Health workers exhausted

Unions have highlighted reports warning that health workers are already exhausted as they prepare to battle a second wave of COVID over the winter.

The NHS is “now facing a triple whammy”, warns a new NHS Confederation report, NHS reset: a new direction for health and care.

It must deal with local outbreaks and a second surge; manage a huge backlog of treatment; and restore services with reduced capacity as a result of infection control measures.

NHS leaders are reporting that “some staff who have been in the thick of this battle are exhausted”.

A new report by the King’s Fund health charity calls for new minimum standards to improve working conditions, along with a review of 12-hour shifts, in order to address exhaustion and burnout among nurses and midwives.

The courage of compassion finds that stress, absenteeism and turnover in the professions have reached “alarmingly high levels”.

It says the pandemic has “laid bare and exacerbated” longer-term issues including chronic excessive workload, inadequate working conditions, staff burnout and inequalities, particularly among minority ethnic groups.

Many nurses and midwives routinely work long shifts without proper breaks and with limited access to food and drinks.

And a “worryingly high proportion” also face bullying, discrimination, and verbal and physical abuse from people in their care.

https://www.nhsconfed.org/-/media/Confederation/Files/Publications/Documents/NHS-Reset-a-new-direction-for-health-and-care.pdf

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/courage-compassion-supporting-nurses-midwives