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Kind-hearted Catherine surprises terror survivors with bedside visit

The Duchess of Cambridge is a frequent visitor to hospitals, but was clearly moved by the staff and patients at King's College London.

The Duchess of Cambridge made a surprise visit to survivors of the London terror attacks, forgoing publicity so she didn’t disturb their treatment at the city’s King’s College Hospital.

Catherine talked to the hospital’s staff about the pressure they felt when dealing with the assaults on pedestrians on London Bridge and at Borough Market, remaking at their “amazing calm”, according to The Telegraph.

“Do you get emotional support too for what you are having to deal with? ” she asked one member of the medical team, and was told that the hospital workers supported each other when dealing with traumatic events.

 

Reports said 14 victims of the attacks had been taken to the hospital, mostly with stab wounds, and seven remained in critical condition. Her bedside visits to the survivors was not pictured, but a hospital spokesman told The Telegraph that most were well enough to speak to the Duchess.

Malcolm Tunnicliff, the clinical director of the hospital’s emergency department, said he got the impression Catherine was really impacted by the dedication of the King’s staff.

 

“We prepare for incidents like this 24 hours a day but it’s really nice when someone like the Duchess of Cambridge comes in and sees what we do first hand and says thanks,” he told the Daily Mail. “It gives the patients a lift, it gives the staff a lift that they are being recognised.”

He commented that the hospital in the centre of the capital was one of the busiest hospitals in western Europe when it came to treating stabbings, but that the number of victims from the terror attacks was unprecedented. 

“We went through a week’s worth of kit in just an hour and a half,” he told The Telegraph. “And while we were are quite used to dealing with young men that stab each other, this time there were quite a lot of ladies who had suffered serious, multiple injuries. That was quite shocking to many.”

Kensington Palace posted a photograph on Instagram of Catherine meeting some of the “incredible doctors, nurses and support staff” at the hospital, and tweeted images of her talking to Tunnicliff and his colleagues about the experience.

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