Abstract
Abbasi writes correctly of ‘change’ and the need for it. 1 ‘Change’ is the byword of the times but the word in the air is conversely ‘restore’.
As numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the UK fell, there has been a move towards ‘restoration’ in the NHS at a necessary but dizzying pace. 2 This meant returning to roles that have changed dramatically for the foreseeable future. Many standards such as face-to-face follow-up consults may now belong to a bygone time. For a great number intimately involved, the erosion of the communal mentality fostered by the COVID-19 surge has created a rarely acknowledged sense of melancholy. The cross-specialty briefings have stopped as we blindly try to grope our way in the dark towards a new normal. For many, the lows of COVID-related work were offset by a refreshing clarity of role and rapid decision-making, free from many day-to-day frustrations. These persons now face an unfamiliar world of telephone consults, Zoom™ meetings and ever-changing rotas. For several, words like ‘frontline’ took on a literal meaning, leaving many now feeling like soldiers home from the front; soldiers yearning for the clarity of conflict, adrift in the murk of the mundane.
We must acknowledge that grief is an acceptable emotion at this time. Being able to reconcile with this emotion without judgement is critical in maintaining the resilience of a post-COVID workforce facing uncertain futures. If we are to effect useful change, there will remain a need to healthily mourn what is tantamount to loss. Emotional responses to change are associated with fluctuations in productivity, a relationship influenced by how we grieve these losses. 3
Perhaps rather than restoration, ‘returning to an original state’, and change, we should be talking about recovery and evolution, referring to both the NHS and her servants.
