Hereford County Hospital consultant shares personal battle with COVID-19

A respiratory consultant at Hereford County Hospital has spoken of her personal battle against COVID-19.

Ingrid Du Rand, who has been on the frontline of treating COVID-19 patients, started to feel unwell in November last year.

Her first inclination that something wasn’t quite right was when she slowed up on one of her regular runs.

Ingrid said: “I felt more tired than usual. This was unusual for me. A couple of days later I lost my sense of taste and smell."

For almost a month, the mother of three suffered from severe head and muscle aches and had a temperature of just over 39C with a cough and breathlessness.

Ingrid, who works at Hereford County Hospital with her husband - also a consultant at the hospital - understands the seriousness of the disease.

She said: “I’d looked after countless Coronavirus patients at the hospital, but this shows that it can infect someone in a low-risk category. Nothing could have prepared me for what I went through.”

Ingrid began her return to work in the last couple of weeks.

“I’m convinced that they are safe and I’d be happy to be at the front of the queue with the vaccines now going out to staff at the Trust.

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