81% of doctors in the area did not feel fully protected during the first wave of the pandemic

In a major review into the UK Government’s handling of the pandemic and its impact on the NHS, the health of the population, and doctors, the British Medical Association (BMA) have said the UK Government ‘failed in its duty of care.

The reports, part of a series of five, have been collated from thousands of doctors across the UK and in the South Central region, including those who were on the frontline during COVID-19. 

BMA South Central regional council chair, Dr Ian McNab said: 

“Given the enormous efforts that doctors and health care workers in the South Central region of England have gone to throughout the pandemic and the enormous toll it has taken, the findings of these reports are hugely significant.  

“In gathering this information, the BMA has committed to ensuring there is vital evidence of perhaps one of the most traumatic chapters in NHS history, with a view to ensuring that the Government does not make the same grave mistakes again.  

“We know that doctors in South Central were working tirelessly, in very challenging circumstances, at times without the appropriate PPE.

“Yet despite the best efforts of staff, as these reports show, this Government failed doctors and healthcare workers in South Central as it did across England.

“As a result of COVID-19, many doctors in this region have or continue to suffer with anxiety, burnout and ongoing stress as they worked through unbelievably harrowing times.

“Now, after two and a half years since the start of the pandemic, NHS staff in South Central are still working flat out, caring for patients with Covid and now also for the millions of patients on NHS waiting lists.

 “The BMA is determined that the voices of doctors in the region and across the country are heard and will be presenting these findings as evidence in the public covid inquiry so that doctors and healthcare staff do not have to endure the same failings again.” 

Some of the headline findings of the report include: 

• 81% of doctors did not feel fully protected during the first wave of the pandemic1 
• Some doctors felt that their own protection (PPE) was not taken seriously or adequately considered: 
• 11% of doctors who had developed long COVID-19 had at some point been unable to work full-time or at all, and 51%, while still able to work, nevertheless saw a reduction in their quality of life.1 
• 95% of doctors and dentists who died from coronavirus in April 2020 were from ethnic minority backgrounds, even though this group makes up 44% of NHS medical staff.2 
• Doctors with a disability felt less protected than other respondents (41% of those with a disability of long-term condition felt ‘not at all’ protected during the first wave, compared to 36% of those without a disability/long-term condition).1 
• Between February 2021 and January 2022, the BMA’s counselling service saw a 173% increase in calls compared to the period between February 2019 and January 2020, rising from an average of 200 a month to up to 800 a month at the peak of the pandemic.3 

As a result of the findings, the key recommendations for governments from the reports include: 

1. UK and devolved governments should continue to carry out pandemic preparedness exercises for the most likely types of infections and must act on the lessons learned from these exercises and the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying key themes such as PPE stockpiling, testing, and public health capacity.   

1. Public health systems should be resourced and funded to have adequate contact tracing capacity and be able to rapidly scale up testing for future variants or pandemics.  

1. The UK Government needs to maintain an adequate rotating stockpile of suitable PPE and have plans to quickly scale up procurement and manufacturing if required.  

1. General wellbeing support including timely and accessible occupational health assessments and support to access psychological support services must be made available for staff at all levels across all health services, with specific support also offered to ensure staff can recover from the pressure of delivering care during a pandemic. 

1. The need for a continuous and transparent assessment of workforce shortages and future staffing requirement to ensure health services and public health systems are better prepared to deal with crises.  

1. Improve capital investment, modernise physical infrastructure and improve ventilation of the NHS estate. 

1. To mitigate inequity in the future, mechanisms must be introduced to make the experience of working in the NHS less variable by background or protected characteristic. 

(Credit: BMA)

BMA call for evidence - responses collected 8th November – 17th December 2021 (6 weeks) with 2484 responses