Lockdown was something my clinic had planned for and we had anticipated some aspects of it from February. In the days running up to the closure, staff were given laptops and were allocated work to do from home when the time came. However, when it happened, it was sudden; we thought we would have two more days, and I had not then realised that staff on the furlough scheme would not be allowed to work at all!
Luckily, the laptops came in useful for lots of online training, which was allowed, and we became experts in online shopping and communications. I discovered, with some embarrassment, that Zoom was not the multicoloured ice lolly of my childhood, but the go-to online webinar and video call software!
While my staff enjoyed two months of paid leave, spent quality time with their young children, ran errands for elderly relatives and relaxed in the garden through one of the warmest Aprils on record…
