'I still feel raw': nurse tells of treating Manchester bombing victims

'I still feel raw': nurse tells of treating Manchester bombing victims Joe O’Brien talks of a patient who smiled despite horrific injuries and a doctor, whose daughter was at the arena, returning to treat the wounded

Joe O’Brien is a senior sister in the surgical department of Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, where six of the 59 injured in the Manchester bombing were treated.

On Monday, I worked from 8am until 6pm as a surgery sister at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport. I was in bed that night listening to BBC Radio Four when I heard the words ‘Manchester’ and ‘incident’. I immediately thought about Declan, my son, a student who lives in central Manchester. I shot downstairs, spoke to my husband Sean. We rang Declan and established that he was OK, then I rang work and went in.

When I got there at 1.30am there were ambulances outside which had brought in six of the 59 casualties from the arena. They were stabilised in the A&E unit and brought to the surgical department where I work. They all had what we call lower limb injuries with foreign bodies – shrapnel injuries. Metal bolts and nuts, some an inch wide, had gone into them. They had caused real damage and left big holes in people. Shrapnel is like a large bullethole. It just destroys anything it goes through – arteries, bones, nerves, the lot. I’ve been in operating theatres since 1988 and it’s the most upsetting thing I’ve ever seen. Continue reading... The Guardian