right here, right now. Anyway, I'm getting distracted sorry. So yeah, so I'm going to spend the rest of the day in the garden because the sun is shining, the dogs love being in the garden and I'm going to get some very much needed vitamin D, I'm going to do some rock painting, I'm going to do some mindfulness, I'm going to just love life right now, forget about the world and all the troubles. I'm going to try and stay off social media, really look after my own mental health and well-being because right now I feel exhausted guys, I'm not going to lie but yeah taking some time out. So everyone stay safe, stay at home, it's not hard, you've heard the message everywhere, stay at home so that we can go to work and look after you. That is the message and I've been putting the sort of feelers out there lately that if you are thinking oh shall I go to the shop, shall I do this, shall I go to the beach, shall I do this, always think in the back of your mind, is it worth death? Is it worth risking your own life or is it worth risking your family member's life for you to go and do that? If the answer's no, stay inside, stay safe guys.