Sir, we conducted a voluntary survey amongst DFTs to discover the factors that would influence their transition, their perceived needs, and their current skillset into redeployment. We received over 72 responses from various regions across the UK: 41.7% had already been redeployed into secondary care, with the remainder either waiting to hear about their new placement or had not redeployed. By rating individual factors on a 5-point Likert scale, we were able to determine what influenced their willingness to be redeployed as their decision is a voluntary one.

Perceived lack of provision of adequate PPE, risk of exposure and transmission of COVID-19 to family and friends, and provision of adequate training prior to taking on new roles were ranked highly as deterrents to redeployment.Gaining new skills during redeployment and wanting to work in a larger team ranked highly as positive factors. Interestingly, factors such as working extra or unsociable hours, working in a new location or in a hospital were not ranked as major preventative factors.

In terms of assessing skillsets that DFTs held at the time of redeployment in relation to working in ICU, on average responders had low confidence levels regarding familiarity with ICU lines, phlebotomy, and cannulation. As DCTs we can reassure our junior colleagues that these skills can be learnt with support and will be useful if they are considering further postgraduate training.

These factors provide insight into the driving forces to recruit young clinicians into an unfamiliar role. They may be useful for key decision makers if we were to have a second peak or another pandemic.