RCN calls for better ‘record keeping’ on Covid-19 in health care workers

The Royal College of Nursing has called for the collection of accurate data on health and care staff who contract Covid-19, in an open letter to the UK’s health secretaries and ministers.

The letter from, Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the RCN, says that failure to properly track the incidence of sickness and death from Covid-19 in health care workers means ministers are making decisions without enough information.

It said that data collected should include workers who tested positive for Covid-19, those admitted to hospital or intensive care as a result of a positive test, and those who have sadly died. This would improve scrutiny of the safety of working environments of staff and the level of risk facing staff compared to the general public.

The letter added that compiling information including ethnicity and health conditions will also help the government assess the impact on at-risk groups and address inequalities.

Robust data analysis needed for more effective policies 

The four UK countries currently have different approaches to recording the deaths and infection rates of health and care workers. The RCN is urging governments and agencies to work more closely and better align the publicly available data around Covid-19.

RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said: €œHealth and care staff across the country are putting themselves at risk every day to protect the population, and the loss of any one of them is a tragedy which deserves public recognition.

€œWe must have better record-keeping of the number of health and care staff who have died, and consistency between the four nations if we are to have the robust data analysis needed for more effective policies and implementation.€