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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Blood, sweat and tears

Blood, sweat and tears features healthcare professionals' accounts of moments in their career that have been joyous, life-changing, difficult or just plain awful.

• Would you like to write about a memorable moment that had an impact on you? Find out more here

29 October 2020

  • Patient receiving chemotherapy

    Watching my cancer patients go through treatment alone is heartbreaking

    Lucy Gossage
    Covid-19 has made this year tougher for those experiencing treatment and those of us who work in cancer care

8 October 2020

  • Surgery

    I tried to take my life five years ago. Now I'm grateful to be alive

    Anonymous surgeon
    I was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital where I work as a surgeon. This is how I recovered

1 October 2020

  • Emergency service ambulance with blue lights flashing

    There's a patient I'll never forget. Their burns and screams still haunt me

    Anonymous
    He has stayed with me for 25 years, even though I’ve left my job as a doctor in the NHS

17 September 2020

  • A protestor outside the Scottish parliament building

    My husband is in a care home. I visit him for 30 minutes each week in a car park

    Anonymous
    I understand visits must be restricted because of Covid, but why are families the ones to suffer?

10 September 2020

  • Catherine Pointer University of Southampton general hospital

    I was diagnosed with cancer at 14. Now I work alongside a doctor who treated me

    Catherine Pointer
    I’m still grappling with the long-term impact of my diagnosis but am determined to help others as a cancer researcher

13 August 2020

  • Anonymous as told to Sarah Johnson

    I'm disabled but was told I won't receive critical care if I get Covid. It's terrifying

    Anonymous as told to Sarah Johnson
    I use a ventilation machine at night and by early March, I could see that if I were to catch coronavirus, I’d be in serious trouble

30 July 2020

  • Florence Nightingale Projection on to St Thomas’ Hospital, London., London, UK - 12 May 2020<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock (10644798c) An image of Florence Nightingale is projected onto St Thomas’ Hospital as it is both International Nurses Day an teh anniversary of her birth 200 years ago today. The message is also one of support for current day nurses as the ‘lockdown’ continues for the Coronavirus (Covid 19) outbreak in London. Florence Nightingale Projection on to St Thomas’ Hospital, London., London, UK - 12 May 2020

    'We give patients their voices back': the speech therapists on the Covid-19 frontline

    The work of speech and language therapists like Sally Archer is often overlooked, but they have been vital in fighting Covid-19

17 July 2020

  • A message of support outside a care home. (stock photo)

    'We were lambs led to slaughter': life inside a care home during Covid-19

    Care workers risked their lives tackling coronavirus only to be blamed for high numbers of infections by the UK prime minister

9 July 2020

  • ‘The essence of palliative care is patient-centred care, but Covid-19 is bigger.’

    Treating dying people in hospices during Covid-19 is breaking me

    Anonymous
    The restrictions over visitors are necessary but go against the whole ethos of the hospice and what we do

2 July 2020

  • As told to Sarah Johnson

    I am a paramedic working for NHS test and trace but I've yet to make a single call

    As told to Sarah Johnson
    I am being paid to sit and refresh my computer screen every 15 minutes. The ‘world-beating’ system is a shambles

25 June 2020

  • Covid-19 scan

    I'm a physiotherapist. Seeing the impact of Covid on survivors will haunt me forever

    Cate Leighton
    I’ve never seen anything like coronavirus before. Recovering will be a Herculean task for patients, but we are here to help

18 June 2020

  • People maintain social distancing as they queue outside a Londis store

    I'm a nurse in a deprived area of the UK. Here's the sinister truth about Covid and inequality

    Anonymous
    People praise me and my key worker neighbours for keeping things running before ranting about rule-breakers in ghettos

11 June 2020

  • An ambulance drives past a thank you NHS sign painted on the road

    I'm an ICU doctor treating coronavirus patients. But somehow I'm not angry

    George Gillett
    As we muddle through relaxing the UK lockdown, the overwhelming public mood seems to be one of fury

4 June 2020

  • Newborn baby undergoes heel prick screening

    'There are more births in the car park': a midwife's experience of the Covid-19 crisis

    These are strange times we are working in, but I haven’t felt frightened, and neither should the women I’m helping

3 June 2020

  • Dr Minesh Talati with his father Navin Talati.

    'I lost my father to Covid-19. Now I'm taking legal action against the UK government'

    Dr Minesh Talati wants accountability not just for his father’s death, but the other coronavirus victims who didn’t need to die

28 May 2020

  • A porter walks through an ICU ward at the NHS Nightingale north-east hospital opened in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

    A porter's story: 'The hospital in Covid-19 times reminds me of a disaster movie'

    Parts of the hospital are like a ghost town, but I work with a great group of lads and they’ve helped keep my spirits up

26 May 2020

  • Patient receiving chemotherapy

    I'm 21 and have had chemotherapy during lockdown. I was one of the lucky ones

    Madeleine Pulman-Jones
    Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, many hospitals have suspended routine cancer surgeries and chemotherapies

21 May 2020

  • Clap for our Carers, Chelsea and Westminster hospital

    I'm an NHS doctor – and I've had enough of people clapping for me

    Anonymous
    The health service is not a charity and it is not staffed by heroes. It has been run into the ground by successive governments

19 May 2020

  • Medical staff attend to a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease

    I think about one special coronavirus victim as I cry myself to sleep

    Anonymous
    Maybe it was because she was a healthcare worker and a mother whose family could not be there when she died

14 May 2020

  • Hospital cleaner on the wards

    I lost my income so started work as a hospital cleaner. This is what I have seen

    Kai Nicol-Schwarz
    I work on wards full of cv patients. It’s an intimidating environment, but I’m so glad I’ve done it
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