Responding to the evidence given at the inquiry today which described the extreme trauma experienced by nursing staff throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“Today’s evidence profoundly captures the relentless devastation nursing staff faced during the pandemic. Despite trying to give patients the best care, they faced an almost unimaginable scale of death in a health and care system which was completely overwhelmed.
“A lack of preparedness exposed nursing staff to a dangerous disease and severe trauma, forcing them to risk their own health trying to hold together services racked by widespread staff shortages. In intensive care, single nurses were left caring for as many as 6 intubated patients. It is a shocking indictment of the way nursing was left to fend for itself and a reminder of why we desperately need safe nurse-patient ratios.
“In the years prior, the RCN warned that the UK was not prepared and that nursing workforce shortages were a serious threat to a pandemic response. These warnings were not heard, undermining the health and care system’s ability to increase capacity when hospitals were becoming overwhelmed with patients.
“Nursing staff were left to work in a health service that wasn’t resourced or staffed to deal with the crisis. The voices of nursing professionals are finally being heard at the Covid-19 Inquiry, but this must also result in action. Never again can we fail to properly resource and protect our vital profession.”
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