NHS staff in Sandwell to receive therapy to overcome mental scars of Covid-19
NHS staff in the Black Country are to be offered therapy usually given to war veterans dealing with ‘combat fatigue’, to help them overcome the mental scars of Covid-19.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Hospitals Trust and March Against Stress are to counsel workers suffering emotional and psychological trauma.
The therapy will help those suffering fear, anxiety and guilt as they reflect on their experiences as the pandemic slows.
Raffaela Goodby, director of people and organisation development, has warned that as the numbers of coronavirus cases decline, staff are more at risk from emotional and psychological trauma.
Presenting a report on protecting mental well-being, she told a meeting of the trust’s board: “As the pandemic has started to slow, people have had the brain space to reflect on the level of emotion, including fight or flight response and new feelings are coming out.
“This paper is about recovery and how we can prepare now while we have a slight lull, while things have calmed down a bit, to ensure that the longer term feelings of guilt and reflection of ‘I should have done something differently, I could have done things differently’ and also longer term responses to trauma which people will have – are well prepared for.”
Line managers and some 250 volunteer mental health first aiders are being trained to offer help to their colleagues.
A third tier of specialist therapy is also being offered by March on Stress, a psychological health consultancy which specialises in treating post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by combat veterans and survivors of terrorist attacks.
The impact on staff who have never dealt with a pandemic before and a mortality rate few NHS workers ever see, has been highlighted as a major risk by the trust.
Up until May 1, Sandwell General and City hospitals have dealt with 1,009 Covid-19 patients – of which 293 died.
Toby Lewis, chief executive of thetTrust, cautioned against a false sense of victory over coronavirus.
He said: “We have created a national narrative where people are some sort of heroes, that they have been in some form of conflict and they are winning."
Drawing an analogy with Vietnam veterans returning home, he added: “People are sustained by a belief that they are participating in something successful but if through their own memories, a change of public perception or through data, they were actually part of something less successful than they were led to believe, that becomes something psychologically disruptive.”
