On some days I can almost forget that COVID ever happened. The old rhythms of the ICU at University College London, where I am a consultant in critical care and anesthesia, have returned. The bed pressures, the worrying cases, the frustrating, frequent-flyer patients and the complex family dynamics are all back and the stress levels ebb and flow as they always have.

If it weren’t for the staff absences, the incidental positive tests and the security guards on the front door handing out masks, I could kid myself that we are back to normal.

But dig a little deeper and it’s clear that COVID has changed the ICU and the people who work there, including me, for ever.

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