A 170-strong team of nursing staff have been trained up to work in critical care during the coronavirus crisis.
The reinforcements, who have completed a fast-track course supported by Bangor University’s School of Health Sciences, almost doubling the numbers available to work in the region’s Intensive Care Units.
They are now ready to work on the front line in the units at North Wales' three main hospitals.
Health Sciences lecturer and experienced critical care nurse Naomi Jenkins, who played a key role in setting up the three-day course, said she had "huge respect" for the nurses who stepped up for the training.
She said: "It was very full-on but we put day one, the theory day of the course together in just 80 hours with colleagues from Glyndwr University in Wrexham, and days two and three were arranged by our colleagues in the health board.
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“Patients in ICU are so critically ill and things can change very quickly so if you’re not used to it, it can be very frightening. It’s your responsibility, someone’s life is in your hands and that’s huge."
She added: “There’s a lot of equipment to get used to and a lot of drugs and you have to be able to get up to speed very quickly when you’re in there so I’ve got huge respect for the staff who have stepped forward.
“Some of them felt they should come back because they’ve worked in ICU before and some have just wanted to do it. I always loved it and wouldn’t want to work in any other branch of nursing.”
The course was set up in response to an appeal from the chief executive of NHS Wales, Dr Andrew Goodall, for extra personnel to be trained to support ICUs across Wales.
The volunteers have been drawn from staff with similar skills and expertise to the ICU including dealing with anaesthetised patients.
There was a three-week window to deliver the course and so far 170 members of staff have been trained up - while a further 20 have since volunteered - adding to the over 200 ICU nurses currently spread across the three hospitals.
Naomi, who has herself volunteered for the ICU teams, added: “When you look after someone critically ill in ICU it’s one nurse to one patient and it’s not just about ventilator training but all the things that go with it.
“Teaching someone to use a ventilator isn’t straightforward, it’s about looking after the whole person while they’re attached to the ventilator.
“There is constant patient monitoring, therapeutic treatments, documentation, personal care, and regular patient repositioning which requires enormous team effort.
“The new recruits are probably very apprehensive about it all, but the staff they will be supporting are very grateful to them because they know what it’s like to be new.
“It’s not what everyone wants to do. These people are experts in their own areas so all credit to them for supporting their ICU colleagues.”
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Dr Lynne Williams, the Head of the School of Health Sciences at Bangor University, said: “This is a great example of work from staff at the School of Health Sciences who are contributing to supporting the NHS in different ways in response to the pandemic.
“The course that Naomi and others have been involved in developing is helping to upskill and provide the required knowledge and confidence for staff usually not working in critical care areas.”
