Healthcare workers doubted their own safety in COVID-19 pandemic's early stages, survey finds

During the first stages of the Covid-19 pandemic many healthcare workers felt their wellbeing was compromised, new research shows.

"Just over one quarter did not receive adequate PPE [personal protective equipment] from their organisation to enable them to do their jobs, and a similar proportion were told by their organisation not to wear PPE due to stock levels during surge one in 2020", the survey, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, revealed.

Otago University bioethics lecturer Dr Elizabeth Fenton reviewed the research and said the healthcare system has ethical obligations to its workforce.

"To ensure that they are safe, to ensure that they feel they are safe, those obligations need to be fulfilled," she said.

Dr Fenton said the sector needed to move to a nurturing model that prioritised the wellbeing of healthcare workers alongside the wellbeing of patients.

Communities clapping for their essential workers during the height of the pandemic was nice (as occurred in the UK), but it was not a substitute for the health system meeting its obligations to staff.

"Many healthcare workers did not feel that they were safe in their work during that first surge," Dr Fenton said.

Healthcare workers needed to feel valued and respected in their workplaces.

Fenton and others who authored the New Zealand Medical Journal article said patient-centred care was not possible without a nurtured, engaged and valued workforce.

"Simply put, the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders depends on the health and wellbeing of healthcare workers. We should not wait for another health emergency to recognise their importance," the authors wrote.