Covid: Nurse 'could have walked away' over stress of pandemic

A nurse has said she reached the point where she "could have walked away" from the stress of the Covid pandemic but had to stay for her patients.

Mel Kerr, 26, currently works at Lincoln County Hospital and has been in the NHS for five years.

She said: "Yesterday, I didn't even have the energy to say I am OK, because I am not."

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust thanked staff "for everything they have done to help us keep patients safe."

Ms Kerr, who is branch chairwoman for the Royal College of Nursing, said about one in nine staff in her trust were off sick with Covid and non-Covid-related illness, including stress, depression and anxiety.

She is currently deployed helping members of staff to safely fit personal protective equipment.

The NHS will lose "a lot of nurses" in the next five years due to retirement, but the pandemic could cause an increase in nurses retiring early, she warned.

Ms Kerr added: "We already lose between a third and two-thirds of student nurses who either don't complete their training or choose to leave the profession within the first year.

"This pandemic has just thrown a whole bunch of complications, stresses and pressures on staff that are already broken.

"I expected death, and I expected difficulties and to see people deteriorate. But I never expected to see six people die in one shift."

A hospital trust spokesperson said staff had worked "tremendously hard over more than nine months".

They added there had been an increase in staff with "sickness, related to Covid-19 and for mental health reasons" but it had been able to continue to care for patients thanks to "the tireless work" of employees.

There were measures in place to support workers' health and wellbeing, the spokesperson said.

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