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Five years ago today, the Royal Berkshire became the very first hospital in the UK to announce the death of a patient from Covid, ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship has the latest
There are two trees in the gardens opposite the Royal Berkshire hospital to remember their two colleagues – a nurse and a doctor – who lost their lives after treating Covid patients.
In the garden today, hospital staff remember their colleagues but also how, five years ago today, the Royal Berkshire became the very first hospital in the UK to announce the death of a patient from Covid-19.
More than 200 thousand deaths would follow that first one on 5 March 2020, and Prince William met some of the staff who worked on the ward at that time.
The Prince of Wales tours the Health and Wellbeing Garden during to a visit to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Credit: PA
Five years ago, they were right of the centre of the crisis – although no one knew then what was coming their way.
From the first death in the country, to days when they would be recording fifteen or twenty deaths at this hospital alone.
The highest number of deaths in a single day was less than ten months later when on 19 January 2021, the total number killed by Covid in the UK was recorded at 1,342.
The Prince of Wales is Patron of NHS Charities Together which used some of its donations to help fund a wellbeing centre and garden for medical staff at the Royal Berkshire – a place where any hospital worker can come to get away from the stresses of their jobs.
The prince was told how the two members of staff they lost were “much loved” and he spoke to specialist medicine nurse Sergio Tammelleo about what it was like working here at that time.
The Prince of Wales speaking in the wellbeing garden at the Royal Berkshire. Credit: PA
Sergio told us afterwards that he’s a changed person and still bears “the scars” from those times when they were coping with multiple deaths each and every day.
“That is something that will never go away”, he said, “it will stay with me forever “
For NHS staff who were taking life and death situations every day, as well as worrying about their own safety, they are not times they readily wish to revisit.
In fact, Sergio didn’t see his own family for more than three years, worried that his work in the UK might put his loved ones in Italy at risk, if he were to meet them.
The vaccinations manager at the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust told Prince William that people do still need to get vaccines at a time when the vaccination rates are going in the wrong direction.
Holly Coles said: “My message would be, vaccinations are still around and certain people eligible for vaccinations are recommended to get them to keep themselves and their loved-ones safe.”
In the Spring sunshine today, half a decade after the start of coronavirus, it’s easy to forget what so many people went through inside hospitals right across the country.
Not everyone will remember the date 5 March 2020, but they do here – and they will do at so many hospitals around the country.
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