Nhs workers

[Twinkle19]

Anyone pregnant and work for the nhs? I’m 17 weeks and been told I now have to work on a ward with patients (even though that’s not my job) up till now was told no patient contact really scared of the increased risk anyone else had to do the same?

Bumping for you

There is a lot of this going on and it’s not ok. Being kind: you manager may not be aware of the guidance so the first thing to do is contact them with this national guideline from the Royal College of Obstetricians quoting section 3.1 which clearly states that pregnant healthcare workers of any gestation should be given the choice of whether to work in patient facing roles. I think you could very reasonably argue that redeploying you to a patient facing setting is unsafe and you do not consent.

www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/2020-03-26-covid19-occupational-health.pdf

Ask for a formal occupational health assessment (you are entitled to this as you are pregnant and changing roles so your risk needs reassessing) but this will take time and this guideline is what I used to argue my case while waiting. Please be firm with them, the guidance is on your side here and if they give you grief I would ask them politely to lay out in writing (email) why they feel it is appropriate to go against a national guideline, and if you haven’t had an OH assessment or they refuse to refer you, I would be questioning this as well. Keep an eye on the guidance as well as it changes frequently and am hearing rumours that it may become more strict and say no patient facing roles full stop while pregnant. Good luck.

Can’t thank you enough for all this help never had any issues with work at all in the past so this is all completely new to me in knowing how to handle it. Will do everything you have said thank you so much it’s a big weight lifted just knowing what I need to do next to try and get it sorted.

No problem. Message me if you need back up. My manager was fine as soon as I presented the evidence but I have friends who have hit more resistance. I hope it goes well for you.

Good luck with it Twinkle

Thank you.