{"id":1442,"date":"2020-07-07T17:11:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T16:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/dental\/?p=1442"},"modified":"2025-10-23T11:54:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T11:54:34","slug":"redeployment-during-covid-19-trainee-doctors-share-their-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mft.nhs.uk\/dental\/redeployment-during-covid-19-trainee-doctors-share-their-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Redeployment during COVID-19 \u2013 trainee doctors share their stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dr Simon Byatt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simon is a Foundation Year One doctor. He is ordinarily based at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) and has been at MFT for around 10 months, following his graduation from post-graduate medicine in the summer of 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"He was on a gastroenterology rotation prior to redeployment, starting at the NHS Nightingale North West Hospital the day it first opened to receive patients in mid-April.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was asked about redeployment I was excited at the opportunity to work in a new role. I personally didn\u2019t mind where I worked so I was more than happy to be redeployed somewhere else where they needed more medics.<\/p>\n

“It was a great experience and a really impressive what achievement that the NHS Nightingale North West was set up over the space of two weeks. The wards functioned quite similarly to normal hospital wards that I\u2019m used to, however, there were some adaptations to acclimatise to, given the environment. It was steady throughout, which reflects how well the NHS as a whole has coped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a unique experience and I really enjoyed being part of it. It\u2019s unlikely I\u2019ll have the opportunity to be involved in the set-up and day to day staffing of a temporary hospital again in my career so I was quite excited to get involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to work with a variety of people from different backgrounds including British Army medics, infectious disease specialists, conflict and disaster medicine specialists and people that have worked all around the world in similar pandemic situations. There was a broad range of knowledge and everyone has been keen to teach from their individual experiences. There was also opportunity to provide input into the organisation and running of medical care, as the clinical leaders were very keen to hear how the junior staff feel wards like these would best operate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were people from all sorts of backgrounds including surgery, dentistry, return-to-work doctors and many others, as well as the acute medics and nurses that are used to working in adult medicine. It was a new challenge in getting everyone on the same page and working at their most effective in what is largely a geriatric patient group suffering from a novel respiratory problem \u2013 two things which many redeployed staff may not have had much exposure to in their careers previously.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Simon (top left) with colleagues at the NHS Nightingale North West.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHowever, having a workforce comprised of people from such varying environments means there were lots of positive suggestions and new ideas of how the hospital could operate, all of which helped to mould the Nightingale to work in the most effective way possible. I have learnt a lot from many people here and I\u2019m grateful that people have taken the time to teach where possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI count myself lucky as personally I\u2019d much rather be working at the moment than stuck at home. It\u2019s been a tough couple of months, mainly for the staff working in intensive care and high dependency units.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me very proud to be part of the NHS after seeing how well we\u2019ve handled the pandemic so far and we must continue on with the next challenge of looking to restart the services that had to be postponed due to CoVID-19 and dealing with the inevitable added pressure that beginning to lift lockdown will exert on the healthcare system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon talks in more detail about his experience in this short video.<\/strong><\/p>\n