NEWS
UK to donate millions of COVID-19 vaccines overseas
Study highlights impact of pandemic on ICU staff
A high proportion of staff working in intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic have experienced mental health conditions, according to a new study. In a study of 515 healthcare staff working in intensive care units (ICUs) across seven countries, the researchers found that on average 48% of participants showed signs of mental health conditions – depression, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their mental health was assessed using a detailed questionnaire and a clinical scoring system.
The team also found a 40% increase in the conditions for those who spent more than six hours in personal protective equipment (PPE) over a course of a day, compared to those who didn’t. The study, led by researchers at Imperial College London, is published in the British Journal of Nursing1
and is the first to evaluate ICU
workers’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with the UK Government’s report2
on burnout in NHS staff published in June 2021, the researchers suggest that the high level of mental health conditions found among the ICU staff surveyed should inform local and national wellbeing policies. Dr. Ahmed Ezzat, lead author of the study and Honorary Clinical Fellow at Imperial College London, said: “This is a timely study which acts as a stark reminder of the personal challenges healthcare staff are facing as a result of COVID-19. As within wider society, mental illness of healthcare staff still remains a taboo subject for some. “Recent public campaigns have started the conversation, but we have a long way to go. COVID-19 has acutely exacerbated the issue, and our concern is how staff resilience has been exhausted and what national medium or long-term resources are set in place by policy makers to safeguard this workforce from severe mental illness. “We have an opportunity to hold a national dialogue of healthcare leaders,
stakeholders and governments around the world to address mental health within healthcare.” Dr. Matthieu Komorowski, senior author of the study and clinical senior lecturer in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the physical and mental health of healthcare workers around the world. The large number of patients admitted to hospital at the height of the pandemic has put considerable demand and pressure on ICUs and staff. Although there has been much reporting on the mental health of frontline workers there has been little done to assess the impact of the pandemic on those who were treating the sickest patients in ICU. “This study shows the impact of working in ICU on staff’s mental health. We saw high levels of depression, insomnia and PTSD. Factors such as individual isolation, loss of social support during lockdown, combined with a change in work pattern may have exacerbated these conditions. “Work related stress is well documented in healthcare workers and this has been worsened by the COVID-19 crisis. The results of this study suggest that all ICU staff should have access to early and effective mental health assistance as part of a wider staff health and wellbeing strategy. This is especially pressing as hospitals and governments prepare their workforce for potential further surges of COVID-19 patients.”
References 1 Ezzat, A., Li, Y, Holt, J., Komorowski, M., The global mental health burden of COVID-19 on critical care staff, British Journal of Nursing, Vol. 30, No. 11 Published Online: 10 Jun 2021 https://doi. org/10.12968/bjon.2021.30.11.634
2 Health and Social Care Committee, Workforce burnout and resilience in the NHS and social care, 8 June 2021. Accessed at:
https://publications.parliament. uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmhealth/22/
2202.htm
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WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM
The UK will begin delivering 9 million COVID-19 vaccines around the world, including to Indonesia, Jamaica and Kenya, to help tackle the pandemic, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has announced. Five million doses are being offered to COVAX, the scheme to ensure equitable, global access to COVID-19 vaccines. COVAX will urgently distribute them to lower- income countries via an equitable allocation system which prioritises delivering vaccines to people who most need them. Another 4 million doses will be shared directly with countries in need.
Indonesia will receive 600,000 doses, 300,000 will be sent to Jamaica and 817,000 are to be transported to Kenya, among other countries. The UK is donating the University of Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccine, made by Oxford Biomedica in Oxford and packaged in Wrexham, North
Wales.This is the first tranche of the 100 million vaccines the Prime Minister pledged the UK would share within the next year at last month’s G7 in Cornwall, with 30 million due to be sent by the end of the year.
Focus on clinical
engineering NPAG’s Clinical Engineering Conference is taking place on 14 September 2021. This year’s event will welcome guest speaker Angela Douglas MBE, deputy chief scientific officer from NHS England and Improvement. Angela will be speaking on ‘The NHS Scientific Service Provision’ and will discuss some of the connections the Clinical Engineers, across all four UK Nations, have made over the past year, as part of the Clinical Engineers network. Her presentation will include the impact this has had on the pandemic and the legacy of lessons learnt and how we must include these lessons in the way we train a workforce fit for the future. She will discuss the new contacts that have been made through the Network raising the profile of Clinical Engineers, and how this has supported the profession through some difficult times. For further information and to register visit:
www.npag.
org.uk
SEPTEMBER 2021
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