Nurses bore the brunt of Covid, ex-chief nurse says

Nurses bore the brunt of the pandemic, with low staffing levels and difficulties accessing protective equipment, according to England’s former chief nurse.

Dame Ruth May told the Covid inquiry the NHS had been understaffed in 2020, in part because of the “catastrophic decision” to cut financial support for student nurses in 2015.

Resources had been "stretched", particularly in intensive care, she said, with a knock-on effect on the care some Covid patients received.

And she had been aware of widespread reports of problems supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) in March 2020, including a shortage of plastic gowns that had left front-line nurses living "in fear".

And she criticised a “catastrophic decision”, in 2015, to replace the grant or bursary paid to student midwives and nurses with loans.

It had led to reduction of about 5,700 trainees in England by 2020, Dame Ruth said, which “would have made a difference” in the pandemic.

“There would have been less burnout - there would have been less psychological impact,” she said.

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Source: BBC News, 17 September 2024