The return-to-work conundrum

After months in lockdown, the UK is slowly beginning to emerge, with pubs, restaurants and hairdressers opening. The government has mandated that ‘all staff in hospitals in England will be provided with surgical masks which they will be expected to wear from 15 June’ (Gov.uk, 2020). This has been a difficult message to balance for staff as we try to establish safe working environments.

COVID-19 has challenged healthcare leaders to manage staff health and safety at a scale I have never before experienced in my career. The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) states: ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.’

The COVID-19 pandemic has required numerous risk assessments, resulting in colleagues redeployed out of their clinical areas. In my organisation, this includes 300 staff shielding, and several hundred staff who have long-term conditions or are from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background.