Dear ,

Guidance on returning to in-person work

Following the easing of social distancing measures on 4 July 2020, members may be considering returning to working in person with patients and families. However, the risks of the virus are still present, and government advice is still that every reasonable effort should be made to work remotely as a first option and people who can work from home should continue to do so.

Individual members have to make their own judgments based on their assessment of the risk to themselves, their colleagues, their families and their patients. It is important to acknowledge that the situation is confusing and the future uncertain, and that this gives rise to a lot of anxiety about the right way to proceed. In order to support you in thinking about your situation, we are reissuing our guidance on returning to in-person work here.

In addition to our guidance, the government has issued guidance for ‘close contact services’ which can be useful when assessing premises and ensuring that they are safe for yourself and for your patients. Further information is also available on the UK Government and HSE websites.

We would like to emphasise that any decision needs to be made together with your patient (and where appropriate their family), and the issues involved need to be made explicit. This includes outlining both the potential risks and also the circumstances in which you or your patient would need to pass the other's details to the government's Test and Trace system. Information about how contact tracing works can be found on the BBC website. If patients are not comfortable with their details being passed on, this may indicate a need to continue with remote work.

Members can contact the ACP office for further advice, or consult other members on the Facebook page.

Updated guidance from Unite the Union

Unite’s health and safety team has updated the guidance for officers and reps on their specialist COVID-19 web pages. They also have a new social distancing policy setting out employers’ responsibilities and how they must work with trade union safety reps to assist with the safe opening of workplaces.

Access all our guidance here

Unite has also set up a specialist legal team to advise and represent members who have suffered injury as a result of COVID-19. If you have suffered injury from developing COVID-19 or have tragically lost a family member to the condition, then please call Unite’s COVID-19 personal injury team on 020 8799 4023. Find out more

Article about the psychological impact of the pandemic

You may be interested in this article from the Guardian