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BSG cross-sectional survey on impact of COVID-19 recovery on workforce, workload and well-being
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  1. Misha Kabir1,2,
  2. Manmeet Matharoo3,
  3. Anjan Dhar4,
  4. Harriet Gordon5,
  5. Jonathan King6,
  6. Melanie Lockett7,
  7. Danielle Morris8,
  8. Francesca Moroni9,
  9. Nisha Patel10,
  10. Ajay Mark Verma11,
  11. Shairoz Samji12
  1. 1 GI Services Division, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  2. 2 Division of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK
  3. 3 Department of Gastroenterology, St Marks Hospital, London, UK
  4. 4 Department of Gastroenterology, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, Bishop Auckland, UK
  5. 5 Department of Gastroenterology, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Winchester, UK
  6. 6 Department of Gastroenterology, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  7. 7 Department of Gastroenterology, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
  8. 8 Department of Gastroenterology, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage, UK
  9. 9 Department of Digestive Diseases, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen, UK
  10. 10 Department of Gastroenterology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
  11. 11 Department of Digestive Diseases, Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Kettering, UK
  12. 12 Department of Gastroenterology, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, Canterbury, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Misha Kabir, Gastroenterology, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, NW1 2PG, UK; m.kabir{at}imperial.ac.uk

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.

  • COVID-19
  • HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH

Data availability statement

Data are available on reasonable request.

This article is made freely available for personal use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2022-102298

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @MishaKabir1, @drmanmeetm, @anjan_dhar6, @UKGastroDr

    • Contributors MK is the guarantor of this article and accepts full responsibility for the work and the conduct of the study, had access to the data and controlled the decision to publish. MK and SS designed the survey and analysed the data. All the authors contributed to the conception and design of the study, acquisition and interpretation of the data, revising the article critically for important intellectual content and approving the final version of the article to be published. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.