Medical Protection Society (MPS) has today signed up to 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 and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, aims to tackle the negative effects of shift working and fatigue on the NHS workforce.

Dr Rob Hendry, Medical Director at MPS said: “When healthcare professionals are exhausted it is damaging for their mental and physical wellbeing and can jeopardise patient care. The more we can raise awareness of fatigue and its impact on everyone with a stake in healthcare, the better, and we are pleased to stand with the Association of Anaesthetists and other leading organisations on this issue.” 

The Fight Fatigue campaign was launched in 2019 following the tragic death of a trainee anaesthetist while they drove home tired following a night shift.

A subsequent national survey of over 2,000 anaesthetic trainees 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

Association of Anaesthetists President, Dr Matt Davies, said: “I’m delighted that MPS is officially supporting our Fight Fatigue campaign and we look forward to working with them to help raise awareness of the issues related to fatigue.

“We want to change attitudes across the NHS to ensure everyone understands the risks of fatigue and how to mitigate against them. We hope that by taking responsibility collectively for making changes to working practice, we can improve working conditions for all staff which will in turn benefit patient care.

“We now have increasing support from organisations representing a wide range of specialties across the NHS. We also have support from parliamentarians across the political spectrum at Westminster and the devolved bodies. We urge all our colleagues in the NHS to back our campaign and ensure everyone understands the risks of fatigue and how to mitigate them.”

Find out more about the Fight Fatigue campaign here: www.anaesthetists.org/Fatigue

ENDS

Notes for editors:

About the #FightFatigue campaign

The #FightFatigue campaign is being run by the Association of Anaesthetists, RCoA and FICM. More information about the campaign be found at https://anaesthetists.org/Home/Wellbeing-support/Fatigue/Help-Fight-Fatigue

About the Association of Anaesthetists

As the professional membership organisation for over 11,000 anaesthetists in the UK, Republic of Ireland and internationally, the Association of Anaesthetists promotes patient care and safety, and advances anaesthesia through education, publications, research and international work. The Association maintains an active programme of support for anaesthesia worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Its motto in somno securitas (‘Safe in Sleep’) encapsulates the major focus of the Association: safety in anaesthesia https://anaesthetists.org/

About the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA)

Anaesthesia is the largest single hospital specialty in the NHS. The Royal College of Anaesthetists is the professional body responsible for the specialty throughout the UK, and ensures the quality of patient care through the maintenance of standards in anaesthesia, critical care and pain medicine. www.rcoa.ac.uk

About the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM)

The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine is the professional body responsible for the training, assessment, practice and continuing professional development of Intensive Care Medicine doctors and practitioners in the UK. www.ficm.ac.uk

About Medical Protection Society

The Medical Protection Society Limited (“MPS”) is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of more than 300,000 members around the world. Membership provides access to expert advice and support and can also provide, depending on the type of membership required, the right to request indemnity for any complaints or claims arising from professional practice.

Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.

Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We do this by promoting risk management through our workshops, E-learning, clinical risk assessments, publications, conferences, lectures and presentations.

MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.