After almost three months, today we have seen the end of the latest module of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. Focused on the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems across the UK, Module 3 has looked at the governmental and societal response to COVID - as well as dissecting the impact that the pandemic had on health care systems, patients and health care workers.
As a core participant in this module, the RCN has presented evidence and questioned witnesses over the last few months to ensure the experiences of nursing staff were front and center – I gave evidence to the Inquiry along with one of our members, and today RCN Counsel Fenella Morris KC made the RCN’s closing submissions.
Focusing her submissions on the RCN’s recommendations, Ms Morris highlighted the impact of staff shortages during the pandemic – and the need for a suitably resourced, educated and trained health care workforce that can respond to the next challenge. She also spoke about staffing levels needing to be based on workforce projections that reflect actual population need - with safety-critical nurse-to-patient ratios enshrined in law.
Ms Morris also raised about the missed opportunity by the UK government to work in partnership with the nursing profession during the pandemic, and that the UK government must classify COVID as an occupational disease.
Listening to Ms Morris speak today, I thought back to the evidence the RCN has shared throughout the module – and how desperately needed our recommendations are.
Module 3: The RCN’s evidence and the experience of nursing staff
Throughout the module, the RCN has highlighted how nursing staff reported working under extreme physical and mental pressures during the pandemic - being moved from place to place and working in unfamiliar environments, frequently with inadequate protection or risk assessments in place. Some nursing staff witnessed an unprecedented scale of death, continuing to provide care whilst experiencing conditions that have been described as similar to a terrorist attack. Many cared for and lost colleagues, or became ill themselves.
Throughout the module, we have also showed how pre-existing staff shortages in the health and care system - combined with a lack of effective planning and capacity to scale up staff provision at short notice - added to the pressures on the frontline of care. At the same time the UK Government displayed a disregard for including and considering the expertise of the nursing profession when making key decisions. This led to one-size-fits-all guidance which had a detrimental, sometimes fatal, impact on those on the frontline.
I gave evidence to the Inquiry in November, speaking about how the government’s failure to listen to the nursing profession led to inappropriate infection prevention and control guidance and an inadequate supply of PPE – something that ultimately put staff at risk.
The severe lack of engagement with the nursing profession was also particularly striking in the refusal to acknowledge emerging evidence of airborne transmission of COVID. During this module, we raised how the RCN was ignored for over a year by the UK government when we warned about airborne transmission - a failure that had a significant impact on the quality of air where our members worked, as well as infection prevention and control guidance.
The impact of long COVID
Despite evidence showing health care workers being six times more at risk of contracting COVID than the public, the lack of full and proper acknowledgement of the risk to health care workers whilst at work has left many members feeling ignored - particularly those who contracted long COVID.
Back in November, evidence from Patricia Temple - an RCN member working in the NHS during the pandemic – spoke about the lack of support for nursing staff who contracted long COVID. Patricia raised how many nursing staff have been forced to leave the workforce as a result and had been made to feel “disposable”.
A new RCN report into members’ experiences of long COVID, released today, further shows the devastating and life-changing impact this has had for many. 65% of respondents said their symptoms have a consistent and ongoing impact on their daily life while 7 out of 10 respondents have taken a financial hit due to the impact of long COVID, with some reporting a negative impact on their emotional and mental wellbeing.
The RCN is clear that it is time for the UK Government to classify COVID as an occupational disease and afford healthcare professionals better support through policies, guidance and occupational health provision.
What’s next for the Inquiry
What is clear from the evidence given during this latest phase of the Inquiry is the deep impact the pandemic had and continues to have on nursing staff and our allied professional colleagues.
As the largest part of the professional health and care workforce, it's critical that nursing is listened to. Throughout the module we have highlighted how the response to the pandemic would have been more effective had the government and associated agencies taken a more open and collaborative approach to working with us. Responding to major incidents of infectious disease requires close multi-professional collaboration and trust. The actions we took, and evidence we presented, showed how nurses use evidence and critical thinking as a caring and compassionate profession. We hold the trust of our public and multi-professional colleagues, and we must never be excluded again.
While this module is concluding, the Inquiry itself will continue with Module 4 - focused on vaccines, therapeutics and anti-viral treatment across the UK - beginning in January 2025. We’re also expecting the report from Module 2, which looked at core UK decision making and political governance, to be published in the coming weeks.
It goes without saying that the long-scale nature of this Inquiry, and the many modules and components that make it up, reflect the hugely complex event that happened when COVID hit the world in early 2020. The impact of the pandemic on the nursing workforce was far-reaching, and the voice of nursing must continue to be listened to as the COVID Inquiry continues.
As a core participant in this module, the RCN has presented evidence and questioned witnesses over the last few months to ensure the experiences of nursing staff were front and center – I gave evidence to the Inquiry along with one of our members, and today RCN Counsel Fenella Morris KC made the RCN’s closing submissions.
Focusing her submissions on the RCN’s recommendations, Ms Morris highlighted the impact of staff shortages during the pandemic – and the need for a suitably resourced, educated and trained health care workforce that can respond to the next challenge. She also spoke about staffing levels needing to be based on workforce projections that reflect actual population need - with safety-critical nurse-to-patient ratios enshrined in law.
Ms Morris also raised about the missed opportunity by the UK government to work in partnership with the nursing profession during the pandemic, and that the UK government must classify COVID as an occupational disease.
Listening to Ms Morris speak today, I thought back to the evidence the RCN has shared throughout the module – and how desperately needed our recommendations are.
Module 3: The RCN’s evidence and the experience of nursing staff
Throughout the module, the RCN has highlighted how nursing staff reported working under extreme physical and mental pressures during the pandemic - being moved from place to place and working in unfamiliar environments, frequently with inadequate protection or risk assessments in place. Some nursing staff witnessed an unprecedented scale of death, continuing to provide care whilst experiencing conditions that have been described as similar to a terrorist attack. Many cared for and lost colleagues, or became ill themselves.
Throughout the module, we have also showed how pre-existing staff shortages in the health and care system - combined with a lack of effective planning and capacity to scale up staff provision at short notice - added to the pressures on the frontline of care. At the same time the UK Government displayed a disregard for including and considering the expertise of the nursing profession when making key decisions. This led to one-size-fits-all guidance which had a detrimental, sometimes fatal, impact on those on the frontline.
I gave evidence to the Inquiry in November, speaking about how the government’s failure to listen to the nursing profession led to inappropriate infection prevention and control guidance and an inadequate supply of PPE – something that ultimately put staff at risk.
The severe lack of engagement with the nursing profession was also particularly striking in the refusal to acknowledge emerging evidence of airborne transmission of COVID. During this module, we raised how the RCN was ignored for over a year by the UK government when we warned about airborne transmission - a failure that had a significant impact on the quality of air where our members worked, as well as infection prevention and control guidance.
The impact of long COVID
Despite evidence showing health care workers being six times more at risk of contracting COVID than the public, the lack of full and proper acknowledgement of the risk to health care workers whilst at work has left many members feeling ignored - particularly those who contracted long COVID.
Back in November, evidence from Patricia Temple - an RCN member working in the NHS during the pandemic – spoke about the lack of support for nursing staff who contracted long COVID. Patricia raised how many nursing staff have been forced to leave the workforce as a result and had been made to feel “disposable”.
A new RCN report into members’ experiences of long COVID, released today, further shows the devastating and life-changing impact this has had for many. 65% of respondents said their symptoms have a consistent and ongoing impact on their daily life while 7 out of 10 respondents have taken a financial hit due to the impact of long COVID, with some reporting a negative impact on their emotional and mental wellbeing.
The RCN is clear that it is time for the UK Government to classify COVID as an occupational disease and afford healthcare professionals better support through policies, guidance and occupational health provision.
What’s next for the Inquiry
What is clear from the evidence given during this latest phase of the Inquiry is the deep impact the pandemic had and continues to have on nursing staff and our allied professional colleagues.
As the largest part of the professional health and care workforce, it's critical that nursing is listened to. Throughout the module we have highlighted how the response to the pandemic would have been more effective had the government and associated agencies taken a more open and collaborative approach to working with us. Responding to major incidents of infectious disease requires close multi-professional collaboration and trust. The actions we took, and evidence we presented, showed how nurses use evidence and critical thinking as a caring and compassionate profession. We hold the trust of our public and multi-professional colleagues, and we must never be excluded again.
While this module is concluding, the Inquiry itself will continue with Module 4 - focused on vaccines, therapeutics and anti-viral treatment across the UK - beginning in January 2025. We’re also expecting the report from Module 2, which looked at core UK decision making and political governance, to be published in the coming weeks.
It goes without saying that the long-scale nature of this Inquiry, and the many modules and components that make it up, reflect the hugely complex event that happened when COVID hit the world in early 2020. The impact of the pandemic on the nursing workforce was far-reaching, and the voice of nursing must continue to be listened to as the COVID Inquiry continues.
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