LAUSR

Prior to COVID19 hitting our hospitals in early March 2020 my role was as the Research Team Lead for the Breast Department in Cardiff and Vale UHB, a challenging role in itself, with a small team that consisted of a Research Officer and myself who set up and supported a busy portfolio of clinical trials. We worked closely with and had constant support of the experienced team of Breast Surgeons, Oncologists, Specialist Nurses, Radiologists and Pathologists to help give advice and implement trials in our clinical areas. After returning from working in the refugee camps in North France at the end of February, COVID19 was becoming a reality in our hospital and I fully expected to be redeployed back to a previous role as a Critical Care nurse. However, COVID19 clinical research became a priority for the Health Board and my path took me on a different route. Overnight, myself and the other three team leads in our department found ourselves managing COVID19 clinical trials and the research teams who were supporting and delivering them, the main difference being that there was no one experienced in this speciality to guide and give advice – we were all learning together, and everything changed on a daily basis. I was asked to lead the team in the University Hospital of Llandough where, at the peak of the pandemic, we had approximately six wards full of COVID19 patients. My team consisted of Research Nurses, Research Officers and staff from the Research and Development office, only one of which I had worked closely with previously. To lead this team in such a high-pressured, potentially dangerous environment, my priority had to be ‘safety first’. I needed to know my team, know their backgrounds, know who was at home, and know who supported them. We adapted and created risk assessments which would change as the weeks passed and we learnt more about risk factors such as obesity and ethnicity. However, I felt that these did not always capture the risk that my team posed to those they lived with and the anxiety that this could create. I spent time with each individual when they first joined the team in order to learn more about them and their home lives. We discussed choices with regards to staying in the