Huge nursing response to Storm Frank

Healthcare staff across the UK have been working tirelessly to help vulnerable patients affected by Storm Frank.

Since Tuesday evening, heavy rains and strong winds have hit northern England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland leading to flooding and forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated from their homes. 

In Aberdeenshire the River Dee burst its banks and district nursing teams have been checking on vulnerable patients.

NHS Grampian associate director of nursing June Brown said some nurses in the Deeside district nursing team had their own homes flooded but have still been out visiting patients. 

She said: ‘They are coping magnificently and have been out at work every single day. They have been responding to what is required by the emergency services as well as their everyday work and have been extremely busy.’

In Cumbria, which has been battered by severe weather and flooding during December, Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust associate director of nursing for the community services care group Salli Pilcher said nurses have been checking on thousands of patients in their homes. 

She said: ‘It is picking up patients whose care has been affected or their support network.

‘We have had staff going out of their way and they continue to face the challenges of road and bridge closures.’

Winds and rains have eased overnight, but there are still 23 flood warnings in England and Wales, 22 in Scotland and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is recording areas of flood risk across Northern Ireland.