A HOSPITAL chaplain has spoken out about the heart-breaking challenges faced by East Lancashire medical staff working through the pandemic.

Writing in his public blog, David Anderson, hospital chaplain and counsellor at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said in many ways the current wave of Covid-19 is harder than the first.

He said treatment developments mean that patients are now more likely to be awake, rather than sedated, meaning staff get to know them on a personal level.

“We learn about their families, their children, their grandchildren,” he wrote.

“We listen to their hopes, how they long to watch their children grow up and how they are scared to die.”

He said: “Too many times however, Covid feels so much stronger than everything we have as a team and that really hurts.

“When you give everything, and somehow still lose.”

In the heart-rending blog, David praises the exhausted and overworked hospital staff for still managing to dig deep and make patients feel loved.

He said: “This past week I have been on CCU (critical care unit) and with each visit I have seen my colleagues crying, both junior and experienced members of staff.

“It is heart-breaking, as I know that the effects of this pandemic will be with us forever.

“The scars will be left on our hearts.”

David, who is currently running daily counselling sessions for hospital staff, had a message of hope to convey.

He said: “In many ways I think these weeks are perhaps the darkest for many of us so far.

“But, I also feel that in the darkest moments, the light of our staff shines the most brightly.

“The love that they give, the human presence and the human compassion that they offer, shines out now more than ever.

“Each day, they keep giving their love and their humanity, as well as their profession, even when they have nothing left.”

More 40 deaths were recorded in East Lancashire Hospitals Trust this week.

He added: "One day this will end and one day Jasper, my therapy dog, will be out again visiting patients on the wards. We will laugh again, hug again, talk about holidays again. One day staff will not need the counselling sessions that I run each working day."