NHS staff have worked under ‘exceptional circumstances’ and faced ‘difficult experiences’, an NHS boss as said.

At the Welsh Government press conference on February 10, Dr Andrew Goodall, chief executive of the NHS Wales, said staff will need to ‘find a way of recovering’.

He added that there needs to be ‘hope for the future’, but many staff will probably needs support for ‘some time to come’ after the pandemic.

Almost one year one, the covid-19 pandemic has hit the country hard, with high levels of community transmission and increasing pressures on the NHS.

When asked about concerns staff may want to leave the NHS, Dr Goodall thanked staff for everything they have done.

He said the situation has been ‘relentless’ in critical care because as soon as improvements in Covid patients have been seen, staff then have to see to other non-Covid patients.

Dr Goodall was asked if there was appropriate mental health support for staff, which he said they have two responsibilities in the form of support for the wider population and support for staff.

He said there is support available already in local teams, but there are also national arrangements so they can signpost people to the right services.

He added there is a ‘danger’ that the pandemic is thought to be over after the vaccine rollout, but he thinks there will be ‘staff suffering’ from the pandemic for years to come.

Dr Goodall added the staff absence rate is currently at eight per cent, half of which is Covid related.

But no matter what staff have been through, he said they continue to show ‘remarkable resilience’.

He said the NHS will always need ‘more staff’ but given the evidence of being over the other side of second wave, he hopes they can use some workforce around some routine activities over coming weeks and months.

He said during this second wave, due to high levels of community transmission, staff will have seen more cases, more deaths, and more younger people being admitted to critical care.

The NHS boss said the new variants do cause him ‘great concern’ and despite the upcoming warmer weather and vaccine programme, there could still be some ‘concerning moments’ in the future.

However, when there is headroom to restore some routine services, they should ‘take those moments’, but the NHS can still treat many people by ‘working in a different way’, going into the future, he added.