'It felt like the videos you see of what happens just before a tsunami hits; when the tide goes out, the sea disappears and everything goes eerily quiet. The public were on lockdown and although we’d had a trickle of patients enter the hospital, with elective operating ceased and most people ‘scared’ to attend, the hospital entered a rare phase of quiet and calm. We wondered if the wave would ever hit us. We didn’t want it to as we’d seen the pictures from Italy of how badly their hospitals had been smashed, but equally we were poised, trained and ready to give our best if it hit, when it hit. And it hit.’

This is how Dr Ami Jones ITU consultant described the onset of COVID-19 at Nevill Hall General Hospital in Abergavenny in March 2020. Operating Department Practitioner Glenn Dene photographed the whole process from lockdown. His photographs show how the remarkable team came together to serve their community, from professional challenges to personal fears, all is revealed as the team at Nevill Hall donned their masks to battle the killer virus.

Produced with the kind permission and support of Nevill Hall Hospital and the NHS.

All royalties in aid of NHS Charities, including Wales Air Ambulance.

Glenn Dene is a South Wales based Operating Department Practitioner, who works for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. He is also a photographer/writer, In 2017 his documentary photography project ‘Magpie’ which follows the lives of ten children with ASD was published in fourteen countries. In 2019 he published his first novel ‘Rotten Apples Comedy Club.’ He lives in Abergavenny with his wife, children and labrador.

Dr Ami Jones MBE is a South Wales based Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesia who works for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and EMRTS Cymru / Wales Air Ambulance. She is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps and has undertaken 2 tours of Afghanistan as the Medical officer on the Medical Emergency Response Team. In 2017 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours for services to military and civilian pre-hospital critical care. She lives in Abergavenny with her partner, child and labrador.

'While nearly everyone in the photographs wears a mask, Dene’s unflinching eye has captured some deeper truth about the toll of this ongoing pandemic, seen on the faces of the ceaseless, exhausted medics and their patients.'Buzz Mag