Coronavirus UK: Medics will need PTSD treatment after pandemic

Health care professionals working on the frontline of the UK’s coronavirus pandemic may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the crisis as many are faced with an ongoing strain on their mental health.

So far in the UK there have been over 51,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 5,373 deaths, with doctors and nurses constantly caring for and treating patients with the illness.

Health leaders have now warned that NHS staff have ‘never been exposed to this kind of demand’ and have claimed it could put a further strain on their mental and physical well-being.

The head of intensive care at London’s Royal Free Hospital, Dr Alison Pittard, today said many healthcare units have shifted from one nurse per patient to six.

Speaking to The Independent the dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine said the hospital is also running out of key machines and equipment.

‘We are used to dealing with emergencies, but we have never been exposed to this sort of demand. We know staff are already struggling physically and mentally and that this will only continue.

‘The government’s approach to flatten the peak will help to spread it out but what that means for staff is that we are in this for the long haul. We will get through this because that is what we do. But there will be some patients and staff who will suffer forms of PTSD and some staff with mild symptoms may not be aware and continue.’

Up to April 3, almost 2,250 patients in the UK have been admitted to intensive care units. 

The NHS is expecting a peak of cases in the next seven to ten days despite deaths having dropped by a third today.

Dr Pittard also said that critical care units had been forced to adapt in order to cope with the virus.

She said it was an ‘unprecedented situation’ and that the boundaries of critical care were being pushed.

She also said ‘safety would be compromised’ but added that the NHS ‘has to do the best it can’.

More and more NHS continue to be struck down by the virus and it was today revealed that a 42-year-old nurse was struck down with coronavirus and forced into self-isolation one week after returning to the NHS frontline from private sector to fight the disease.

Victoria Hume, 42, was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Saturday morning after having a swab test the day before.

She had only returned to the A&E department of Maidstone Hospital, Kent, the previous Saturday and had been assessing potential in-patients at the door.

The mother-of-two left the health service 18 months ago to focus on her private clinic Maidstone Aesthetics which she set up more than 10 years ago.

This is while other workers continued to feel the strain across the country.

An exhausted ICU nurse from Manchester was told his grandfather died from coronavirus just moments after finishing his shift in an intensive care unit.

Adam, aged 24, took a picture of himself during his night shift showing him covered in sweat and with sores from his mask.

The medic, who describes himself as a ‘make-shift ICU nurse’, was then told minutes later that his own Grandad had died from coronavirus.