Health workers facing an instruction to self-isolate will be able to return to work under strict conditions, it was announced today.
Doctors and other health and social care staff governed by the new rules should not work with clinically extremely vulnerable patients, the Department of Health said.

Under the roles, the employee will be regarded as still self-isolating and will be expected to stay at home when not working. They will also have to take a daily lateral flow test before going into work – together with a negative PCR test at the outset of the self-isolation.

Employers will only be allowed to bring in self-isolating staff if they have authority from a local director of public health or an organisation’s director of infection prevention. The member of staff must also have had both doses of vaccine against the COVID-19 virus. The measures were announced as one newspaper proclaimed a “pingdemic” of workers staying at home after being ordered to self-isolate by the NHS app.

The so-called “Freedom Day” intended to mark the end of lockdown was muted after the UK reported more than 100,000 cases of infection over the weekend – and Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to self-isolate after Health Secretary Sajid Javid contracted the virus. England recorded 3,367 patients in hospital on Friday, the largest number since the end of March but one tenth of the peak in January.

However, the combination of self-isolation and infected patients placed hospitals under pressure. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, cancelled all operations for two days after a 50% increase in COVID patients last week – with 30 occupying intensive care beds.

Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “With the number of cases continuing to rise, it is imperative that we do everything we can to manage this virus and support our NHS and social care services under the strain of increased demand and sustained pressure. We have provided specific guidance to NHS and social care settings for circumstances where there is a significant risk to health or safety resulting from staff absence or a critical service cannot run. This measure only applies to double vaccinated staff, who will only be able to attend work after testing negative on PCR and daily lateral flow tests and following a risk assessment and the supervision of the health service.”

Dr Penelope Toff, co-chair of the British Medical Association public health medicine committee, said: “It is difficult to understand why, against this backdrop and knowing that the majority of people want to do the right thing to protect themselves and their families, the Westminster Government is standing firm on ending all remaining restrictions. The fact that guidance has been issued on keeping face coverings in healthcare settings is recognition that they are an effective way of controlling infection but vulnerable people should not be excluded from all other public areas and effectively asked to shield all over again because they cannot be sure most others will be wearing face coverings.

“We’re already hearing of ICU wards beginning to fill up and many COVID-19 wards being reopened. Healthcare workers have risked their lives fighting on the frontline this past year, so the thought of having to go through a huge and preventable surge again is very demoralising and puts staff wellbeing at stake. The backlog of care, in both hospitals and the community, is growing at a rapid pace and this increase of Covid infections has already meant more people have had their treatment delayed even longer. We simply cannot afford to let this third wave spiral out of control.”