LIFESAVERS from Cumbria’s NHS teams have explained their role in the fight against Covid-19 and issued a renewed appeal to follow the rules as they are seeing an alarming trend of younger patients at their hospitals.

North Cumbria Integrated Care has issued a series of videos explaining the role of lifesavers on their teams.

Daniel Sherret is a member of the hospital night team and he has explained the toll Covid-19 is taking on the NHS: “It’s been very difficult recently in the hospital, we’ve seen more patients in this wave than any other and the patients do seem to be younger this time.

He said: “All the staff really are pulling out all the stops to keep services going, we need you to help us. If we can slow the community infections we will slow the hospital admissions. Please stay at home and follow the guidance.”

Intensive care doctor Jon Sturman said: “Our staff are doing an amazing job in a time of extreme pressure, but we need your help in order to reduce any further pressure on the system while we look after the Covid and non-Covid patients we have so please observe Government guidance and ‘hands face space’ and that will help us enormously.”

Christmas and New Year was a significant challenge for the NHS teams.

Some members of staff have undertaken new roles to support stretched teams.

Annual leave has been cancelled and shift patterns changed to make sure NHS services continue throughout the pandemic.

Staff are also going to great lengths to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Rachel Fulton, matron for maternity services at the Cumberland Infirmary said: “We have strict infection prevention measures across our community teams and in all our maternity wards and we do everything that we can to keep you and our staff safe.

“I would also like to pay tribute to all the maternity staff who I can assure you have gone out of their way to make sure that our service remains the high quality service for which it is renowned.

In her video, Linda Graham, community nursing lead for Eden, explained how she is doing her part to make sure that services keep going.

“Our community nurses across the county are doing all they can to make sure that patients continue to receive the highest level of care possible.”

Linda said: “Despite the obvious difficulties we are still donning our PPE and delivering care in people’s homes.

“We are doing all we can to make sure the NHS keeps going and we need you to do all you can to stop the spread of the virus.”