Gosport junior doctor reveals what it's like to work at Portsmouth hospitals during Covid-19 pandemic

For weeks we clapped for our carers at 8pm every Thursday, families pinned up rainbows in their windows to show appreciation for key workers and in the pages of The News, we shared acts of kindness which benefited our city hospital.

But few know what it has been like to work on the frontline let alone start their career as a doctor in the middle of a global pandemic.

Junior doctor Raphael Lippa, who works at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, and Gosport War Memorial Hospital, says: ‘Not only am I a brand new doctor who has just graduated, but I’m also in a very new situation, just like for everyone in the NHS. It’s been very interesting, overwhelming at times and very rewarding too so I am glad to be a part of that.’

Having spent some of his childhood in London, Raphael moved to Toronto, Canada, with his family as a teenager.

‘I studied as an undergraduate in neuroscience and psychology at the University of Toronto from 2011 to 2015,’ explains Raphael, 27.

‘I am the first doctor in my family. My parents are in the arts industry so it’s very different.

‘What inspired me to become a doctor was an unfortunate experience with my grandmother who suffered a stroke when I was about 11.

‘I met the physician who took care of her after she had the stroke and I got to know her because she was a close family friend.

‘The way she cared for my grandmother inspired me to get into this career.

‘That’s where it all started.’

After graduating from the University of Toronto, Raphael swapped the Great White North for the Emerald Isle to study medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, for five years.

He says: ‘I definitely became more interested in the fields of neurology and psychiatry when studying neuroscience.

‘I started to see how I could develop a career in medicine along with my interests in psychology.

‘It’s a very interesting field of medicine as it’s not necessarily the most developed because there’s a lot we still don’t know about the brain.

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‘That’s what really excited me about getting into this career.’

Upon graduating from Trinity College earlier this year, Raphael joined Queen Alexandra Hospital in August 2020.

‘QA is my first base as a junior doctor,’ says Raphael.

‘I’m currently working in Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the psychiatry department with the elderly mental health team.

‘I’m there on an honorary basis just to start because we all have to do a community placement.

‘But I am also doing some emergency department shifts in QA about twice a month to get more clinical experience.’

Raphael says working in A&E at QA and doing shifts at Gosport War Memorial Hospital are ‘both very different and both have their pros and cons’.

He explains: ‘I think with psychiatry you see the continuity of care with a patient because you see them from the beginning point of admission to discharge, so you see how they recover from whatever mental illness they may have.

‘I find that interesting to observe.

‘Whereas with A&E, you see some really interesting stuff like physical health conditions and I like being able to develop practical skills there.

‘But you don’t see the patient again and you don’t know what happens to them.’

Raphael currently lives in Gosport with his fiancée Vanessa, saying he really likes ‘living by the seaside’.

When he’s not fighting diseases, Raphael enjoys practising martial arts, which he first got into while he was living in Ireland.

‘When I was studying in Dublin, Vanessa got into martial arts herself and found a gym to train in.

‘She got me involved and we both fell in love with it,’ he says.

‘Conor McGregor’s gym was in Dublin and as he’s one of the most famous mixed martial artists in the world.

‘I went to train there at SBG Ireland HQ.

‘I am not very proficient in BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) and I’m more of a striker. I do Muay Thai and boxing.

‘We’ve both been trying to learn BJJ, wrestling and grappling because to develop your mixed martial arts game, you have to learn grappling as well.

‘That’s been tough because it is very technical.

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‘Aside from the fact it keeps you physically fit, it’s also good for you mentally and the way it disciplines you and builds your confidence.

‘Vanessa actually teaches martial arts as well and I help her do that sometimes when I am not busy with work.

‘It’s definitely a good way to release stress,’ he says, smiling.

And since August, Raphael and his team have been working together to treat patients and prepare ‘for the unfortunate scenario of a second wave [of Covid-19] as well’.

‘So far it’s been good and we’re managing to allocate suspected cases very well.

‘They have had to rearrange the wards from pre-Covid times and now have certain areas for Covid-19 patients, which has been very effective,’ explains Raphael.

He adds: ‘In A&E especially, when you’re seeing new patients and especially if there are suspected cases, we do don the full PPE.

‘Everyone is very supportive of each other and helps each other deal with these new circumstances that we’re in.

‘There is camaraderie between all of us on the team.

‘It can definitely be overwhelming at times, especially so when you’re trying to think about the ways in which you can make sure you’re as sanitary as possible with patients in order to protect them as well as myself.

‘That can definitely cause stress and anxiety and that can lose efficiency with the care you are trying to provide. It can be quite frustrating.

‘But everyone helps each other out and tries to figure out ways to make it more efficient and still provide the best quality of care possible for all the patients.’

Although Raphael has been thrown into pandemic chaos during the first few months of his medical career, he has no regrets.

He says: ‘I definitely find it really rewarding especially when I have certain consultations with some patients and I see the relief they get after I have explained to them what’s going on and what their diagnosis is.

‘It’s really satisfying for both me and the patients to have that resolution.’

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