Women bear brunt of ‘gargantuan challenges’ for health and care services during pandemic

Women are bearing the overwhelming brunt of the “gargantuan challenges” health and care services are grappling with during the Covid pandemic, health leaders have said.

A new study by the NHS Confederation’s Health and Care Women Leaders Network found female health and care workers’s physical and mental health substantially deteriorated due to working during the coronavirus crisis.

The survey, which polled more than 1,200 NHS staff in February and March this year after the virus peaked, found issues with mental and physical health had notably worsened since last summer.

Researchers found more than 80% of women said the pandemic meant their job had greater detrimental repercussions on their emotional wellbeing. This is a significant rise from 72% of female workers who said the same during equivalent research carried out in June.

The report, which polled nurses, doctors, administrative staff, allied health professionals and managers, warned there are “still many mountains to climb” as services strive to cope with the chaos unleashed by the Covid crisis, as well as dealing with the long-term consequences of the pandemic.

The study said: ”This includes tackling the growing issue of long Covid, meeting increased demand for mental health services, continuing to deliver the largest vaccination programme the UK has ever seen, and addressing a backlog of treatment that could extend to nearly seven million people by the end of 2021."

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Source: The Independent, 5 May 2021