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. 2022 Nov 15;14(3):236-243.
doi: 10.1136/flgastro-2022-102298. eCollection 2023.

BSG cross-sectional survey on impact of COVID-19 recovery on workforce, workload and well-being

Misha Kabir  1   2 , Manmeet Matharoo  3 , Anjan Dhar  4 , Harriet Gordon  5 , Jonathan King  6 , Melanie Lockett  7 , Danielle Morris  8 , Francesca Moroni  9 , Nisha Patel  10 , Ajay Mark Verma  11 , Shairoz Samji  12
Affiliations

BSG cross-sectional survey on impact of COVID-19 recovery on workforce, workload and well-being

Misha Kabir et al. Frontline Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this survey was to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery phase on workload, well-being and workforce attrition in UK gastroenterology and hepatology.

Design/method: A cross-sectional survey of British Society of Gastroenterology physician and trainee members was conducted between August and October 2021. Multivariable binary logistic regression and qualitative analyses were performed.

Results: The response rate was 28.8% (180/624 of opened email invites). 38.2% (n=21/55) of those who contracted COVID-19 felt pressured to return to work before they felt ready. 43.8% (71/162) had a regular increase in out-of-hours working. This disproportionately affected newly appointed consultants (OR 5.8), those working full-time (OR 11.6), those who developed COVID-19 (OR 4.1) and those planning early retirement (OR 4.0). 92% (150/164) believe the workforce is inadequate to manage the service backlog with new consultants expressing the highest levels of anxiety over this. 49.1% (80/163) felt isolated due to remote working and 65.9% (108/164) felt reduced face-to-face patient contact made their job less fulfilling. 34.0% (55/162) planned to work more flexibly and 54.3% (75/138) of consultants planned to retire early in the aftermath of the pandemic. Early retirement was independently associated with male gender (OR 2.5), feeling isolated from the department (OR 2.3) and increased anxiety over service backlog (OR 1.02).

Conclusion: The pandemic has placed an additional burden on work-life balance, well-being and workforce retention within gastroenterology and hepatology. Increased aspirations for early retirement and flexible working need to be explicitly addressed in future workforce planning.

Keywords: COVID-19; HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box plot showing level of anxiety over the department’s ability to catch-up with service backlog, categorised by job role.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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