AN NHS worker has documented the stark realities of life on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic at Nevill Hall Hospital.
Glenn Dene, a theatre operating department practitioner at the hospital, began capturing the devastating impact of Covid-19 just as the outbreak began.
“I remember just preparing operations for hip replacements and the next day, I was kitted out in full PPE for three hours with marks lining my face,” he says.
“It was scary, it was almost like a film.”
(An NHS worker leans against a door. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(A patient points to 'pain'. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(An NHS worker gripped in a moment of emotion. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(Staff take a moment to reflect. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(An NHS worker hold her head in her hand. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
And while Mr Dene captured the brutal reality Covid-19 inflicted - with the permission of everyone involved - he also wanted to immortalise the “positive” moments, such as births and patients recovering from intensive care.
“If it was all just negative, it would be awful.”
(The moment of baby is born into the world. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(Staff provide a guard of honour to a patient returning from weeks in intensive care. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(A patient grips a worker's hand for support. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(A patient is able to see family through a video call on a mobile. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
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He has taken more than three thousand photos and says looking back through them all was “really emotional”.
“It has slowed down a bit now (patient admissions) and I think we now understand just what we went through.
“The stuff I have seen in the intensive unit and the stuff the nurses and staff have gone through – I think people are really going to be suffering with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
“I feel like a second wave is inevitable, hopefully that won’t be the case.”
(Three workers tend to one patient. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
(An IT consultant tending to a patient. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
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Though he set out only to “document history”, his photos will be published in Behind the Mask with all royalties being donated to the NHS and Wales Air Ambulance.
- You can pre-order the book here.
The book also features words from ITU Consultant Dr Ami Jones MBE and it was only after she said that she was worried that Mr Dene really began to understand the severity of the situation.
“When Ami says she is worried, it is a big deal – she has been to Afghanistan.”
There is also a foreword from Welsh rugby star Jamie Roberts.
(An NHS worker sits on her haunches in the corridor. Picture: Glenn Dene.)
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Yet if it was not for his wife, these moments of such significance may never have been photographed.
“My wife bought me a camera for my birthday six years ago, and I thought ‘Why the hell have you bought me that?’
“But I went on a walk around Abergavenny and I just fell in love with it.”
Mr Dene, who has been working at the hospital for ten years, says the crisis has made people “understand the value of our NHS”.
“We understand now that it is something that needs protecting.”
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