The British Medical Association has meanwhile warned that the mental health crisis from the pandemic could carry long-lasting consequences for the NHS, leading to a mass exodus of doctors and nurses once the worst has passed.
“As we enter the second phase, doctors are already exhausted as they have had no time to recover from the first phase,” said Dr David Wrigley, BMA deputy chair and wellbeing lead,” told The Independent.
Fears are mounting for the wellbeing of thousands of NHS doctors and nurses who are suffering from burnout during the coronavirus pandemic, with mental health conditions accounting for up to 20 per cent of absences at leading hospitals.
The issue is expected to become more acute as hospitalisations from Covid-19 continue to rise during the second wave, experts have warned, prompting fears for patient safety.
Use of the BMA’s mental health helpline has risen by 80 per cent since September last year, The Independent understands.
Doctors have called for the restoration of services that had been provided to NHS staff – such as free food, accommodation and child support – to support their emotional wellbeing.
Frontline staff claim that such measures, which helped employees to feel “valued” were removed after the first peak.
“The job was already exhausting and stressful in non-Covid times, but this has really hit us hard.”
Concerns over burnout had been raised prior to the pandemic. The findings of a recent government health and social care committee showed that exhaustion levels among staff were at an 11-year high in the months leading up to March.
But following the onset of Covid-19, rates of anxiety and stress surged, with health leaders fearful that the mental strains of the pandemic are only going to intensify in the months to come.
The Shelford Group, a collaboration between ten of the largest teaching and research NHS hospital trusts in England, including Guy’s and St Thomas’s, Cambridge University Hospitals and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, has insisted that the psychological wellbeing of staff must be addressed throughout the remainder of the crisis.
Research by the group found that high levels of absence attributed to anxiety, stress and other psychiatric illnesses continued in the months after the spring peak.
In one member trust, 20 per cent of absences in September were due to mental health conditions, representing an increase of about 10 per cent compared with the hospitals’ pre-Covid rates.
There is also increased demand for staff counselling and other support services among hospital staff who are at work, the organisation said.
The Shelford Group has welcomed the publication of the recent NHS People Plan, which was launched in response to the growing recognition that the NHS needed a longer-term workforce plan.
Among other measures, it outlines the provision of rapid psychological assessment and care for staff – though the Shelford Group has suggested the project is “in danger of faltering because of insufficient funding”.
Ankur Khajuria, an NHS surgeon and lead researcher of a Royal College of Surgeons study on the mental impact of Covid-19 on healthcare workers, told The Independent that more needed to be done to support the emotional wellbeing of healthcare workers.
“During the first peak, there was likely variation in terms of available support depending on where one worked, with somewhat of a postcode lottery in terms of what psychological and organisational support was provided to healthcare workers,” he said.
“In my own hospital in London, there was provision for speaking with ICU psychologists on a one-to-one basis and presence of wellbeing hubs; but the same may not have been the case for hospitals across the country. And since the first peak, these services are generally less active.”
