Written evidence submitted by Dr Clifford Eugene Bamidele Lisk (WBR0006)

My name is Clifford Eugene Bamidele Lisk and I am a Consultant Physician in Acute Medicine and Geriatric Medicine at Barnet Hospital, Royal Free hospital NHS Foundation Trust. My main interests are Medical Education, Community Older age Medicine and appropriate Medicines management in older adults. I am currently the Lead Training Programme Director for Internal Medical Training in North-central London, host Examiner for MRCP PACES examinations at Barnet Hospital and a final MBBS examiner with UCL medical school. I am also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at UCL medical school and a visiting lecturer to the University of Hertfordshire. During the COVID19 pandemic, I led a survey looking at Healthcare workers (hospital doctors in training, nurses and Healthcare assistances and allied health care professional) anxieties, concerns, perceived sufficiency of information about COVID19 and reported psychological health at the Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation trust. This clearly shows several concerns of healthcare workers and significant concerns about their psychological health including burnout. The abstract overleaf details the main findings of the study and recommendations in the conclusion.

Healthcare Workers experience of the COVID19 pandemic: perspectives from the frontline about their anxieties, worries and reported psychological health.

Introduction

The COVID19 pandemic has seen a death toll of 775,000 deaths globally. This raises concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of Healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID19. We aimed to assess Healthcare workers concerns, perceived sufficiency of information and reported psychological health during COVID19. 

Method

Between 1st and 31st May 2020; 417 Healthcare workers at the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust completed an online questionnaire regarding concerns, perceived sufficiency of information and reported psychological health during the COVID19 pandemic.

Results 

There was a preponderance of females 313 with 204 respondents being hospital doctors in training, 130 being nurses and health care assistants and 83 being Allied health professionals. Most Healthcare workers had looked after COVID19 patients; Hospital doctors in training 92% (187/204), nurses and healthcare assistants 80% (104/130) and Allied healthcare professionals 77% (64/83). 46% (94/204) of hospitals doctors in training, 24% (31/130) of nurses and healthcare assistants and 17% (14/83) of allied health had been redeployed to care for patients with COVID during the pandemic. Perceived sufficiency of information about COVID19 was moderately high across all the staff groups.

The most frequent concerns for nurses and health care assistants was the risk of being infected with COVID19 at work and transmitting it to family and friends 61%(69/114), the risk of family and friends dying from COVID19 53%(60/114) and isolation from family and or the social environment 38%(43/114). Similarly the most frequent concerns for allied healthcare professionals was the risk of being infected with COVID19 at work and transmitting it to family and or friends 69%(51/74), the risk of family and relatives dying from COVID19 64%(47/74) and isolation from family and or the social environment 49% (36/74).

The most frequent concerns for hospital doctors in training were risk of family and relatives dying from COVID19 75% (126/169), the risk for family and

friends to be infected with COVID19 72% (121/169) and the risk of being infected with COVID19 at work and transmitting it to family and or friends 63% (107/169).

Healthcare workers were less worried about themselves dying from COVID19; Hospital doctors in training 22% (38/169), nurses and healthcare professional 35% (40/114) and allied Healthcare Professionals 24% (18/74).

7% (8) of nurses and healthcare assistants, 12% (9) of allied healthcare professionals and 7% (11) of hospital doctors in training were so concerned about COVID19 that’s they would consider not going to work.

61% (67/110) of nurses and Healthcare assistants, 53% (40/75) of allied health care professionals and 42% (67/160) of hospital doctors in training considered that they are currently suffering from any of depression, anxiety, burnout, emotional distress or any other mental condition relating to or made worse by their work during the COVID19 pandemic.

The most frequent reported psychological health concerns amongst the 3 staff groups were anxiety in 72% (58/80) of nurses and healthcare assistants, 63%(33/52) of allied health professionals and 57%(60/106) hospital doctors in training; emotional distress in 66%(53/80) of nurses and healthcare assistants, 63%(33/52) of allied healthcare professionals and 51%(54/106) of hospitals doctors in training; burnout in 46%(37/80) of nurses and healthcare assistants, 37%(19/52) of allied healthcare professionals and 38%(40/106) of hospital doctors in training; and depression in 25%(20/80) of nurses and healthcare assistants, 21%(11) of allied healthcare professionals and 27%(29) of hospital doctors in training.

75% (83/110) of nurses and healthcare assistants, 67% (50/75) of allied healthcare professionals and 57% (91/160) of hospital doctors felt anxious about work colleagues falling ill. 98% (108/110) of nurses, 100% (75/75) of allied healthcare professionals and 96% (153/160) of hospital doctors in training thought it was important during the COVID pandemic to have a service that provides psychological support. 79% (87/110) of nurses, 77% (58/75) of allied healthcare professionals and 62% (103/160) of hospital doctors in training would consider the use of psychological support at work.

Conclusions 

Healthcare workers experienced high levels of anxiety about the pandemic with their degree of worry mainly pertaining to the health of their family and friends. It is therefore important for hospital leaders to focus on wellbeing programmes for employees, their families and friends to ensure that they can function at a high level in the workplace in times of extreme distress during pandemics. The National health service should also focus on providing psychological services within and outside work to support staff during and after the pandemic. 

Sept 2020