NHS workers, will you carry on for the duration?

[thesunisoutout]

So for vast swathes of NHS workers, normal NHS has stopped and we have all entered a covid19 NHS where the only priority is this virus. Most of us are being redeployed and cannot do our jobs for what may be months.

There may be relaxing and tightening of rules until a vaccine is rolled out but really, the NHS won't go back to the normal we know for a really really long time. Eventually we will be allowed to go back to our jobs and try to pick up those patients and start the backlog and work out the damage.

We were told today not to expect to go back to our usual jobs for 6-12 months. I've seen patients today not be offered any exploratory procedures to look for serious illnesses, virtually no 2 week wait procedures anymore, no life saving procedures, no speciality teams, chemo is nearly all being stopped, not much cancer treatment starting, people being left with no rehab which will change the course of their functioning in life...the list goes on. These things aren't just going to start in 12 weeks. Once the curve is flattened it's to keep hospitals at a certain capacity for the duration.

I'm an AHP who provides a service which saves lives. But that isn't important to the NHS now. Care for people with covid is all that matters. We're all having real ethical uncomfortable discussions about this. We know by doing very little, we're reducing spread but at what cost to the non covid patients? And we obviously want to do our jobs, not someone else's that we aren't trained to do and there were many today saying they would be handing in their notice soon as this isn't the NHS they wanted to work for etc.

It's just all very sad and very very difficult. I LOVE working in hospitals but I don't want to be there anymore. Never thought I'd say that.

And what doesn't help is the media version of the NHS showing everyone being super heroes saving covid lives etc. That is so far from the reality of hospital work for most of us.

Everything will change in the NHS in my opinion - it has to. I work in primary care

We now have more technological resources than we ever had before. The tech I have implemented in 2 weeks has been unbelievable and it is very effective.

More and more people are finally self managing their own health needs (unrelated to COVID) and this is something we have needed for so long. Diabetics injecting themselves. Families injecting clexane. So many resources are wasted on these things patients could do themselves.

But we will be hit by a huge huge tidal wave of all the routine things we have delayed like elective surgery, smear tests, blood tests, xrays etc that patients can’t do themselves

Mental health services are going to be completely overwhelmed too

It’s a really good question. Dh is a consultant and does a lot of diagnostic cancer work - which has all been stopped. How long can it realistically be stopped for? And at what cost? Then there are all his clinic patients who if they are lucky may get a phone call (if they are deemed important enough), but it wont be from him. And I doubt any of them will get referred for any tests /scans which they might need.
Stopping all this activity for a long period will undoubtedly cost some lives.

I’m getting annoyed by not being redeployed to be honest. My role is in health promotion and prevention and is very much working towards a long term strategy. I don’t think we need us all to be doing this and believe 70% of us should be redeployed. I feel a fraud calling myself a nurse even though I’m still face to face with clients as deemed essential.
I want to help. I have skills that I would happily use for as long as needed. I expect if this happens it will be for the rest of the year ish.

The work I do is very much under the radar and can't be done by individual patients. They are vulnerable people who rely on others spotting signs, making referrals and us intervening and doing diagnostic input which then saves lives and hospital admissions.

In the months to come I think it wIll turn out that many people on our caseload will have died through lack of input and support, lack of access to the necessary procedures which save their lives and have died from undiagnosed conditions in a much nastier way.

I'm surprised you haven't been redeployed yet @Frigginella There seems to be a lot of variation in hospitals around the country.
I was amazed to see one of the breast care nurses dressed in scrubs and heading for the new respiratory ICU in theatres yesterday. We only had a brief chat so I didn't ask if she had volunteered - the hospital asked for anyone with ICU experience to put themselves on a list a few weeks ago. It's certainly a very long time since she did that sort of work.

We have been told there will be a much smaller Nightingale hospital opening nearby in a couple of weeks - they expect to staff it from our hospital and a couple of hospitals from nearby cities. I think quite a few people will volunteer.
I have to say I'd rather be working in a dedicated facility than struggling with the cramped repurposed wards with a hodge lodge of arrangements and a minimum of staff.

I'm so worried for all our cancer patients. I was looking through an email discussion regarding what procedures could be relocated to our department, one of the consultants commented that EVERY treatment change related to Covid must be noted as people will die due to suboptimal treatments.

I am horrified by this. People with potential cancer and other life threatening conditions should not be sacrificed to this.

It's hard to see how things will go back to 'normal'. All nurses (apart from ward nurses) in the hospital I work in have been redeployed, including all specialist roles. Some to other hospitals/depts and some within the hospital. We've been told to expect it to be for a minimum of 6 months. Non-acute services have virtually stopped. It's just an unprecedented situation and no one knows how it is going to pan out.

we definitely didnt get a choice about redeployment, we were just told it was happening.

I work in Primary Care (General Practice Nurse) and we are currently still going but with a huge reduction in face to face appointments. I am doing some telephone reviews for long term conditions and pill checks. Going through QOF stuff, planning ahead for vaccine catch ups and other random admin.
Expecting at some point to get involved in the community side of the Covid19 response stuff when it is set up, either doing visits or working in a hub somewhere doing swabs. Not really sure yet what the plan is, I feel a bit useless at the moment, but the patients we are seeing and calling are very grateful that we are still up and running for them.
With 3 DCs at home and DH still working, I can't volunteer for anything dramatically heroic anyway. I went straight into general practice so no ward experience and certainly no ICU knowledge at all.

I work in cancer care ( benefits adviser) . We have been kicked out of the hospital where we run clinics from which I understand but feel a lot of our clients at a particularly vulnerable time where they have lost income are missing out on our advice. We are doing phone advice but still not reaching people who would come through the cancer information centre. We are haring from patients whose cancer surgery has ben delayed, whose chemotherapy regime has been cut to minimise their risk. I do understand why this is necessary but patients are hugely fearful that when one of their chemotherapy drugs is being omitted from their regime they are now not getting the best chance of survival.
I also want to ask if any other Nurses who have joined the emergency NMC register have been contacted yet ? I am still waiting to be contacted and am ready and willing to help if needed.

All those saying that this shouldn't happen...what is the alternative?

We are not "allowed" to see any patients at the moment. I think they are trying to keep us as reserves. Couldn't not keep going though talk about jumping from the sinking ship.

The community teams will need you very soon.
We are planning for ours by pooling resources

I'm in primary care too. I was planning to retire, letter all ready to go in but not yet delivered, so no chance I can go now. Guess I'm here for the duration!

@Gammeldragz
This sounds similar to what I’m doing at the moment. I want to do more but bit scared of where and for how long! Our hours at the practice have all been halved up until Easter but they seem to expect it to get crazy busy then (which it will at some point) and we are to work bank hols and have annual leave cancelled. Maybe my practice knows something no one else does! Have also had an email about volunteering to be deployed somewhere, but no indication where.

X

@Menora what do mean about community teams? Genuine question, wondered what your plans are in community? Everything we do in community has completely stopped.

I don't think there is an alternative....i just don't think I can't be part of it. We will face months of redeployment into roles we never wanted watching people die while also knowing our patients aren't getting the care they need in favour of covid patients and when it's over we will have to go back to all other patients and families and face the consequences and support them through it. It'll never go away and the NHS and our services will never be the same.

I've had a very bad day and maybe I'm being very selfish but I just don't think I want to be part of the NHS anymore. Something I never thought I'd ever say.

Are you a therapeutic radiographer op?

I've wondered how there depts will change.

@Menora what do mean about community teams? Genuine question, wondered what your plans are in community? Everything we do in community has completely stopped.

I don't think there is an alternative....i just don't think I can't be part of it. We will face months of redeployment into roles we never wanted watching people die while also knowing our patients aren't getting the care they need in favour of covid patients and when it's over we will have to go back to all other patients and families and face the consequences and support them through it. It'll never go away and the NHS and our services will never be the same.

I've had a very bad day and maybe I'm being very selfish but I just don't think I want to be part of the NHS anymore. Something I never thought I'd ever say.

*their

@FannyCann I have ICU experience and 8 years theatre experience. I think maybe my area isn’t too bad yet? I’m getting fed up though. Many of my colleagues don’t feel we should be redeployed and it’s changing my view of my role as it feels useless right now. I want to go back to the hospital even though it terrifies me. I’ll be volunteering for one of the nightingales if I don’t get redeployed soon.

Surely community Nurses still need to do visits for dressings/ insulin injections etc?

I think that the NHS and social care will have been changed irrevocably - and that's not a bad thing. We will seriously question lots of stuff which we used to do which is not considered essential just now, e won't just start doing everything the same. God knows what it budgets are going to look like after this!

And in answer to your question
I'm going to start looking for another career. Not that there will be any active recruiting anywhere.

Trapped really and I cannot wait to leave.