Concerns over mental health of NHS staff fighting Covid-19 on frontline

It comes as we mark a year since the trust in charge of hospitals in Grimsby and Scunthorpe recorded its first Covid-19 death

"I don't think we've even really seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact this pandemic has had on the staff"
Published 31st Mar 2021

It's feared staff in hospitals across Lincolnshire will face long-term mental health issues as a result of the pandemic.

It comes as we mark a year since the trust in charge of hospitals in Grimsby and Scunthorpe recorded its first Covid-19 death.

Gail Meadows is a Clinical Psychologist at NLAG, she said they've introduced new measures to look after colleagues.

"We share the same worries as other trusts across the country about staff burnout, anxiety, depression and possible post traumatic stress disorder.

"I don't think we've even really seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact this pandemic has had on the staff

"That's why the changes we're making here are long term."

Gail compared it to sprinting a marathon.

"It really does feel like that as it's hard to see an end point, so you can't let up and you have to keep going.

"The waves feel like they keep coming".

She doesn't think we're nearing the end.

"It's definitely going to be long running, I don't think we've even neared the peak yet because we're not out of it.

"It's hard to stop and take full stock of what you've been through as you're still going through it."

"It was the most heart-breaking thing I've ever gone through"

Collette from Barton Upon Humber lost her dad to Coronavirus.

She visited him in hospital before he passed away.

"He just didn't look like my Dad, I wouldn't have recognised him

"We hadn't seen him in weeks because he'd been in hospital and he wasn't allowed visitors.

"You could see how much this had affected him, how this virus had just taken over his body.

"It was the most heart-breaking thing I've ever gone through"

She talked us through their final goodbye.

"We were able to speak, but I didn't want him to know that I knew it was the last time that I'd see him.

"So I finished it with more of a, 'Oh, I'll see you when you get home'"

She says the funeral was also completely changed due to Covid.

"It took out all of the personal side of things.

"We haven't been able to grieve properly because of it.

"We're never going to get closure from this."

Nearly 2,200 people have now died with Covid-19 across Lincolnshire, almost 60% have been in hospital.

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