King's Lynn hospital plans to name new unit after healthcare assistant Chrissie Emerson

There are plans to name a new unit at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in memory of a healthcare assistant who died after contracting the coronavirus, its chief executive has said.

Caroline Shaw has spoken to the Sunday Telegraph for its most recent edition, in which she also revealed the QEH’s intentions for a memory bench in tribute to Chrissie Emerson.

In the article, Mrs Shaw said at Chrissie’s funeral, the hearse and coffin will drive around the hospital estate as staff throw roses on the road.

“Chrissie would have wanted this,” she told the newspaper.

Mrs Shaw said that “nothing in her 35-year NHS career or 53 years of life could have prepared” her for the loss of a staff member.

She described Chrissie as a “pillar of the community” who had worked at the hospital for almost 30 years.

“She would walk around the corridors asking people if they were OK, gaining her the reputation of the ‘Mum of the unit’,” she added.

Since Chrissie’s death, the Union Jack that flies over the hospital has been at half-mast.

Mrs Shaw said she has spent time with grieving staff and spoken with Chrissie’s family, while patients have also written with condolences.

She said her colleagues are “terrified they could die”, and the day after Chrissie’s death, the QEH’s PPE usage almost doubled.

While more staff have been symptomatic and have tested positive, others are critically ill, including a nurse from India, who has been transferred to Royal Papworth Hospital for more intensive treatment.

Mrs Shaw said: “Her husband and one-year-old await news at home; though there are signs of improvement which is such welcome news.”

The QEH boss, who has had to self-isolate from her own family, said they are now looking at a future where two hospitals, Covid and non-Covid, will run alongside but separate to one another.

It will be a challenge as staff are exhausted, “but it’s the new normal”.

She added: “It has taken a pandemic for the public to fall back in love with the NHS – we will keep on fighting for them.”