UNCERTAINTY and inconsistencies around NHS planning for coronavirus in Northern Ireland have led to a "burning anxiety" for frontline staff - before treating the surge has even begun.
While the Department of Health must take its lead from Whitehall - where guidance is changing on a daily and sometimes hourly basis - the frustration and fear felt by some of the north's most senior doctors around their preparedness is being voiced privately.
Staff heading up A&E departments and Intensive Care Units could be among those most at risk through being exposed to such high levels of the virus - and without the necessary protective clothing and masks due to thinning supplies.
Sources say there has been no joined up strategy across health trusts, with A&E departments essentially "working to their own scripts" and decisions led by consultants and nurses - with continuous pressure and questions from staff about the way forward.
Anger at what many perceive as a "lack of leadership" at Executive and department level is also being felt as a result of following the UK government's 'questionable' lead.
As one medic put it: "We need to be consistent, the enemy at the moment is misinformation.
"There are so many inconsistencies between trusts, between services. The problem is the anxiety that is growing within the inconsistencies. All of our time is being burned up with anxiety at the minute - and we haven't even got into the treatment bit."
Difficult decisions usually reserved for war-time situations around which seriously ill patients to treat over others - and the legal ramifications down the line - are also being discussed.
Under normal circumstances clinicians would throw every life-saving resource at a seriously ill person.
However the position in the weeks ahead could be very different, with doctors forced to make the call on whether to ventilate a person - when they know this is futile - at the risk of harming other patients.
The buck stops with the consultant in terms of "exceptional decision making" in "grey areas" - and they will be seeking legal guarantees they are supported by their employers.
As the north's first Covid-19 death was confirmed yesterday amid projections of a 'rapid rise' in cases, the key issue for healthcare workers is access to testing.
Testing criteria changed last week to include healthcare staff exposed to the virus, but the reality is that there is not enough capacity to follow this through with calls to a staff hotline for testing "saturated".
Current guidance states that if someone becomes ill they must self-isolate - leaving hospitals a person down for a fortnight.
And while plans are in place to dramatically ramp up testing to 800 a day, medics desperately want the department to guarantee that every symptomatic frontline worker will be swabbed to allow them to get back to work.
If this doesn't happen, there are concerns that those clinicians and nurses at the top will be "hung out to dry".
As a glimmer of hope appeared yesterday with the announcement that China has no new domestic Covid-19 cases, the expert advice to push for testing right across the community and healthcare system must be heeded.
We want to protect not just the most vulnerable in our society but those courageous health staff on at the tip of sphere who will save lives - while putting their own at risk.
