SNOW and biting winds may have conspired to close down much of Gwent today - but NHS staff have gone the extra mile to ensure that patients' needs are catered for.

Scores of doctors, nurses and other staff have trudged miles through the snow to make sure surgeries, clinics and hospital departments are manned.

A small army of 4x4 drivers have battled through the worst that Storm Emma and the Beast from the East could throw at south Wales, to help NHS staff get to work.

Many doctors and members of other healthcare professions got their heads down overnight at their places of work, so as to be ready to open on time for patients this morning.

And these efforts will continue through the weekend, with arrangements already in place to ensure as many staff as possible can be where they need to be, when they need to be.

"Most staff came in yesterday with overnight bags, just in case, and we're still here," said Anne James, senior nurse at the Talygarn adult acute mental health unit on the County Hospital site at Griffithstown.

"That is going on across the country. There's a lot of goodwill among the staff."

Some Talygarn staff were also among seemingly scores of NHS workers who donned wellies and walking boots and completed lengthy journeys to work on foot.

One was Dr Rowena Christmas, a GP in Trellech, who walked four snowy Monmouthshire miles to work this morning, and is likely to do the return journey.

She spent half an hour clearing drifted snow from the entrance to the village practice, and by lunchtime had also completed a four-mile round trip to see a patient.

"I left the car at the surgery last night and walked home, and by this morning it was completely under a drift," she said.

"We have a tractor at home, and my husband Gavin is ready and waiting, while sledging with the children, if I need to go to see a patient who is difficult to reach.

"I've been a GP here for 18 years, and this isn't the first time we've seen snow like this, but this is first for few years."

Dr Malcolm Brown, a GP at St Julians Medical Centre in Newport, drove into work from Abergavenny this morning "in my 18-year-old Citroen, much to the discomfiture of my wife."

He said a colleague, Dr Rhodri Evans, who lives in Cardiff, had stayed at the centre overnight, while other staff had made it in this morning to make sure patients could be seen.

On the other side of Newport, at St David's Clinic at the Gaer Medical Centre, Dr Raj Ganesan and colleagues have also been tending patients, with a little help from Newport council workers, who cleared the paths.

"They've done a great job, and staff have managed to drive in from Cardiff, and some have walked, including one from Risca, and one from Chepstow Road," he said.

Up in chilly Abersychan, north of Pontypool, Drs Stephanie Balboa and Eleri Roberts slept overnight at the Abersychan Surgery practice to make sure it could remain open yesterday afternoon and this morning.

“As soon as we heard about the red (weather) alert we packed our cars with sleeping bags and duvets," said Dr Balboa, who has worked at Abersychan for 20 years.

"We know the area and how bad weather can make it completely closed off. If we had driven home last night, we wouldn’t have been able to return.

“We had kind offers of beds from the community and from the local pub, but we were well set up in the practice. There are sofas in the common room and thankfully it’s well heated.

“By the time 9am came we had patients at the door and we’re planning on staying open through the day, though it would be nice to get home tonight!

“All the staff here have been working really hard to minimise the disruption. The practice isn’t quite at business as usual, but we’re as close as we can get.”

Dr Rebecca Payne, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners in Wales, called Drs Balboa and Roberts' efforts "one of many examples of GPs and staff across the Welsh NHS going to extra mile to carry on caring for patients.”

“Maintaining patient care in the circumstances we are facing is a challenge, and it is fantastic to see such commitment from staff," she said.

“There will inevitably be disruption for many patients across Wales but GPs are doing their very best to minimise it.”

Other NHS staff have been venturing out to make sure colleagues can get to and from work.

Laura Diggins, staff Nurse in the emergency department at the Royal Gwent Hospital, went out at the height of the red warning, at 7pm last night, to bring in three doctors. Without her efforts, there would have been only one doctor in the department overnight.

Chris Jones, assistant head of specialist services with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, was not on duty last night, but he has a four-wheel drive vehicle that he put to good use, being out until 1am this morning trying to get staff to where they needed to be.

He eventually had to abandon his vehicle and walk the rest of the way home.

And health board service improvement manager Sam Crocker and her husband have been out and about today in their four-wheel drive vehicle, picking staff up.

Meanwhile, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is calling on staff and volunteers who are suitably insured and have a 4x4 vehicle, to help ferry staff to and from work in Gwent.

“We’ve had an amazingly supportive response so far. I’d also like to say a big thank you to all of our staff and volunteers for going above and beyond the call of duty to serve our patients in these severe wintry conditions," said assistant director of operations Louise Platt.

“We have also received offers of help from the public to help ferry our staff into and from work - which we are so grateful for - but unfortunately we’re unable to accept these because of insurance purposes.”

Staff and volunteers with a 4x4 vehicle that is covered by business mileage on their insurance, and who are able to help, are asked to call 01633 471131.