Hospital staff made sure a coronavirus patient got one last pint of Guinness before he died.
Overwhelmed medics at a hospital in the North West of England found time to fulfill the man's dying wish over the weekend after he stopped responding to treatment.
Critical care consultant Dr Shondipon Laha said it was just one of the lengths exhausted colleagues have gone to as patients die without family by their side.
The honorary secretary of the Intensive Care Society told the Manchester Evening News: "We are frequently seeing patients where you’re holding their hands, playing the music they want to hear.
"One patient, over the weekend, we went to sort a pint of Guinness for him before he died.
"We think that’s as important as all the other stuff we do. But it’s emotionally draining."
Dr Laha went on to describe the heartbreaking phone calls made to families via FaceTime to tell them treatment on their loved one is being stopped.
"Nursing staff are having to do that on a daily basis," he said.
The doctor said the outside world seems a world away at times.
He said commuting in for a shift he often sees people walking around as if the pandemic wasn't happening, adding: "It’s like two different worlds."
For him and his colleagues the realities of the virus are impossible to escape.
Sweating in PPE, doctors and nurses are combating not only Covid-19 itself, but the heat, exhaustion and claustrophobia that make their jobs immeasurably harder.
Sickness rates among staff are doubling and Dr Laha said he's seeing reports of post-traumatic stress disorder, with "most ICUs" having set up counselling systems.
"It’s wearing PPE in an area that was never meant to be an ICU. It’s hot; it’s claustrophobic; no-one can hear you properly.
"You can’t hear other people properly. Mistakes happen. Tempers get frayed."
