Nursing in Practice May/June 2020 (issue 114) | Page 21

11
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ers if
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’t do
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’
1%
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rveyed said they
essured to reuse
-use PPE when
ing in high-risk
vironments
workforce boost could be temporary. A poll by YouGov in
early April of 996 healthcare workers for an Institute for Public
Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank report, Care Fit For Carers,
found that 21% of healthcare professionals feel Covid-19 has
made them more likely to leave the profession. The fi ndings
reveal they face increased pressure on their physical and
mental health, as well as their wellbeing, including fi nances
and housing insecurity.
Primary and community care undoubtedly changed
throughout March and April, but will these changes stick?
And will they be positive or negative?
Workforce on a cliff edge
Chris Thomas, a research fellow at IPPR, believes the
think-tank’s fi ndings – suggesting around 300,000 healthcare
workers could quit because of coronavirus – is an
underestimate since the study took place at the beginning of
April. ‘We know from NHS staff surveys that morale is not
particularly strong. We’ve seen working conditions get worse,
and we’ve seen pay stagnate. It’s a bit of a perfect storm.’
Continually working in understaffed, potentially unsafe
settings, suffering from burnout, stress and unaddressed
mental health needs, will exacerbate this situation,
Mr Thomas says. ‘I think we’ve got to the point where
no one could blame healthcare workers if they got to the
end of the crisis and said, “I can’t do this any more.”’
Workforce issues seem most likely to be worse for
community nurses and school nurses after the crisis.
Councils in England have cut real-term spending on adult
social care by nearly 9.3% between 2009/10 and 2014/15,
according to a ‘performance tracker’ from the Institute for
Government think-tank and public sector accountancy body
CIPFA. The 2020 Budget did not provide the long-awaited,
long-term plan to fund social care. Although the disease is
known to be particularly dangerous for elderly people, the
sector was not ready for it.
In the week ending 19 April, 651 of the 682 coronavirus
outbreaks reported across the whole of England were in care
homes, according to Public Health England. Care Quality
Commission data states 4,343 people had died in care
homes from the disease between 10 to 24 April. Yet at the
time of writing, care staff were still struggling to access PPE
and coronavirus testing.
Professor Peter Beresford, social policy professor at
Brunel University, who specialises in social care service
quality, tells Nursing in Practice: ‘Social care relies on the
goodwill of its staff. Given the poor working conditions most
face, the commitment they show is amazing. If there is not
a proper policy response to the sacrifi ce and dedication that
staff have been showing under Covid-19 conditions, more
may turn away.’
Community nursing suffers chronic staffi ng problems.
District nurse numbers dropped from 7,000 to just over 4,000
in England since 2020, though they are facing increased
workload with hospital patients discharged home early during
the outbreak. Likewise, there were 30% fewer school nurses
last year than in 2010, though school nurses are charged with
looking after vulnerable children unable to leave home during
the lockdown.
‘I think nurses will leave if we aren’t valued,’ explains
healthcare worker Anthony Johnson. ‘The public might be
behind us, but we need more than just clapping. We need
our mental health prioritised because of the things we’re
seeing on the front lines.’
He adds: ‘We need to have our work rewarded and
valued, both fi nancially but also through a better
settlement for the NHS. We also need to be protected
now as failing to do that is essentially asking us to be
sacrifi ced when we didn’t need to be.’
Sharon White, chief executive of the School and
Public Health Nurse Association, says redeployments
May/June 2020 nursinginpractice.com