Your stories…

I was still a student during the pandemic, going on various placements. One of these let me experience the COVID ward at Pilgrim. My key memory of that time was going very late in my shift to see a specific patient, who was lovely and trying to be cheerful. They had much improved in the recent days and it was looking good, we even got them up out of bed to sit in a chair. They told me all about their family and hoped they were all staying safe. But unfortunately, by the time I returned to work…

The first lockdown was strange. From being continuously busy suddenly calls were drastically reduced. I had time to catch up on paperwork and could leave work on time. Then it got horrendously busy. I spent my time going to work, staying late, coming home, eating, sleeping then starting the whole process again. By December 2020 my mental health had worsened and I had to have time off work. 2021 was a horrendous year. I had staff shortages and staff off ill with mental health problems as well…

The pandemic has been hard on everyone within the hospital. My thoughts have always been with all the staff on the frontline.

I'm planting my tree in remembrance of colleagues we lost.

I know I'm not front line staff, but I worked in the office all the way through the pandemic while my husband was at home shielding. Without our back-office facilities staff, many moves could not have taken place as we facilitated many projects to keep the hospital going.

The most important thing for me was being able to get out and walk my dog in the countryside.

During the pandemic, the thing I recall is having to get to grips with new technology to still be available to support our patients and service users in the community. As a staff team, we were really supportive of each other as we now had to work from home, so it was important that we still maintained that level of support and checked in with each other throughout the day. We developed new ways of working, introduced online virtual cafes for the service users to attend, and extended our…

I joined LPFT mid pandemic. The sense of pride in my work and working for the NHS at the time was very important to me. I am Carers' Champion on a women's acute mental health ward and take great pride in helping carers and families. It's an honoured position to be in. I have been able to reassure and help many families with someone who is facing a crisis. I love to work within this setting and feel I have found my calling.

I've always held the view that you can achieve anything in life through having fantastic people and this pandemic has only reinforced this belief. For me, the gesture of having a tree planted as part of the NHS Woodland Lincolnshire programme is reflective of my story and memories of the pandemic. A legacy much bigger than one person, the sense of togetherness and strength in numbers, the ability to grow together, provide support to each other against the prevailing conditions and leave a…

As a person with a long term condition it was very frightening, but also I was frightened for my colleagues, friends and family. I was involved with the staff networks and it was both a privilege and a heartache - listening to many COVID stories was so very hard and I shed plenty of tears. However, it showed the strength and determination of amazing people who worked in the NHS.

During lockdown, staff have worked on the outside space, creating a garden for staff and young people to come to and enjoy the wonders of nature. This tree will be another wonderful addition to our garden, which in the future the young people who visit us will be able to enjoy.

This is a lovely idea. I lost my father in hospital during the pandemic and was unable to say goodbye to him or have the funeral he deserved with all the family and friends and farmers from his neighbouring farming community, which he was a part of for 85 years. It will be a living memorial to him if I plant a tree in his name upon his land

My memories of the pandemic are that it was very surreal. Going to work, roads were very quiet, nobody out and about, supermarkets were helpful, providing NHS slots for shopping. My team and myself required support from each other daily for wellbeing. I found my team a great support to myself throughout and daily since the pandemic started. I found everyone was supportive to patients/staff - nothing had changed the way care was delivered. I felt my duty of care was to continue to deliver first…

Reflecting on the past 2 years and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives, has made me realise just how proud I am to work for the NHS and to have worked with the LCHS Community Hospital and Outpatient staff as well as the wider NHS system. It did not matter what was thrown at us, we rolled up our sleeves and did it. Was it easy? No. Everyone worked under such immense pressure at times, and you could say with constantly changing goalposts, as the world was coming to terms with what the…

I remember feeling really scared at the beginning of the pandemic. I was caring for COVID patients and I was petrified of taking COVID home to my family. The first time I looked after a very unwell COVID patient wearing the full PPE, I felt very sad that this patient didn’t have a relative with them and the only human contact she had was a masked and gowned up nurse. This was really hard, and I tried to comfort her as best I could by holding her hand and talking to her.

As a department, we were able to stay open throughout the pandemic to support patients with diagnosed skin cancers or those with suspected skin cancers. We continued to see patients referred via their GPs on a 2WW pathway and performed surgeries as and when required. We also offered skin cancer support services for all our patients throughout the pandemic to enable patients to continue their care within the Dermatology department. Some of our doctors were also redeployed throughout the hospital…

Like many, COVID has changed so many aspects of our lives. I was working for another healthcare provider at the beginning of the pandemic running a busy Outpatients department as a Senior Sister. I received a phone call from my manger with instructions to close my department and within 3 hours myself and my team were redeployed to the large acute city hospital. Not only was this a completely unfamiliar site, I also had to support my team with the sudden change of work. I managed my team by…

My name is Jane Day and I am PA to the Director of Operations, Lincolnshire CCG and I love my job. I work with amazing colleagues across the CCG, ULHT, LCHS and LPFT. It’s a busy job but it is rewarding like any job within the NHS. My Covid story is very mixed – some good and some bad days. Initially I was working in the Response Centre working shifts with several CCG colleagues but I needed to go into hospital for an operation on my leg due to sepsis from a bite I had received. The…

During the pandemic my husband was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Up to that point, whilst upsetting that we couldn’t see our family, the lockdowns hadn’t really affected us. I was still going to work, and he is retired. We were lucky his cancer was caught early and, apart from undergoing major surgery, he needed no further treatment.

COVID had an unprecedented impact on our workforce. As a team that would typically support colleagues grow and flourish, cancelling all of our training and face to face activities was really tough! But when I was redeployed to the newly formed wellbeing team, I found a new purpose..supporting colleagues on the frontline stay well and safe was humbling. Hearing their struggles and offering in the moment help and support helped me cope with the isolation. My colleagues were brave and courageous…