DAUK’s Dr Natalie Ashburner & Dr Richard Gilpin in Health Europa Quarterly discussing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the welfare of healthcare staff.
April 2020, DAUK conducted a survey of 350 healthcare workers which found that 57% felt so stressed they have bene overwhelmed or unable to cope because of pressure at work during the last month.
11% had felt suicidal and 3% had self-harmed in the past month because of stress from increased pressure at work.
October 2020, DAUK surveyed >800 GPs:
– 78% working during the Pandemic had impacted negatively on their mental health
– ‘My mental health has reached the stage where I have even thought about crashing my car on the way to work’
Despite all the evidence of the mental health impact of COVID-19 in health and social care, little will change while the same mismanagement, slowness to react and lack of communication continues to dominate the decisions taken by those in charge.
