WHEN the Covid-19 outbreak began in the small city of Wuhan in China, very few people foresaw quite how bad things would get.

It was always likely coronavirus would reach the UK, but few would have predicted we’d face two months of almost total lockdown.

Or that more than 28,000 people would be confirmed to have tragically passed away after contracting the virus.

It is a medical fact a virus like Covid-19 is unpredictable. But it was the job of scientists and health workers across the globe to try to predict it, in the hopes of slowing its impact.

People like Neill Moloney, managing director of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital.

Mr Moloney has been in charge of the trust’s response to Covid-19 since the deadly virus arrived on UK shores.

He said: “In the very early days we knew this was going to be reasonably challenging for everybody.

“We have always had a pandemic flu plan but this was based around a slightly different flu to what Covid-19 is, so we had to review it right at the beginning.

“We needed to ensure we had the appropriate response ready and in place. We established command and control arrangements and a new form of governance which enabled us to make some quick decisions.

“There were a number of points where we thought it would be incredibly difficult with the number of patients coming through the door. We set out to plan for the worst and hoped for the best.”

The first job was to expand Colchester and Ipswich hospitals critical care capacity, in case the worst came to pass.

At the start of the crisis there were 12 beds but the hospital was advised to quadruple this number.

Doing so brought a whole host of challenges, not least finding equipment to support the new intensive care patients, including highly sought after ventilators.

As well as creating more bed space in ICU itself, the hospital had to repurpose space on wards, in recovery units and even in theatres, just in case.

Mr Moloney said: “I am happy to say we haven’t had to utilise the theatre space. For a short time period of time we were using the recovery unit at Colchester Hospital but I am happy to say we are now past that stage.”

As Covid-19 is highly contagious, new methods for keeping patients apart were also necessary.

Mr Moloney said: “When a patient first comes into hospital they may have symptoms so we need to test them straight away but there is a turn around time for the test.

“Whilst we do not know the outcome of patients’ results, we have had to manage them in individual spaces. If we suspect they may have it, we would then isolate them on a ward. That is difficult because we do not have facilities set up for single patients.

“Normally we would have six patients on a bay but we have had to make decisions to place one in a bay.

“We have recently introduced testing for asymptomatic patients for all emergency admissions.

“Some patients are shown to have Covid-19 but have not had the traditional symptoms of the condition. They may have come in for other reasons. The testing gives us the opportunity to stop the spread of the condition.

“We are in the process of having tests completed more locally which is important because the time difference to get results is significant.”

One worry, not just in Colchester, but across the country is the right personal protective equipment, or PPE, being available to staff.

The Government has faced serious criticism over a lack of PPE not just in hospitals, but also in community care settings.

Mr Moloney admits it has been a “significant issue” but says the hospital has managed to keep stocks up and staff safe.

He said: “We have been managing under the guidelines set out by Public Health England.

“There have been some practical issues where our supplies have been tight, particularly around gowns.

“For a normal pandemic flu gowns are not a requirement but we have had to source them.”

He added: “But there has never been an instance, even when we were getting very short, when we have run out of equipment.”

As the man whose job it is to manage Colchester Hospital’s response to the pandemic, the most important tool at Mr Moloney’s disposal has been staff.

He is quick to point out they’ve gone above and beyond, many taking on new training before putting themselves right at the frontline where needed.

Mr Moloney said: “In the early days we had to do quite a lot of training and we had to turn it around quite quickly.

“We have had to make the decision to stop our elective programme, which sadly means some patients will have had to wait longer, in order to make sure we have enough staff managing the sickest patients.

“In the early days it was extraordinary, we had people working very long hours to make sure we were getting everything we needed in place.”

He is quick to thank all of the staff at the hospital, as well as contractors and partner organisations, who have helped the hospital be in a position to now think about its recovery from the crisis.

He said: “We take every opportunity we can to thank our staff for their extraordinary response. Nobody has seen this in our careers and no clinician or manager has seen anything like it - it is unprecedented.

“The level of response and commitment I have seen from staff has been amazing.

“We have been blown away with the support we have received from everybody outside the hospital as well. It has been a huge morale booster.”

“I am very grateful for staff’s efforts but also for the fantastic support of the community.”

He added: “In the next few weeks I am confident we will be able to see patients who have an urgent need to be seen. We are now positively looking forward at our recovery from this.”