The COVID-19 challenge

There have been so many changes over recent weeks, both within health professional practice and personally, that many are feeling almost overwhelmed. Simon Stevens as CEO and Amanda Pritchard as COO of NHS England (NHS England, 2020) issued a letter to NHS organisations to prepare for COVID-19 patients requiring healthcare support; similar letters were issued by healthcare leaders in the other UK countries. While the emphasis is on what hospitals can do to free up in-patient beds, including intensive care beds, through the postponement of elective activities and early discharge, the need to augment the workforce through health professionals being enabled to work outside their usual disciplinary and specialism boundaries were set out, with senior healthcare students joining the workforce. Community health services also have a major role to play through supporting the discharge of medically fit patients from acute and community beds and ensuring that patients who are cared for at home receive urgent care when they need it, as well as supporting those identified as high risk who are self-isolating for 12 weeks (or those being shielded by the NHS).