Ed Patrick balances his life between working in the NHS and being a comedian
(Picture: Ed Patrick )The NHS managed to survive through the Omicron outbreak but the concern a deadly strain could break out remains high, a frontline doctor has warned.
Speaking to the Standard, doctor turned comedian, Ed Patrick, said going to work on the frontline through the height of the pandemic felt like a “prison day trip” at times, speaking two years on from the first lockdown.
Commenting on his experience of the early days of the pandemic, he said: “We’re used to seeing immediate change but what would happen is that this disease would be so stubborn to change or progress.
“You just felt that the positivity in why you do medicine was hard to come by.”
While the UK may have moved past the dark days of the outbreak and devastating Delta wave, Dr Patrick admitted there still remains a concern over the impact of a new more transmissible and deadly variant in the future could cause on the health system.
“Overall there was a sigh of relief in terms of Omicron not being as bad as we thought from an intensive care point of view.
“That was the only saving grace but there doesn’t seem to be a plan on how to cope with another outbreak in the future,” he said.
“It’s not unreasonable to think we could experience a transmissible strain which is more deadly further down the line. But is there a plan for that?
“There’s no building of infrastructure to cope with this. The worry of another outbreak happening still remains.”
The anaesthetist, who splits his time between the NHS and the comedy circuit, claimed being able to go on stage allows him to break away from the intensity of medicine, although due to the lockdown, he lost the ability to do so.
“I’ve always balanced comedy and medicine. I didn’t realise how much I needed that balance.
“Comedy has been that sidearm for me but suddenly that was cut off,” he said.
“Being a comedian helps you be a good doctor. There’s a skill to building a rapport and working up under pressure.
“There are such high stakes in medicine but on stage, the stakes aren’t high so it helps put things into perspective.”
His book, Catch Your Breath, the paperback version of which comes out on April 28, sheds light on working during the pandemic and how comedy helped him get through it.
“When the pandemic hit, I needed a creative outlet, so when I was doing it less, my mental health wasn’t as good. I enjoy the balance between comedy and medicine,” added.
“Even my family read the book and didn’t realise I had gone through those challenges.”
