Filipinos comprise the backbone of the UK’s medical services field, being the third largest number of practitioners in the country’s National Health Service (NHS) at approximately 18,500 next to Britons and Indians, according to a recent report by London-based, The Guardian, citing the House of Commons library data from 2019.
The UK has over 312,600 coronavirus cases and 43,700 fatalities as of July 1, making it among European countries hardest hit by the pandemic with Italy, France and Spain tailing by.
Among those 18,500 Filipino NHS workers doing their share in the battle against an invisible enemy is 47-year-old Marvin Moreno of San Pedro City, Laguna who hails from Camarines and has earned his license as Philippine Registered Nurse in 1995.
“My family and the rest of the people in the community kept me going during those most difficult times,” Moreno said.
Moreno said working shifts of up to nine hours and faced with the risk of coronavirus infection from patients, comes with the demands of the job. “We are nurses and that is what we do,” he said.
There is also an unenviable sense of unadulterated commitment to it.
“On a more personal note,” Moreno said, “and I’m sure my fellow nurses would agree with me on this, I went out there because I believed that by rendering my services and doing my job, I would somehow get the sense of feeling that I was part of those fighting this pandemic to protect the family and our community for them to be able to live normal lives again, hopefully soon.”
Moreno is clinical nurse at Milton Keynes Urgent Care Service (MKUCS), where he saw action in the fight against COVID-19 as cases and fatalities started to peak a few months back.
“The situation in our hospital was fairly busy but it was under control,” he said.
He said there initially were some issues regarding PPE supplies but that was addressed adequately.
At the time of this interview, Moreno said 99 COVID-19 patients have died at MKUH with close to 500 cases recorded in the Milton Keynes borough.
“During the pandemic, protocols were changed,” said Moreno. “The systems placed to deal with patients kept on changing and evolving to bring us up-to-date with national guidelines,” said Moreno.
He said MKUCS put up a hub outside the building and had it manned by a clinician and a health care assistant (HCA) for walk-in patients and referrals.
The MKUCS Hub, said Moreno, “served as gate keeper for all patients with symptoms or potential/suspected COVID 19.”
“The clinician and HCA did the initial observations and if the patient was needing treatment and safe to be seen inside the facility, he or she would be transferred there,” he said.
Patients manifesting symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, headache, flu, cough, diarrhea were sent home to undergo self-care and quarantine following careful assessment in a more controlled facility at the MKUCS Hub, according to Moreno.
Second wave
These days, he said, they have been busy “as we are approaching the ‘going back to normal service.’”
“We are in the process of changing our protocols at the moment,” he said, adding that such is not entirely good news.
“This could be a dangerous time,” he said, noting the high possibility of a second wave.
“The second wave is more frightening than the first wave as the mindset of the people right now is that virus is over,” Moreno explained.
“It’s just that the people are so cautious during the first wave as media and the government urged and kept reminding them about how to prevent the disease. So, maybe that saves more lives” he said.
“But now, the people are so desperate to get their freedom back and the government gave them the go signal,” Moreno added.
He also raised concerns about the incoming cold season which breeds viruses.
“A few months na lang ay winter na naman. Season na naman ng colds and flu. Baka magblend ang COVID sa season na yun. Yun ang mahirap,” he said. “Sa lamig sila mas active at potent.”
Nonetheless, Moreno said NHS “will be on guard..”
“We still are not taking it lightly.”
Seasoned
Moreno is a seasoned medical staff, calling hospital emergency rooms his second home. He has gone full circle, first as emergency nurse at the Calamba Medical Center for several years, then on to being Head of Emergency Room at Ospital ng Muntinlupa before flying to London on April 15, 2004 where he worked as an accident and emergency nurse for over a year at Whippscross University Hospital NHS Trust.
He moved to Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in the Milton Keynes borough and was senior accident and emergency nurse for about 10 years.
Coronavirus cases in the UK, Italy, France and Spain were at its peak from mid-March to April with daily death tolls reported in the thousands.
Italy has 241,000 confirmed cases and over 34,700 deaths; France has 166,000 cases and 29,861 deaths while Spain has 249,000 cases and more than 28,300 deaths as of July 1, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides real-time statistics relied upon by policymakers. The numbers have been winding down lately and borders have started to be opened up again.
There have been concerns about the “disproportionate” number of Filipino medical front liners who have died of COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic in the UK a few months back, with as many as 50 recorded by June, according to Howard Catton, chief executive of the International Council of Nurses in a published interview with Nursing Times.
The Daily Bread 