During the peak of the Covid 19 Pandemic in UK, Healthcare workers were greatly affected as they were at the forefront fighting to save as many lives as possible. They showed up every day during the pandemic risking their lives and putting us first. Been away from their family for a long period, not having an idea of when the Pandemic would come to an end. Not to forget the mental, physical, and emotional torture they were going through.

Meanwhile,healthcare sector faced a drastic shortage of workers and private healthcare agencies had to come in to assist. They were indeed lifesavers! The Covid 19 pandemic exposed the need for recruitment of more healthcare staff. People with severe health conditions were more vulnerable to complications and death arising from Covid 19. Elderly peopleand people with chronic health conditions were at higher risk of contracting the Virus. The Pandemic alsohad a large effect on people ranging from unemployment, depression, emotional trauma, and psychological effect.

The overburdened situation in the health sector during the Pandemic drastically led to the delay in healthcare services. People who had appointments for other health issues were not given adequate attention due to the surge of Covid 19 patients in the hospitals. Many people health deteriorated during the pandemic. Pregnant women, people with chronic conditions, Elderly people, and newborns who needed urgent medical attention did not seek medical care because of the fear of exposure to Covid 19.

Health care Agencies were saddled with the huge responsibility of providing jobs to healthcare staff. The pharmacists and other healthcare staff choose to work through the health care agencies temporarily, as this was an easier and time efficient platform to provide support rather than searching for jobs online. Hence, they joined hands with the healthcare agencies to provide help to the community in a better way.

These healthcare agencies sourced the best health care staff especially pharmacists as being the front face to help the community and hospitals across the UK with their pharmaceutical needs. As the healthcare staff were at the forefront putting their lives at risk to save lives the only support they got was from the healthcare agencies who provided them with personal protective equipment (PPE) and also made sure that the Pharmacies or Hospital do provide them with PPE prior to the start of their shifts as previously they were left to sort themselves out, this contributed to the emotional stress, fatigue, depression, and infections some of them had to deal with even till this moment.

Sadly, many of them lost their lives during the pandemic.

 Challenges Faced By the Health Workers

– At a point, the healthcare workers were overwhelmed with patients’ medical requests, while providing safe healthcare services.

– Some Health care staff contracted Covid 19 and had to be isolated till they got better.

– Some health care workers lacked access to personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect themselves, thereby exposing themselves to the risk of contracting the Virus.

– There was no sufficient social distancing as they had to administer drugs or injections to their patient.

In Short

The Covid 19 pandemic had a lot of impact on the people in the United Kingdom. Doctors, Pharmacist and other healthcare staff did their best to control the situation, but they were overwhelmed due to the surge. Healthcare agencies played a huge role in providing support to the community by recruiting permanent & locum healthcare staff hence playing a vital role in saving lives.