Can you work patient facing when pregnant at the moment?

[HCTCC2021]

I'm a healthcare student looking to start trying to conceive this year. If we conceive relatively quickly, I'll be on my final clinical placements before graduating. I can't find any clear guidance as to whether or not pregnancy will affect my placements due to covid-19. Anyone work in healthcare/ a healthcare student and know? I don't want to tell my mentor we are going to be trying soon so would rather find out myself.

I dont know if there is an issue until you are in your 3rd trimester but you should double check

I'm frontline NHS (OT) and 26 weeks pregnant. I currently work in A&E and covid contact and positive wards ( not ITU).
I will be moved to a non patient facing roll from 28 weeks.

There doesn't seem to be any extra risk in working whilst pregnant until you get to the 3rd trimester - then there is a very slight risk of early labour or being more unwell if you catch covid.

Good luck with ttc.

Good luck. As well as covid, you might want to bear in mind there is a chance of having to deal with intense morning sickness/HG, fatigue, moods/concentration changes and loads more fun stuff in early pregnancy which might not help on placement, and transitioning from a student to an employee could be an awkward/complex time to try and get any financial support e.g SMP. Could be worth a conversation with Student Support to explore, and Uni Occupational Health re the covid side of things? I don't mean to be negative, there's no guarantee of there ever being a "perfect" timing, it could still be the right timing for you, but forewarned is forearmed!

Thanks all. Our aim is for me to have a gap between giving birth after graduating and then starting work if that makes sense. But we are well aware this may not happen. I have a few months after final placement before graduating so at a maximum would be around 20 weeks by the time I finish placement if we were crazy lucky and conceived first month. Sounds like from that aspect it shouldn't be an issue then. Definitely wouldn't be with known covid patients due to what sector I'm in so that's a positive too. HG would be my worst nightmare tbh!!

I'll definitely have a chat with occupational health nearer the time. There definitely confidential right?

@HCTCC2021

I'll definitely have a chat with occupational health nearer the time. There definitely confidential right?

I'm pretty sure it's the normal deal with confidential professionals, that they should only disclose in certain circumstances eg if you tell them something which raises a certain level of risk to you or others. So eg if someone told Uni Occ Health they were pregnant already but weren't going to tell their current placement because they thought they might get taken off it, OccH might have to tell someone if they would be putting them self and baby at risk, but really OccH should first encourage them to speak to placement and should let them know if they felt they had to disclose. If OccH were going to be particularly sticky in that imaginary situation they could then decide that the dishonesty might be a fitness to practice matter and disclose that as well. But this is all imaginary, I'm sure you could safely have a confidential discussion and you can always check about confidentiality with them at the start of the conversation.

Also on a more practical point, uni can't discriminate against you for being pregnant, so I believe they have to find a placement that you can safely do in pregnancy.

I work in patient facing therapy role, i''m currently 18 weeks and like PP will be moved to non patient facing role from 28 weeks, possibly working from home but this hasn't been decided yet. Therapy roles are often adapted to avoid lifting etc during pregnancy, so this may be an option for your placement? Also I don't know what the situation with the vaccine is for students but might you get that soon? That would presumably reduce your risk so no need to change role for placements. Good luck with everything.

Thank you so much both. I would of course tell placement if we did conceive, it's more a hypothetical conversation with occy health of "if I were to get pregnant, what's the situation" so I guess realistically there would be nothing for them to tell.

Re the vaccine, I've been lucky enough to have had the first dose. Assuming there aren't any major ongoing issues with supply or changes to how they distribute it, I'll have had the 2nd dose before we start trying.

Have there been any comments raised within healthcare regarding patient facing past 28 weeks after an individual has received both vaccine doses? If that makes sense... just wondering if we will still be taken off patient facing roles or if we will be good to carry on. I'm just thinking if it takes a while to conceive then I'll (hopefully) be working full time with patients.

Congrats on the pregnancy @Bloatstoat Do you think your non patient facing role will end up being admin type work or virtual appointments?

I'm hoping to do at least some virtual or telephone appointments, I don't think I could cope with just admin for weeks!

We haven't had any specific guidance about pregnancy post vaccine - I've not been eligible unfortunately as was already pregnant. My manager has said they are awaiting updated guidance before confirming what work I'll be doing from 28 weeks, so possibly they will have something on this soon. I think our trust's guidelines are based on the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidance so worth keeping an eye on their website to see what they come up with.

I haven't heard anything yet about vaccines making any difference to where you can work after 28 weeks. I imagine they may well continue to be risk averse particularly in last trimester because even if the probability of catching it reduces with vaccines, there is still some risk of awful outcomes, and there is still so much unknown about how long protection lasts, whether it helps against mutated strains etc, and they have legal responsibilities around employees health and safety. One trimester is a relatively short period of time to tolerate working in a different role or being paid to stay home if there is no role for you though.

That makes sense about continuing to be cautious.

One trimester is a relatively short period of time to tolerate working in a different role or being paid to stay home if there is no role for you though.

Yes absolutely! In my old job it would've been a case of being put straight on admin work from the point of a positive test to the point of going on maternity leave. Now that would have been really rough going!

That's pretty much what happened to me due to risky work environment, I couldn't be more grateful tbh. I'm normally a risk taker by nature but my whole perspective changed after a little drama in v early pregnancy.

Oh yeah I definitely agree with you there. I think sometimes it's for the best to be moved out of potentially dangerous situations. I'd still go a bit stir crazy stuck on admin for 8 months though. Looks like that won't be an issue here though, I'm only supposed to see "Covid-safe" patients.