Deaths of NHS staff from covid-19 analysed... HSJ, IFS and ONS

Yes, the HSJ one. Have you read it? If not, just stop here and read it first.

So this is what I'm thinking!

First of all, amazing work by Tim Cook and Simon Lennane. And HSJ for publishing...

Even though we are waiting for a formal scientific investigation by Public Health England or the office of the Chief Medical Officer, there is still a lot to take from this. 

Cultural factors play a large role as foreign-born BAME may be different from UK/Irish-born BAME.

See the Lancet publication too...

There are lessons to learn. We just need to figure out how we can modify some attitudes and practices:

1. We gather a lot (maybe not in pubs or restaurants).

2. The way we greet ourselves (even Italy comes to mind and the lessons we learnt).

3. Our attitude to regular check up or routine blood tests i.e. health seeking behaviour.

4. How less often we take sick leave?

5. How we show our "resilience" by not asking for help even when we need it.

6. Even though most BAME families have at least one health worker, we still seem in a way uninformed partly because we feel we were well trained from our home countries (no offence).

7. Trusts/GP practices/Hospitals/Employers not identifying BAME staff for targeted education, risk management and reassurance. (even GMC is addressing this, IMC rumoured it).

8. Extra stress from having to work twice as hard to get similar opportunities like your colleagues. (no offence again).,. or send money back home.

9. Not to mention not speaking up if or when you face discrimination (Even though it silently eats you up). Maybe the NHS passport can change that so people have the option to leave a trust/practice if they are discriminated against; not stuck there till they end up in front of GMC, when its game over.

10. Social media is riddled with verified and unverified videos of people (staff and patients) claiming they were disproportionately sent red areas/covid19 wards...

11. Socioeconomic factors are difficult to modify if many of us are taxi/bus/train/tube drivers or even have large families... try social isolation. In a sense, many of us have mainly key worker roles with increased exposure to infection and health risks.

12. You can take Vitamin D for what its worth (bone health, immunity), however don't get distracted by the real issue here.

These are all areas that we should target (on a personal level, in groups, by Trusts, Employers, CCGs, in Government, the NHS, the HSE) to reverse this trend now:

• During this pandemic,
• After this pandemic (Hypertension, "Heart attack", Stroke and Diabetes are still not on holiday) and
• Before the next pandemic.

Perhaps covid19 simply exposed something that was already happening, only that it was just badly recorded...

On another note, I wonder why suicide doesn't seem to disproportionately affect BAME healthcare workers. Are we just bottling things up and dying from something else? Do close family units and community protect us? Religion? 

I'll stop here for now...

We need a formal investigation, results and actions based on the results. 

The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Office of National Statistics (ONS) have released their reports too on the same investigation. The numbers are staggering...