The Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK has released a report based on IPPR/YouGov polling of healthcare workers called Care Fit for Carers.
It shows high degrees of dissatisfaction with the UK government’s response, and that many health care workers are considering leaving their professions .
The report also raises the prospect of the longer term-impacts on health care workers, which are likely to include physical health impacts, as well as PTSD and other mental health conditions. These impacts are not abstract and hypothetical, as shown in a BBC article on the impacts of SARS ten years after the 2003 outbreak:
Bruce England was a paramedic on duty in Toronto during the early days of the Sars outbreak and, having attended a patient with a chest infection, found himself falling ill.
For him, and many others affected by the Sars outbreak in Toronto, the effects of that experience are still being felt today. Ten years on Bruce still experiences weakness and difficulty with his breathing.
“I had Sars. It’s left a lasting impact on me and my life. So did I survive it? Maybe not, it’s still there for me,” he says.
SARS: The people who risked their lives to stop the virus, Kevin Fong, BBC, 2013.