Coronavirus: Hospital secretaries drafted in to help on wards as worst weeks lie ahead

Hospitals are calling for “immediate additional staff” to help care for the influx of coronavirus patients – with plans to bring in students, social care workers and even secretaries – as health chiefs warn the NHS is facing its most dangerous moment ever.

Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said on Monday that the worst weeks of the pandemic were yet to come, while statistics showed there were more than 32,000 Covid patients in hospitals.

In London, NHS bosses have set out a plan for a mass redeployment of manpower as wards are overwhelmed. The documents, seen by The Independent, show new roles filled by non-clinical staff who will work on wards answering telephones, fetching equipment and in some cases helping patients to eat and drink as well as recording patient details for doctors and nurses.

The admission by NHS England that more staff are needed in the capital, came after its hospitals were asked to supply dozens of nurses to staff the Nightingale Hospital in east London, which has still yet to open.

NHS England’s chief Sir Simon Stevens warned the virus was “spreading out of control” in many areas adding: “This is a very serious moment for the country and for the National Health Service.”

Hospitals in Cheshire were described on Monday as being “overwhelmed” by the region’s critical care network, with the chief executive of the Countess of Chester NHS Trust, Dr Susan Gilby, saying more than 60 per cent of patients in her hospital were sick with Covid.

The impact of households mixing is still yet to be fully seen in hospital figures, NHS England’s medical director Steve Powis told a Downing Street press conference.

The worsening situation prompted Boris Johnson to warn the government could be forced to tighten restrictions further.

On a visit to a vaccination centre, the prime minister warned: “Now is the moment for maximum vigilance, maximum observance of the rules. Of course, if we feel that things are not being properly observed then we may have to do more.”

On Monday, there were 46,169 confirmed cases with a total of 529 deaths reported in the previous 24 hours.

Professor Chris Whitty urged the public to “stay at home unless you absolutely have to”, saying the next few weeks will be the “worst weeks of the pandemic”.

During a BBC phone-in on the current high case rates, he said: “I don't think we’re yet at the peak, I’m afraid.

“I think we will be at the peak if everybody can double down and absolutely minimise their contacts.

“We will get through together, but at this point in time we’re at the worst point in the epidemic for the UK.”

The surge in the virus has left many hospitals overstretched with significant numbers of patients being looked after in makeshift wards while half of all NHS staff absences – 46,000 staff – are linked to Covid.

Many hospitals have already redeployed the remaining staff to look after sick patients.

In a leaked plan, seen by The Independent, NHS England’s London regional director, Sir David Sloman, wrote to hospital bosses in the capital on Friday setting out how they could fill staffing gaps.

He said: “It is clear that NHS trusts across the capital are in need of immediate additional staff and all opportunities for redeployment both from within the NHS and from social care and voluntary sectors must be facilitated at pace.”

A list of generic roles that could be used by trusts has been drawn up by NHS England for hospitals to assess how many people they need to do the jobs.

Sir David said: “It is important that you quantify your local requirements for those roles quickly if we are to make this process work.”

He added that because of the “immediate” need, rules for staff inductions could be relaxed and this was recognised nationally and had the support of NHS bosses.

The NHS is in discussions with social care leaders in London “to facilitate the rapid redeployment of social care staff into the NHS”.

A new “deployment hub” has also been set up over the weekend to start work this week on help coordinate the mass redeployment of staff.

Among the roles set out by NHS England include “medical ward scribes” which would see staff such as medical secretaries and students being involved in clinical assessments and writing down clinical decisions, patient histories and noting the time patients were treated.

Medical secretaries provide office support for clinicians in hospitals and will be familiar with medical terms and clinical activity.

Ward captains will be used to manage logistics and deliver admin support while ward support officers will be asked to deal with telephone calls, reception duties and entering data into computers for doctors. They could also liaise with families of patients.

Other staff will help patients at mealtimes and fetch equipment to and from the ward.

Social care staff could be used to help coordinate discharges back into the community.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals trusts, said the NHS workforce had been under “unprecedented pressure” in the last few months.

She added: “While the workforce is going to extraordinary lengths to provide high quality care, Covid-19 is taking a toll through high levels of staff absence, either through sickness or the need to isolate.

“Trusts have been deploying staff throughout the pandemic to best meet the needs of patients. It is clear that now, perhaps more than ever, there is a need for a high degree of flexibility to bring in additional staff to support clinicians.

“Trusts have been working with local partners to identify safe and effective ways to fill immediate workforce gaps. Stronger relationships with primary, social care and voluntary sector organisations over recent months will be of huge benefit to the NHS as we work through this critical period.

“It is right that trusts are supported to respond quickly to the challenging workforce situation they are currently facing, and will take comfort in the fact that reduced bureaucracy in processes such as staff induction has been a feature of a new way of working during Covid-19.”

NHS England was approached for comment on the plans to launch a deployment hub but it did not respond before publication.