WATCH: Inside a Lanarkshire Covid ward
Tay FM has been given access to University Hospital Hairmyres to speak to staff and patients about the Covid-19 pandemic ten months on.
Last updated 28th Jan 2021
One year on since the first cases of coronavirus were discovered in the UK, hospitals in Scotland are still dealing with the devastating impact of the virus.
We've been given exclusive access to University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, to see how staff are coping ten months on.
Senior charge nurse Julie Breen works in the Covid ward - she said they've noticed a significant change in the patients they're seeing.
She said: "They (the nurses) certainly feel like the patients we're seeing right now are much sicker, they're much younger.
"We're finding a lot of the patients we're discharging are being readmitted to hospital quite quickly."
She says preconceptions of who can catch the virus are very wrong.
Julie said: "People have this preconception that it's only patients of a certain age with underlying health conditions - that is definitely not the case.
"Certainly over the last week or so, we've admitted more younger patients to our medical High Dependancy Unit from this ward."
As of Wednesday 27 January 2021 at 8am, half of all patients in Lanarkshire's hospitals were being treated for Covid.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 inpatients in hospital at this time was 377 - while 764 beds in total were being occupied.
This meant 88 beds in total lay empty within the three Lanarkshire hospitals.
There were also a total of 23 Covid patients in ICU within Lanarkshire at this time.
One of the patients is 52-year old Denise O'Donnell, who tested positive at the start of January. Denise also has cancer and said she'd been trying to stay safe.
She said: "It was everything that I tried to avoid. Over Christmas and New Year I had my shopping delivered.
"I didn't go to the shops if I could avoid it - we were really making a real effort to avoid it because I had only started chemotherapy and immunotherapy."
Denise is now feeling much better - but the virus has created long-term problems for her.
She said: "I'm now at day 14 - what I am having is autoimmune problems caused by Covid.
"Covid has actually caused more problems internally for me."
Despite still seeing high levels of patients, senior charge nurse in the emergency department, Rachel Lees, says lockdown measures are having an impact.
She said: "I think if the government hadn't done what they did and lockdown, we would be in a much worse position than what we are in."
Dr Jane Duffty, ICU consultant, also reiterated this.
She said: "Everytime there's been a lockdown, certainly to us, it feels like it's been at the right time.
"There certainly has been a high pressure of cases in this hospital but also across the whole west of Scotland region and I think it's a hard decision to make when to go into lockdown, and I'm pleased I don't have to make it."