A VETERAN working at a 4,000-bed field hospital in London has praised the “unwavering dedication” of NHS doctors and nurses.

Jamie Jones, 41, from Colchester, volunteered to support the Nightingale Hospital, at the Excel Centre, after he was furloughed from his job.

He typically works as a health, safety and high risk advisor for the TV and film industry, but is now part of the resuscitation team working alongside a number of critical care anaesthetists.

The hospital was built with the help of up to 200 soldiers per day from the Royal Anglian Regiment and Royal Gurkha Rifles, alongside NHS staff and contractors and officially opened on April 3.

Jamie described the hospital as “amazing”, “essentially an intensive care unit on an industrial scale”.

Braintree and Witham Times:

The veteran, who spent 15 years in the British Army working at units including 16 Close Support Medical Regiment, said: “The way the NHS nurses and doctors are working at the Nightingale Hospital reminds me of working in a military field hospital.

“Their dedication is unwavering. The nurses are working themselves to near exhaustion, but they refuse to give in and want to ensure they can do everything in their powers to look after their patients.”

Jamie, an operating department practitioner, works 12 and a half hour shifts in full protective equipment.

“At times it is uncomfortable and makes communicating to other clinicians difficult,” he said.

“As a result of the difficulties in communication, clinicians have resorted to using hand signals similar to those used by divers or writing information on a small laminated card.

“The shifts and environment is exhausting, but I’m glad to be a part of such an amazing team who are sacrificing being able to see their family as not to expose them to the virus. “

“A number of operating department practitioners, nurses and doctors are receiving additional training and being up-skilled to deliver intensive care.”

NHS workers and volunteers face difficult separations from their families.

In Jamie’s case, he cannot see his one-year-old son as his ex-partner is a Metropolitan police sergeant, her sister has Multiple Sclerosis and her son has severe asthma.

“It was a difficult decision to volunteer for the Nightingale, but I hope in the future my son will be proud of the part I played,” he said.

Jamie also still serves in in the military as an Army Reservist, is a troop sergeant and a paramedic at 254 Medical Regiment, 161 Squadron in Colchester.

He said: “The only way to keep your family safe is to stay at home.

“If people play their part and follow the government guidance, this will reduce the burden on the NHS and ensure as many people are saved from Covid-19 as possible.”