IN the hospital ward at night, it sounds like patients are snoring heavily from their rooms.

But when you enter, it’s clear they are gasping for breath.

“This virus is so cruel,” warns an NHS worker from Clydebank witnessing the frontline of saving lives from the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are speaking out after Good Friday saw more undertakers on a ward than nurses.

The worker wants the community to understand the scale of the challenge as hospitals and care homes try to save lives from the coronavirus.

And they say Bankies need to continue to stay home and maintain social distancing to help the NHS cope as the number of UK dead passed 18,000.

“Today’s shift was probably the worst so far,” wrote the worker in their diary entry of the crisis, exclusive to the Post.

The sound of trolleys being taken up and down corridors echoes throughout long 12-hour shifts - meals, cleaners, undertakers.

“There are more undertakers on the ward than there are nurses,” said the worker, who the Post is not naming to protect their job.

“It is horrendous to see, and a lot of the staff are upset.

“Everyone is trying their best but this virus is spreading too quickly. Dementia patients have little awareness of what is going on and wander around from room to room despite the nursing staff’s best efforts.

“Ordinarily, you would never lock a dementia patient in their room for their own dignity and human rights. Yet, in these desperate times, is that the only way they can be saved? I don’t have the answers but more are going to die unnecessarily.”

Nurses tell patients “please stay in your room” dozens or hundreds of times an hour. Some patients retort they are not children, and want to leave. Others are yelling and crying.

“They are so confused and don’t understand the new world around them,” said the NHS witness.

“Some patients have brightly-coloured hand made ‘get well soon’ cards from grandchildren, sitting beside black and white photos of them on their wedding day.

“That is some contrast.”

Clydebank Post:

In the rooms, there is the smell of hospital food. It was “fish Friday”, the smell soon overpowered by the more powerful chlorine from the cleaners wiping down and mopping every surface imaginable to stop the spread of the virus.

“It actually makes your eyes water at first but you soon get accustomed to smelling like a leisure centre, minus the leisure,” wrote the worker.

The effort to clean wards and protect staff as well as patients includes disposable gloves, apron, face mask, goggles, face visor and hand gel. They are changed after exiting any patient’s room, and there is another set of personal protective equipment (PPE) worn on the ward until entering a room.

Even mop heads are disposed of after every clean. Each bucket of chlorine and water is emptied, cleaned and refilled before going into another patient’s room. And if the coronavirus claims a patient’s life or they are moved, even the curtains are taken to be cleaned.

One patient with mental health issues and who has tested positive for Covid-19 spits at staff deliberately. Another change of PPE is needed.

The British Psychological Society says NHS staff could be left with anxiety, burnout, or post-traumatic stress disorder from the pandemic.

Covid-19 is also estimated to be in half of all care homes across Scotland, though true figures are not being made public.

“I have seen too many tears from nurses who don’t have enough PPE equipment,” the worker told the Post.

“They are very angry when they go home and watch the news - ‘there’s enough PPE for everyone’ the politicians tell them.

“‘Come in here for an hour, and see what it’s like, you fools,’ is the reply. Scottish and UK governments are taking the wrath.

“Governments should be working flat out to get this equipment at any cost otherwise NHS staff are at risk.”

The majority of nursing staff are women, and they have children and grandchildren that they are thinking about.

Managers told some cleaners to work part-time over the Easter weekend - same workload but half the time to clean.

The worker said some rooms didn’t get cleaned and might not over the weekend. They questioned whether there was enough money getting to NHS health boards.

“How can we win this battle?” asked the worker.