Norfolk hospital issues "call to arms" in battle against Covid-19
The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital has issued an urgent plea for help.
The Chief Nurse at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital has likened working on the frontline in the battle against Coronavirus to "trench warfare".
Professor Nancy Fontaine has posted a video on Twitter urging anyone who can to register to help out at the hospital.
Sam Higginson who's the Chief Executive of the NNUH, said: "We are indebted to our NNUH staff and the local community for their offers of help during this extremely challenging time for the NHS.
"Our Trust has recruited 100 new healthcare assistants to help us through this difficult period.
"We have requested the help from 30 military technicians to support our teams as healthcare assistants and fire service and council colleagues have offered assistance with non-clinical and support roles over the coming weeks.”
Leader of Norfolk County Council, Andrew Proctor, said: "We are working with and through the local resilience forum, so we can see the best way to use furloughed staff and others from services that have been temporarily suspended to assist the NHS with non-clinical work.
"This is an ongoing discussion with the NHS to finalise requirements and what we and other partner organisations can provide.
“Additional work we are doing is to support staffing in care agencies, as we recognise that both health and care services are essential.”
What's it like working on a Covid-19 ward?
Lauren Jaques has shared this video diary of one of her night shifts working on Covid-19 critical care ward at the NNUH.
The hospital Trust confirmed another five patients have died after testing positive for Coronavirus as of Friday 15th January.
They were three women and two men, all in their 60s to 90s, and they all had underlying health conditions.
The NNUH has also confirmed that a further 200 patients have returned home to continue their recovery.
That brings the total of patients discharged after testing positive for Covid-19 to over 900.