Rachael Burford, Local Democracy Reporting Service
Published:
12:06 PM February 16, 2021
Barts NHS health trust's chief executive Alwen Williams.
- Credit: Barts Health Trust
Routine operations will probably not resume in Newham and Tower Hamlets until April because staff need time to “recover psychologically” from the trauma of caring for Covid patients.
Dame Alwen Williams, group chief executive of Barts Health Trust, said critical care staff working in the areas worst hit by the virus were reporting “high levels” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and teams of phycologists have been brought in.
The trust, which runs Mile End Hospital in Mile End, Newham University Hospital in Plaistow and the Royal London in Whitechapel, cancelled routine planned operations in late December and staff were redeployed to critical care units as the Covid-19 crisis escalated in the capital.