A team at Hull Royal Infirmary has been praised for helping to move their entire ward twice during the pandemic just so they could care for patients.

Staff on Ward 500 at Hull Royal Infirmary were caring for people with respiratory problems such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and breathing difficulties associated with Motor Neurone Disease before the pandemic.

However, their entire ward moved to the floor above in the tower block twice and their task changed to look after patients with general medical conditions when the number of patients with the virus continued to increase.

Sarah Bennett, Junior Sister on Ward 500, said members of the team came in on their days off to help with the move to the new ward to make sure there was no adverse impact on patient care.

She said: “Ward 500 moved an entire ward to Ward 60, changing from respiratory patients to general medical patients.

“Staff came in to help move equipment and patients on their days off to assist with this move.

“Once we’d moved, staff then came in on their days off again to help with unpacking the ward to make sure we were organised.

“During the lockdowns, we have done this twice and staff went above and beyond helping with these moves.

“I am proud of our Team 500. Their hard work is truly appreciated!

Some members of the team were redeployed to Covid wards and the Intensive Care Units because of their expertise in dealing with patients experiencing breathing difficulties, a common symptom of the virus. Other members of staff working in other services at Hull Royal and Castle Hill Hospital were redeployed to work with the Ward 500 team.

When the team were able to return to Ward 500, they had to contend with construction work to create a new six-bed respiratory high dependency unit for seriously ill patients who did not have the virus but required a high level of care.

Sarah said: “We have all develop our skills and knowledge regarding caring for patients in an HDU setting.

“We have staff from other areas re-deployed to us and also our own staff deployed elsewhere.

“I would like to thank all of my team on ward 500, including staff who are currently redeployed to us. We couldn’t give the safe, excellent care our patients receive if it wasn’t for every single one of them.”