Medicine alumnus, Dr Jeremy Cundall, leads strategic response at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust which serves a population of around 650,000 people. As Executive Medical Director, Dr Cundall has been leading the Trust’s Covid-19 response. He shared his experience of the last few months following the Covid-19 outbreak and talked about the challenges he has faced in his role.
Dr Cundall says, “In my role, I am responsible for 750 doctors. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, my role dealt with standard strategy related to clinical effectiveness, but the events of the last few weeks have meant that we have gone from managing multiple diseases, to shifting our focus to tackling this disease.
“It has been a real challenge to juggle the day-to-day running of the Trust alongside managing the threat of Covid-19. There has been the added concern of whether, as medical staff, we will become ill ourselves while caring for patients with the disease.
“To help tackle the outbreak, we have been working hard to be on top of logistical aspects, such as PPE provision and the management of oxygen supplies, as well as increasing front-line nursing staff and closing non-essential elective surgeries during this time. We also increased our Intensive Treatment Unit capacity by 300% and ward beds by an extra 40%, meaning that we successfully fulfilled our mantra to be ‘one ward ahead of the virus’.
“We have also had the support of 30 doctors who have come out of retirement to join the Covid-19 response.”
The Trust has also taken on 48 new graduates, who arrived at the beginning of May after their graduation was accelerated as part of the national effort to tackle the outbreak.
Dr Cundall says, “Our staff have really looked after our Foundation Year doctors, and I haven’t met a new graduate who hasn’t been able to take some positives from the situation, despite these difficult times.
“I am immensely proud of the team and of what we have achieved, and I am also proud to be supporting the NHS. My advice to the doctors starting out in their career would be to make the most of this unique opportunity and the contribution you are making. This will be something to tell your grandchildren one day.”