Nurses Bore The Brunt Of Covid, Ex-chief Nurse Says

Nurses bore nan brunt of nan pandemic, pinch debased staffing levels and difficulties accessing protective equipment, according to England’s erstwhile main nurse.

Dame Ruth May told nan Covid enquiry nan NHS had been understaffed successful 2020, successful portion because of nan “catastrophic decision” to trim financial support for student nurses successful 2015.

Resources had been "stretched", peculiarly successful intensive care, she said, pinch a knock-on effect connected nan attraction immoderate Covid patients received.

And she had been alert of wide reports of problems supplying individual protective instrumentality (PPE) successful March 2020, including a shortage of integrative gowns that had near front-line nurses surviving "in fear".

Dame Ruth, England’s main caregiver from 2019 until July 2024, was 1 of nan elder figures who appeared astatine Downing Street news conferences during nan pandemic.

She had besides volunteered for nursing shifts during Covid, astatine times moving "under nan radar" successful infirmary wards, nan enquiry heard.

“We were facing immoderate extraordinarily difficult decisions successful nan very early portion of pandemic,” she said.

“It was a fast-moving situation - we were seeing [a large] number of cases coming successful and deaths for illustration we had ne'er seen before.”

The NHS had entered nan pandemic pinch astir 40,000 nursing and midwifery vacancies successful England, Dame Ruth said.

And she criticised a “catastrophic decision”, successful 2015, to switch nan assistance aliases bursary paid to student midwives and nurses pinch loans.

It had led to simplification of astir 5,700 trainees successful England by 2020, Dame Ruth said, which “would person made a difference” successful nan pandemic.

“There would person been little burnout - location would person been little psychological impact,” she said.

Intensive-care units came nether specified unit during Covid master critical-care nurses were responsible for up to six patients each alternatively of nan accustomed one-to-one ratio.

And Dame Ruth accepted that had affected nan attraction patients received, saying: “It was not wherever we wanted to go... and I cognize location person been consequences because of it.”

Blanket do-not-resuscitate orders had appeared to person been added to immoderate patients’ records based connected either their property aliases a pre-existing information specified arsenic autism aliases a learning disability, she told nan inquiry, which had been “completely wrong”.

Dame Ruth besides suggested it had been a correction for immoderate hospitals to forestall pregnant women from being accompanied by their partners during scans aliases nan early portion of labour.

The faster rollout of Covid tests would person allowed visitors to travel backmost into infirmary earlier and been safer for unit and patients, she said.

Dame Ruth besides said astir nan “pretty horrible” online maltreatment she had faced astatine nan time.

“The 1 point I learned astir nan full of this [period], is nan value of integrity - and sometimes that comes astatine a cost,” she said.

“That intends connected societal media successful peculiar you are vilified - [but] I wasn’t nan only one.”

The Covid enquiry is presently taking grounds astir nan effect connected nan NHS and healthcare systems crossed each 4 nations of nan UK.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to look successful this 3rd conception aliases "module", which runs until nan extremity of November.