Soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment receive a thank you from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Trust, after joining forces with the Trust to help support frontline workers and keep hospital services running.
The troops have been deployed across hospital sites, boosting morale among staff and taking on additional tasks around the hospitals.
Many of the hospital staff have been vaccinated and those who were off due to COVID-19, are now returning to the workforce but having the soldiers join them has been a welcome addition.
The Trust has thanked them for their efforts, as they have made a huge difference to their work capacities. They have helped with distributing goods to wards, portering, liaising with the public, helping to build vaccination hubs and many other tasks.
Private Armando Morris said: “The NHS staff have been exceptional in the way they have welcomed and mentored our support and it has been a privilege to work alongside them. We are proud to be working for and supporting our community with like-minded people in the NHS. Despite being from two organisations, over the past four weeks we have become a close team who are in this together.”
Our Army colleagues have been superb in supporting our hospitals’ patients and staff Dep Dir of Nursing West Middlesex Hospital
Cathy Hill, Deputy Director of Nursing at West Middlesex Hospital, who was responsible for keeping them busy at the hospitals, said: “Our Army colleagues have been superb in supporting our hospitals’ patients and staff during the past four weeks. They have worked seven days a week assisting on the wards, helping distribute deliveries and liaising with families and friends of patients.
“All this with a great ‘can-do’ attitude and ever welcoming smiles! It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside the Army and a huge thank you from everyone at the hospital.”
Lieutenant Luke Talkington said: “It has been an incredibly rewarding and humbling experience to work with the NHS. A different task to what we are used to, but I am proud in the way in which my soldiers have adapted and performed to support the NHS. We have been welcomed by an incredibly friendly group of nurses and volunteers who, like us, take great pride in serving their community.”