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Credit
Lily Dryburgh-Smith's film - Final edited version. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Lily Dryburgh-Smith, Chief Registrar - Emergency Medicine at Newham University Hospital, filmed in artist's studio in October 2020.
In 2020 Dr. Lily Dryburgh-Smith worked as a Chief Registrar at Newhamand Hospital. The role was a senior leadership position combining clinical responsibilities with protected time for service improvement initiatives, including education, training, and workforce planning.
She played a key role in preparing the hospital, including reorganising clinical spaces and delivering staff training on PPE use, particularly mask fit-testing. She also identified and addressed differences in staff confidence and knowledge. In the film Dr. Lily Dryburgh-Smith describs in detail the procedure for intubating patients and explains how high-flow oxygen therapy works.
The most challenging aspect for Dr. Lily Dryburgh-Smith was the fear of running out of equipment, bed space, and critical supplies, alongside concerns about insufficient staffing on the wards to care for patients, and periods when the hospital was unable to accept new patients. She felt anger about deaths she believed were unnecessary and continues to have many unanswered questions.
Dr. Lily Dryburgh-Smith reflects on the wider state of the NHS, saying that the service was already under significant strain before the pandemic, especially during the winter months. She hopes that the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s campaign against a return to corridor care has been taken seriously at a national level.
Keywords: Accident and Emergency (A&E), Death from Covid, Teamwork, Moral injury, Preparedness, Difficult conversations, PPE, Impact on families