Sedated in a far away place on the edge of life

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Royal Oldham Hospital. Patients lie on this ward, suspended between life and death. Most breathe with the aid of a ventilator, their lungs engulfed by this horrifying disease.Staff attend to them with a tender diligence and efficiency.Masks are so airtight there is no hospital smell, and, but for the staff's conversation, which is professional but surprisingly cheery, there's a silence.

No bleeping from machines, just a sense of weary calm hanging over everything.You see it in the particular walk that some of the staff have, a determined, foot dragging trudge, like soldiers who have been walking for miles, and know they have miles to go yet.Whilst hospital admissions across the country are starting to fall, the intensive care unit at Oldham.