A hospital patient has described the 'horror film' moment her ward was evacuated after after a woman in the bed opposite her tested positive for Covid-19.
Lisa Hicks, from Basildon, Essex, claims staff didn't have any masks or protective clothing when they ripped off unit curtains around her and started cleaning walls and windows at Basildon Hospital on Monday.
The 42-year-old, who suffers from life-threatening lupus nephritis stage 4/5 kidney failure, said she was sent home with antibiotics and steroids and told to only call 111 if ‘things get really bad’.
Miss Hicks said: "You could sense the nurses’ fear when they were asking for masks and being told there are none.
"These nurses and doctors need help they have far too much to deal with. I am someone who is in and out of hospital a lot, so I have nothing but the utmost respect for our NHS.
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"But all the staff are struggling. They do not even have the basics to keep themselves and those they took an oath to look after safe. It is heartbreaking.
"I cannot stress enough the care I got was to the best of their ability and I know their hands were tied but their own lives are truly at risk."
It comes as NHS England figures released Tuesday show Basildon Hospital has recorded 17 Covid-19-related deaths, with the first occurring on Saturday, March 13.
Miss Hicks was admitted to hospital on Saturday 28th March after her autoimmune disease, lupus erythematosus (SLE), took a scary turn and her blood pressure dropped dangerously low.
She said initially her stay was positive, and the staff were keen for the coronavirus not to be discussed to keep patient morale high.
However, on Sunday night, she watched as the patient in the bed opposite her started crying out in pain.
Miss Hicks said: "Before she tested positive, the lady was up all night crying. She could not breathe and kept saying she was dying and wanted to see her children.
"The beautiful nurses sat with her, holding her and cuddling her - not knowing she had Covid-19 and then they went home to their families."
Miss Hicks said within an hour of the patient testing positive on Monday, she was rushed home and told to stay away from the hospital.
She said: "Everything happened so quickly. I just felt frightened and wanted to be out of there even though I felt so ill.
"It turned crazy and scary fast. We were all literally kicked out of the hospital and sent home after the lady opposite us tested positive for Covid-19.
"The day we were told to leave the hospital was like something out of a horror movie. Those poor doctors and nurses are so ill equipped. They didn’t even have masks or basic things."
Miss Hicks now fears she too could have Covid-19, after sharing toilet facilities with the patients on her ward.
She is now in self-isolation in her spare room, but is feeling afraid as questions about her complex disease remain unanswered after she was evacuated from hospital, without her seeing a crucial specialist or renal doctor.
She is fearing for her life as her illness continues to attack her organs, her kidneys, her lungs and her heart.
Miss Hicks is now calling for the government to ‘step up’ in its fight against the coronavirus.
She said: "I also think more training and cleaning needs to happen at the hospitals. They are doing a great job but they need more help, they have far too much to deal with.
"They have so much on their hands; not just doing the job of being a nurse, they are also doing the food, the cleaning and running around. It’s madness!"
Keen to thank her specialist doctor who has saved her life twice, Lisa said she has nothing but positive words for the NHS but admits she is in fear for them.
She added: "I am extremely high risk after I had my last round of chemo in February for lupus. I know I’m in that category that would not have much chance of pulling through if I caught the virus.
"Sadly I got very very sick - it's now hard, scary and a time of nightmares."
Basildon Hospital has been approached for comment.
