“I’ve never seen so much stress-related staff sickness. A lot of people sit in the bathroom and cry because they’re so stressed. That’s the only place they can go.”
Those are the words of Southmead Hospital worker Kate*, who says she and her colleagues are exhausted and desperately struggling to cope in the pandemic.
In an interview with Bristol Live, the healthcare assistant painted a harrowing picture of life on the coronavirus frontline.
Back in April last year, Kate told how she and hundreds of other zero-hour contract staff at Southmead were battling to even get one shift a week, as scheduled surgeries were suspended and some wards closed.
This feels like a distant memory to her now. There were 81 Covid patients in Southmead Hospital as of Government data from January 5, but she says this has since risen to 153.
- she and some Southmead Hospital colleagues are using pain medication to get through gruelling shifts
- Southmead staff shortages have led to some workers being overwhelmed by the workload
- exhaustion has caused a staff exodus, in a vicious cycle which has left the remaining workers even more stretched
- many of the Covid patients are in their 20s or 30s, and suffering badly from the virus.
The healthcare assistant questioned why North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) is not using agency workers to fill the gaps in staffing.
Recently Kate has often been the only healthcare assistant in a Covid ward with around 20 patients, she says.
“I’ve got to answer all the patients’ bells, do all the washes, move patients, help the nurses,” she said. “In normal times you would have eight healthcare assistants on a ward.
“I’ve worked in mental health wards before, where there is a rule you need to have eight staff on a ward. I think it should be the same in a Covid ward.
“The bells are going non-stop. You could work non-stop and never ever get through all the stuff you need to.
“I do 12-hour days. Your body hurts afterwards. You don’t sit down all day and you’re moving a lot of people, rolling them over to avoid pressure injuries.
“Most healthcare assistants have bad backs because you’re running round like a lunatic. I know people using pain medication to get through shifts. I do myself, because of my back.”
The staff shortage has worsened the physical toll on healthcare assistants, Kate says.
“If you haven’t got anyone with you to help move a patient, you’ll try and do it on your own. Even if it’s a job for two, you have to do your best on your own.
“At one point in November, when the second wave hit Bristol, I was crying and thinking I couldn’t carry on like this. I was burnt out.
“I’ve seen a lot of people leave. I know three or four healthcare assistants who have left recently. I know at least 10 who are on sick leave.
“It’s the stress. A lot of people are gone for weeks or can only work part-shifts because of it.”
The healthcare assistant works in general coronavirus wards rather than in intensive care, meaning she rarely sees the most serious cases.
“The nurses in intensive care look absolutely exhausted,” she said. “It must be really difficult for them.
“I can see marks on their faces from FFP3 [higher protection] masks – pressure injuries on their nose and face.”
Almost half of intensive care workers have turned to alcohol or had suicidal thoughts during the pandemic, according to a new survey by the Occupational Medicine journal.
Kate added the Covid patients on her ward are not on ventilators, but they are on Airvo machines to help them breathe.
“If we take them off, their oxygen levels drop a lot. Some patients can’t eat anything because they can’t take their mask off even for a minute.
“If they do, the oxygen will drop too low to be at a safe level. For some, you will literally have to put a spoon under their mask, so there’s continuous air pressure.
“There are quite a few young patients in the Covid wards who look very, very tired. It’s not just something which affects older people.
“The young ones don’t seem to want to eat anything. A lot are in their 20s and 30s. They’re mobile, but they look exhausted.”
Relatives of patients are not allowed to visit unless they are a carer or the patient is under palliative care. It is a necessary measure given the risk of transmission, but Kate say it has caused some issues.
“The relatives are calling all the time and there isn’t anyone here to talk to them.
“It is the patient’s responsibility to call home if they can, but the phones are ringing off the hook all the time.
“You can’t get your job done if you answer them all, but I find it difficult to leave a phone ringing. Some of the people calling in are panicking.”
“They’ve put out an incentive for bank staff to work in intensive care for 25 per cent more pay, but I’ve never worked there. It’s a very intense place.
“We’re so stretched and there so many shifts available, but the hospital isn’t getting any agency healthcare assistants to help at all. I’ve never seen any agency ones here.
“One good thing is when people are struggling, the hospital offers phone calls and counselling.
"But the problem is the workload which is causing the stress in the first place. The hospital should be employing agency healthcare assistants to take the pressure off people.”
At the worst moments, Kate has turned to fantasising about what it would be like to go on furlough.
She said: “Loads of people in the hospital say, ‘God I’d love to be furloughed.’
“I think about how I would be jogging every day, getting really fit, making my flat look amazing, cooking nice food.
“There’s no enjoyment left at work. But I do think the teams are strong. We have to be. We are lucky we can still have that social element at work, where we talk to each other.”
Kate says the pandemic has left her and some of her colleagues behind in their progression.
“All training has been cancelled since March,” she said. “I’ve been trying get onto training for certain things like physical observations.
“Because training is cancelled, I can’t do it in the wards and it puts more pressure on nurses. I’m told training is meant to be starting again next month.”
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As a bank healthcare assistant, she takes home between £400 and £500 a week, but says some permanent workers are earning much less.
“A lot of people are being kept on an apprenticeship salary because Covid is stopping them from getting the experience to move up a band,” she said.
“The apprenticeship for a healthcare assistant is about £14,000 a year. It’s an awful rate of pay. You could be in the same band for three years due to training being cancelled.
“A lot of people are leaving permanent roles to go on bank, where you get more money but don’t have the job security.
“I know one colleague who just went on bank after being on an apprenticeship for roughly a year. She told me, ‘I’m sick of this, I can’t move forward.’”
NBT says it offers a “huge range” of staff wellbeing services including one-to-one counselling, psychological support and physiotherapy.
The trust’s director of nursing and quality, Helen Blanchard, said: “Like hospitals across the country we are under intense pressure at the moment, putting all our efforts into caring for patients with Covid-19 and other critical conditions.
“We are so grateful to our staff who we can see are working very hard in challenging circumstances, and we’re doing everything we can to actively support them with ongoing fatigue, stress and uncertainty.
“Everyone can do their bit by following hands, face, space and staying at home so that we can bring down the number of cases of the virus, save lives and protect the NHS.”