New research shows Australia’s healthcare workforce has been in severe distress during COVID.

A new study has found that one in ten healthcare workers in Australia had thoughts of suicide or self-harm in a two-week period during the second wave of the pandemic between August and October 2020.

Even among those who did not have such thoughts, high levels of burnout, anxiety, depression and trauma symptoms were observed.

The study analysed data from the Australian COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Workers Study and was published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (ANZJP).

Eight thousand health professionals completed the survey.

Lead researcher, Professor Marie Bismarck from the University of Melbourne, said the results were “alarming”.

“Even before the pandemic, healthcare workers had higher rates of suicide than people in other occupations, but it does seem that it has become worse with the pandemic.

“I’m a health worker and I can tell you that we are exhausted. One of the striking things of our study was that among the healthcare workers with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, 90 per cent described emotional exhaustion – which is one of the components of burnout.

“But even among the other healthcare workers, 70 per cent of them were describing mental exhaustion.”

No time to get help

Professor Bismarck said it gave her “chills down my spine to see my colleagues … doing everything they could to help patients in the hospital, and to know from this study that one in ten of them was struggling”.

“One of the most worrying findings from our study was that among the healthcare workers with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, fewer than half of them sought any kind of professional help,” she said.

“Some of them said even though they were really struggling with their mental health, they just didn’t have the time or energy to get help. They would come home from the hospital absolutely exhausted, and to try and access care for themselves was like another thing on their to-do list that they just didn’t have the energy for.”

Younger workers more likely to seek support

The study found that healthcare workers with thoughts of suicide or self-harm were more likely to seek support if they were younger or had prior mental health concerns.

Certain groups were more vulnerable, including those who had friends or family infected with COVID-19, were living alone, had poor physical health or prior mental illness, and increased income worries.

Professor Bismarck said access to care was also problematic.

“It has been hard to access psychologists or to access mental health support during the pandemic, and that is equally true for healthcare workers themselves.”

“When healthcare workers are struggling with their own mental health, it can have real implications for patient care. We know people who are profoundly depressed are likely to make mistakes or errors in their work. So, our results matter a great deal for healthcare workers and the people who love them, but they also have really profound implications for the quality of patient care.”

“I think that the study sounds alarm bells that we are not doing enough for the people who have been caring for us throughout the pandemic.”

“I think healthcare workers in general are very good at putting on a brave face, getting on with the job, placing the needs of patients first and I think it is time we realised how much healthcare workers have been struggling through the pandemic, and give them the care they need and deserve.”