6 7 You can’t miss Evans Dampare. He’s worked for the trust for 26 years and at night you’ll find him cleaning the corridors of the RFH on his scrubber dryer machine. The enormous footfall the hospital experiences means Evans spends a great deal of his time perched on the machine. But sometimes he’ll also be part of the rapid response team to deep clean a bed space fast or help out with a cleaning job in the emergency department (ED). Evans said: “Working nights has fitted in with my family so for me that’s a big plus of the job. I take a lot of pride in keeping the hospital clean and getting it ready for each new day.” Doing the same job at BH is Lydio Gloria. Lydio got his hands behind the wheel when a colleague moved on. He said: “I was asked to give the scrubber dryer a go when a colleague left and now it’s second nature.” At BH Issac Donkir is Medirest’s night duty manager, responsible for the domestic, portering and catering services at night. “There’s no less pressure because we’ve got less staff so it’s less easy to reallocate people,” he explained. “The expectation is to turn beds around fast, with a deep clean, because of the heavy demand. Sometimes I’ll step in and support to help get the job done.” Issac started as a domestic assistant and has worked for the past four years on nights in his current role. He said: “You develop a real bond with the people that do this job at night. I’ve built the best team who I can rely on 100%. They will step in if someone is off sick and they’ll always go the extra mile. I don’t call them my colleagues, I call them family.” Yasmin Almond is the staff nurse in charge of paediatrics tonight. Parents and children continually come forward to quiz her about wait times to see the doctor and access to pain relief but Yasmin handles the pressure gracefully. “Tonight the wait time is about two-and-a-half hours so that’s not so bad but it can be much longer and that’s not easy for any of us to deal with,” she acknowledged. Urology registrar Darryl Bernstein, based at RFH, says night shifts are often hectic. Assisting Darryl in the urology team overnight are two junior doctors as well as consultant on call cover. The patients they look after will either be coming in via the emergency department who need a urological assessment or inpatients who have become unwell and need seeing urgently. “There are some cases which require emergency surgical intervention overnight,” he said. “If left untreated, the urinary tract could become infected, which can lead to serious complications. “Effectively we are also looking after every patient in the hospital who could have a urological complication. Sometimes patients are feeling worried about something and need a chat with somebody so we do that as well.” Rebecca Roft, a midwife working in the BH birth centre, chooses to work more nights then days. “I like the autonomy,” she admits. “I always wanted to work in healthcare but my mum’s a nurse and I don’t see midwifery as similar. I didn’t want to look after sick or dying people. As a midwife I feel I’ve got a bit more say in the care of my patient.” Martina Zara, a midwife in the delivery suite, admits it’s her daschund Camilla who calls the shots. She said: “I work mostly nights because Camilla is fine left alone then but doesn’t do so well without me during the day.” Even though no elective caesareans are scheduled at night the ward is still busy. “We get a lot of walk-ins, everything from reduced foetal movement, or bleeding, or abnormal cramping. Or our ante or postnatal ladies could have a whole host of issues from uncontrolled blood sugars, low blood pressure... or the baby being on the small side. We are here for it all.” Beatrice Ubeng, one of the dedicated domestics for the area, mops the length of a corridor where a woman’s waters have broken while she was being wheeled by trolley into a delivery room. It’s all in a night’s work for Beatrice who joined the trust in 2017 but has only been working nights a year. “I’m finding it tough, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it,” she said with a wry chuckle. Shortly afterwards the woman’s screams subside and give way to the loud cries of a newborn baby. Despite how many countless times they’ve heard this noise everyone still smiles. Even in the small hours of the night life goes on. Meet the stars who come out at night! Darren Walker is the band 7 nurse in charge for the night shift at BH’s ED. He’s happy 27 out of the 28 nursing staff are available tonight. He said: “Staffing has been good this past week and the skill mix is strong as well. Tonight feels manageable. Last night we had 202 patients and the department was only built to see 80 but by the end of the night there was only a one hour wait to be seen by a doctor. That’s because beds were available in the hospital. That’s what counts. “All of us are excited about the expansion of our urgent and emergency care. It’s going to make a huge difference in experience for staff and patients. It should help us ease the bottlenecks.” Also on the main desk in BH ED is Sue Reuter whose main role is to record admissions in a timely and accurate way. Sue said: “Working nights suits me because I care for my elderly mother. I worked for the Metropolitan Police for 37 years before I got made redundant and worked for M&S for a couple of years but it wasn’t for me. I wondered who would employ me at 59, but here I am five years later. As well as admissions I also answer calls from relatives and liaise with nursing staff. It’s challenging but I enjoy what I do.” Santa only has to work one night a year but spare a thought for our night shift heroes who work long after most of us are tucked up in bed. Some staff always work the night shift and others take their turn on the rota but one thing is constant – their dedication. Evans Dampare, domestic assistant Martina Zara, midwife “We get a lot of walk-ins... everything from reduced foetal movement, or bleeding, or abnormal cramping. Or our ante or postnatal ladies could have a whole host of issues from uncontrolled blood sugars, low blood pressure... or the baby being on the small side. We are here for it all.”
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