Nurses crying and staff at risk: Wrexham doctor reflects on year on the frontline of Covid pandemic
Video report by ITV News reporter Rob Shelley
A leading doctor at a north Wales hospital has said "nurses crying in offices" and NHS staff going to work knowing they were putting themselves at risk would be among his enduring memories from the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Steve Stanaway, Medical Director at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital has spoken to ITV News about his year on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis.
The first Covid-19 patient to die in Wales was being treated at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital and Dr Stanaway was personally involved in their care.
Dr Stanaway said that first death drove home the reality of what they were dealing with.
"It had all been in London, Italy, China and then it was suddenly here in north Wales," he explained.
"I was very frightening. It scared a lot of people - it scared me."
He described how coronavirus put hospital staff at risk like never before.
"We've had two staff deaths from Covid. That brought it home to people that they were at risk. That they themselves were at risk in this."
He continued: "We don't normally in the NHS have to go to work and feel at risk. Yet people still went back in and did their bit."
When asked what he would remember from the year, Dr Stanaway said: "It's the image of nurses crying in offices, being looked after by their mates.
"And those quiet moments of reflection when you're on call and you just look around you and see people getting on with their jobs and you think about how privileged you are to work in an environment like that, with people like that."