The Royal College of Physicians is supporting the national Fight
Fatigue campaign to help raise awareness of fatigue amongst NHS
healthcare staff. The campaign, run in partnership with the Association
of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and the
Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM) aims to tackle the negative
effects of shift working and fatigue on the NHS workforce.
The
campaign was launched last year in response to the tragic death of a
trainee anaesthetist who died whilst driving home tired after a night
shift. In addition, a national survey of over 2,000 anaesthetic trainees
published in the scientific journal Anaesthesia found:
- Nearly three quarters of respondents reported fatigue had a negative effect on their physical health or psychological well-being
- 84% had felt too tired to drive home safely after a night shift
- Less than a third had access to a suitable rest facility
- 57% had experienced an accident or near miss when driving home after a night shift
Speaking about the campaign, Professor Andrew Goddard, president
of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “For too long, fatigue among
doctors has been talked about as though it is simply part of the job,
but this campaign says something different. It says that there are
things that we can do, and must do if we are to protect our staff, to
help them do the best job they can for their patients, and to ensure
that we continue to attract healthcare workers in the future.”
Doctor
Rachel Jones, vice chair of the RCP’s Trainees Committee, said: “This
campaign is fully supported by the RCP London Trainees Committee. As
trainees we are at the sharp end and have been managing an increasing
number of medical admissions and erosion of our rest facilities. This
campaign offers resources and standards to help fight fatigue,
applicable to us as physicians as well as our anaesthetics colleagues.”
Association
of Anaesthetists president and consultant anaesthetist at Aberdeen
Royal Infirmary, Dr Kathleen Ferguson, said: “I’m delighted that the
Royal College of Physicians is officially supporting our Fight Fatigue
campaign. The impact of fatigue is well evidenced, and we know that
fatigue has a significant impact on logical reasoning and vigilance.
Well rested healthcare professionals are better able to provide quality
safe care to their patients.
“Our ongoing campaign is
supporting healthcare professionals with practical, everyday resources
to help change attitudes and improve working environments. We look
forward to working with members of the Royal College to help raise
awareness of the issues related to fatigue.”
Speaking about the
campaign, Dr Emma Plunkett, fatigue project group lead and consultant
anaesthetist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, said: “Sleep is a
key part of maintaining our health and wellbeing and the issue of
fatigue amongst our NHS workforce is concerning. Our campaign seeks to
change attitudes across the NHS to ensure everyone understands the risks
of fatigue and how to mitigate them. We hope that by collectively
taking responsibility for making changes to working practice, we can
improve working conditions for staff which will in turn benefit patient
care.”
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