Who do you consider as front line worker

[BrightonForWine]

I work on a ward with covid negative, mainly fit and well patients for elective surgery.

We consider 'frontline workers' as those who work directly with covid positive patients.

But I've seen some people who consider anyone working with patients (whatever their covid status) as frontline workers.

And now I've seen that some people consider those who work with the public or childcare (so those who work in Tesco or schools) as frontline workers.

I googled it and it was as clear as mud and seemed to banned together 'key workers' as 'frontline workers' which surprised me.

I wondered, purely out of interest what others considers as 'frontline' workers? And do you consider 'frontline and key workers' as a different name for the same thing?

[title edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

Frontline are those working with adult covid patients and in hospital wards where they are needed for patient care. Care home staff.

Keyworkers - emergency services, social care, prison staff, food, education, financial, infrastructure etc. All very important occupations who keep the country running.

Front line to me is my brother, a junior dr doing nights on covid red wards. A keyworker is me, a pharmacist coming into contact with lord knows how many people at work some of whom wear masks but a large majority that don't, supermarket workers like my mum, binmen, construction workers,teachers, care home staff, basically any job where you can't work from home but come into contact with large members of the public etc.

@WeAllHaveWings

Frontline are those working with adult covid patients and in hospital wards where they are needed for patient care. Care home staff.

Keyworkers - emergency services, social care, prison staff, food, education, financial, infrastructure etc. All very important occupations who keep the country running.

Not those working with covid positive children?

And so if you can't do the job from home then you need to access childcare if not education.

Even if you can do the job from home you may very well need to access childcare and education. My children can’t supervise themselves while I’m working and I can’t do much useful work when I’m caring for my kids.

I think frontline are those who are unavoidably providing care to Covid patients eg health staff, care staff, some social work roles would fall into that too.

Critical or key worker includes anyone who is needed to provide essential services.

Does it really matter? But as it goes, I would count anyone working in a hospital environment as frontline as a lot of people catch it in 'green' wards so it must be prevelent, and going into that environment for work puts you in the frontline. Also teachers, no other job is expecting people to mix with 30+ households a day with no PPE, it's ridiculous.

Frontline worker - someone who works in the hospitals with Covid patients.

Also, those working in the testing sites who swab the public.

Personally I have never liked the use of "frontline" for any other person other than the armed forces. In exceptional circumstances, in this context, I would only include medics on Covid+ wards/ITU.

I mean, I have had positive Covid cases sitting right at the front of my classroom (I wasn't considered a close contact however). In that respect I consider myself literally a frontline worker.

Front line is the teams working with known positive cases
Or likely positive cases
Doctors, nurses, porters, ambulance workers
I am a key worker.
I service ambulances.
In my air conditioned, clean workshop.
With screens around my 3m cube workspace. One way systems everywhere.
Clinel wipes on every desk. Hand gel in every pair of overalls....

Just curious OP, why do you ask?

Key workers - broad term covering all sorts of roles, prison wardens, teachers, super market staff.
Front line worker - if you use the war analogy "front line" then it would be those dealing with Covid patients, A&E staff.
I don't see them as interchangable terms though.

^That's how I see it too.

I clean covid wards. Someone said that we weren't front line workers as we dont save lives.
No but I have close contact with covid patients and we are still getting and dying from the virus

Nursery workers who are in closer proximity than any teacher but barely get a mention in any speech.

Doctors, nurses, porters, ambulance workers
I am a key worker.

You forgot cleaners. Domestics. We dont exist in the hospital. You can tell this by the way we are treated

I’ve just referred to DH on another thread as a frontline worker - he’s a police officer and deals with people with unknown covid status in close contact every day. He is a frontline worker in that respect to me, his PPE is dismal and I’ve sort of accepted he may bring it home at some point.

I’m a psych nurse but currently WFH due to pregnancy. I’m not frontline because I don’t come into contact with people. That’s the difference to me.

As a PP said, I consider front line workers to be military personnel - the people on the front lines of protecting our country.

I consider key workers as doctors, nurses, carers, supermarket staff, teachers and childminders etc etc.

@Bookishnerd

Just curious OP, why do you ask?

Only because I hear it mentioned a lot in real life, so I thought I was wrong - that frontline workers stretched further than just those working with covid patients. So I asked at work and they looked at me as though I had grown a second head, that of course it's only those working with covid positive patients that are considered frontline workers.

So then I wondered whether it was just hospital/care worker staff that considered it that, so asked on here.

I consider anyone working on covid wards, with Covid patients or in areas where there is an unknown risk and people are presenting ill and/or require aerosol generating procedures (a&e, ambulance, ICU) to be frontline. I don’t consider anyone else to be.

I include myself in the non-frontline, and I work in a clinical role between a lab and a hospital.

Key workers is much broader. I am on a daily basis so thankful that my local shop, my supermarket, my train line and my bin men for example worked all the way through lockdowns. They are key workers, but they aren’t working with people who present sick with Covid symptoms, therefore not frontline.

Frontline means your treating C19 or involved in medical research to fight it.
Keyworkers are the people who let us survive, with food , heat , light and safety.
Basic needs.

Bus drivers are classed as front line workers here (not U.K.) and are part of immediate vaccination programme (rightly so IMO).

Frontline nhs = patient facing

@CountessFrog

Frontline nhs = patient facing

I agree - any patient facing staff, in hospital, care homes, and community health and social care workers - doing any role which comes into contact with patients (including cleaners, porters, ward clerks etc).

It's not just ITU that have covid positive patients. There are many in care homes and their own homes who health and social care staff are seeing daily or even more often who are known (or unknown) positive cases and not unwell enough to be in hospital. If all those community staff were off with covid, the hospital situation would be even worse as those people would end up in hospital from lack of care provision.

Key workers - anyone not public facing that are needed to help keep the system functioning.

I remember this coming up as an example.
Imagine Covid is blue paint.
You can't give someone paint just because they are family.
Someone is in or driven to hospital and covered in this paint. If you get blue paint on your hands, your front line, however if frontline person touches or is touched the paint goes purple. If your job means you now have purple paint on you, your a keyworker.
The purple paint goes orange if your job means you help, supply or drive to supply purple people. Essential services.

I would consider anyone working directly with covid positive people to be frontline, and that’s it.

My vets have an answerphone message saying that they are frontline workers and this annoyed me. We are not allowed inside the vets at all, no matter what, all consultations are taken place outside no matter the weather (in an uncovered area), 2 metres apart with full PPE. This to me is not frontline!

Frontline= Essential AND face to face with public

Shop worker, medic, teacher, youth worker, carer, nursery staff, bus driver, etc