New research by the Guardian has shown that at leats 77,000 hospital staff in England caught coronavirus during the pandemic, while approximately a quarter of a million absences for coronavirus-related reasons.
However, out of the 142 acute and specialist trusts in England sent freedom of information requests, only 78 provided figures on staff who were infected, suggesting that the true totals are likely to be much higher.
The responses, which cover the year following 1 March 2020, offer the first official data on the impact on frontline workers who risked their own health while caring for the more than 400,000 patients who have ended up seriously ill in hospital. They show that at least 77,735 doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel contracted coronavirus, while staff had 243,864 periods of absence, exacerbating existing workforce shortages.
Of the 142 trusts sent requests, 75 provided figures on infected staff who went on to die of coronavirus, totalling 152 deaths. This appears to underestimate the total, given that ministers have already acknowledged at least 305 deaths involving coronavirus among healthcare workers.
Out of those trusts who responded, Frimley health trust in Surrey had the largest number of staff who caught the virus – 4,464 – followed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London (3,654) and University Hospitals Birmingham (2,554).
NHS bosses and health trade unions claim many of those who fell ill became infected because hospitals had too little personal protective equipment and capacity to test workers.
While most health service personnel in England have received their first dose of the vaccine, the latest figures showed that 168,449 out of the 1,378,502 workers directly employed by the NHS – 12 per cent of the total – still have not done so.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “While the situation has improved significantly in recent months, we know trusts faced major challenges at the beginning of the pandemic with regards to accessing PPE and rapid, regular and reliable testing, as well as significant numbers of staff having Covid-19 without showing symptoms.”
