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Showing results for tags 'Staff safety'.
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Coronavirus: 70% of BAME pharmacists have had no risk assessment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than two-thirds of black, Asian and minority ethnic pharmacists have not had workplace risk assessments for coronavirus, a survey suggests. Of the 380 hospital and community-based pharmacists surveyed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the UK Black Pharmacists Association, 236 were from a BAME background. Of those, 166 (70%) said they had not been approached by their employer to have a risk assessment. The RPS called the results "shocking". It has called on employers to take urgent action to ensure ethnic minority pharmacists are risk assessed. Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 June 2020 -
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Coronavirus: Nurses' leaders urge 'care for those who caring'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nurses' leaders want all healthcare employers - including the NHS - to "care for those who have been caring" during the coronavirus crisis. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is calling for better risk assessments; working patterns and mental health care for those on the front line. It warns many may be suffering from exhaustion, anxiety and other psychological problems. The Department of Health and Social Care said support was a "top priority". The RCN has released an eight-point plan of commitments it wants to see enforced to mark the 100 days since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic. Amongst its suggestions are a better COVID-19 testing regime for healthcare workers and more attention paid to the risks posed to ethnic minority nurses. It says employers and ministers "must tackle the underlying causes which have contributed to worse outcomes for Bame staff". Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 June 2020 -
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Covid-19 and health at work (29 April 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
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News ArticleAn independent investigation into working conditions at a unit of the NHS’s blood and organ transplant service has concluded that it is “systemically racist” and “psychologically unsafe.” The internal investigation was commissioned in response to numerous complaints from ethnic minority staff working in a unit of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in Colindale, north London. The report, carried out by the workplace relations company Globis Mediation Group, concluded that the environment was “toxic” and “dysfunctional.” The report found evidence that ethnic minority employees had faced discrimination when applying for jobs and that white candidates had been selected for posts ahead of black applicants who were better qualified. “Recruitment is haphazard, based on race and class and whether a person’s ‘face fits,’” it said. “Being ignored, being viewed as ineligible for promotion and enduring low levels of empathy all seem to be normal,” the report noted. “These behaviours have created an environment which is now psychologically unsafe and systemically racist.” Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, commented, “This report highlights all too painfully the racial prejudices and discrimination we are seeing across healthcare. We must renew efforts to challenge these behaviours and bring an end to the enduring injustices faced by black people and BAME healthcare workers here in the UK.” Read story Source: BMJ, 10 June 2020
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Three in four GP partners fear for staff safety as practice workload floods back
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost three quarters of GP partners are concerned about how to keep colleagues safe as numbers of patients attending practices return to pre-pandemic levels - with access to PPE a major worry, a GPonline poll has found. Half of the 185 GP partners responding to the poll said that they were either 'very worried' or 'slightly worried' about the government's ability to supply the PPE that GPs and practice staff needed to keep them as safe as possible through the rest of the pandemic. Only 9% said they were 'very confident' that the government would be able to supply adequate PPE, with a further 20% saying they were 'slightly confident'. Some 73% of GP partners said that they were concerned about how to ensure the safety of practice staff as the number of patients attending the surgery begins to rise. BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said keeping staff safe was 'a challenge for everyone in the NHS'. He told GPonline: 'Even months now into this crisis the government still hasn’t sorted out PPE in a way that means people have absolute confidence that they will have enough to meet their needs, and the growing needs of practices as they will need to be seeing more patients face-to-face for important procedures that can’t be done remotely. Read full story Source: GPonline, 8 June 2020 -
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News ArticleAmid warnings that BAME nursing staff may be disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) survey reveals that they are more likely to struggle to secure adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) while at work. The latest RCN member-wide survey shows that for nursing staff working in high-risk environments (including intensive and critical care units), only 43% of respondents from a BAME background said they had enough eye and face protection equipment. This is in stark contrast to 66% of white British nursing staff. There were also disparities in access to fluid-repellent gowns and in cases of nursing staff being asked to re-use single-use PPE items. The survey found similar gaps for those working in non-high-risk environments. Meanwhile, staff reported differences in PPE training, with 40% of BAME respondents saying they had not had training compared with just 31% of white British respondents. Nearly a quarter of BAME nursing staff said they had no confidence that their employer is doing enough to protect them from COVID-19, compared with only 11% of white British respondents. Dame Donna Kinnair, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, said: “It is simply unacceptable that we are in a situation where BAME nursing staff are less protected than other nursing staff. Read full story Source: Royal College of Nursing, 27 May 2020
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Content ArticleKey findings Over a third of respondents felt pressure to care for individuals with possible or confirmed COVID-19 without adequate protection. This is significantly worse for BAME nursing staff where over half (56%) felt pressure to work without the correct PPE. One in five respondents in non-high-risk areas are concerned about the supply of eye/face protection, with a further 12% concerned there are not currently enough for them to use. The situation is worse for BAME respondents where one in four said there was not enough eye/face protection or enough fluid-repellent surgical masks for them to use during their shift Twice as many BAME respondents said there were not enough surgical masks, disposable plastic aprons and disposable gloves than white British respondents. A third of respondents have not received training on what standard PPE to wear and when they should wear it. Training is more prevalent in hospital settings, than care home and community settings. Those working in a care homes were most likely to report that they felt pressured to care for individuals with possible or confirmed COVID-19 without adequate protection (41%) than those working in a hospital (38%) or the community (24%).
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Choices for the “New Normal” (4 May 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
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News ArticlePharmacy leaders in the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities have expressed concern that assessments of BAME staff’s susceptibility to COVID-19 are not widespread enough in community pharmacy. NHS England wrote to community pharmacies on 29 April 2020 advising employers to “risk assess staff at potentially greater risk” of COVID-19 after “emerging UK and international data” suggested people from BAME backgrounds are “being disproportionately affected”. The Faculty of Occupational Medicine later published a risk reduction framework — backed by NHS England — to assist with the risk assessments on 14 May 2020. This was updated on 28 May 2020 to include guidance from the Health and Safety Executive to “help organisations identify who is at risk of harm”. But speaking to The Pharmaceutical Journal, Elsy Gomez Campos, president of the UK Black Pharmacists’ Association (UKBPA), said she had been told by a small number of community pharmacists that “nothing has been done” in terms of risk assessing BAME staff. “I know of a few people who have been assessed and that is mainly in hospital,” she said. “In terms of community pharmacists — who I’ve had contact with so far — they haven’t even been asked to have the risk assessment done.” However, she stressed that not many from the community pharmacy sector have come forward, but “the people who have come forward have said no, it has not been done”. “People are quite scared to ask as well because it can have repercussions on their employment or their relationships [at work],” she added. Read full story Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 29 May 2020
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Dirty Dozen and COVID-19 (webinar, May 2020)
Claire Cox posted an article in Coronavirus (COVID-19)
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