November 2023: Engage Britain has now merged with Demos. You can still find all our work from 2019-2023 here, but to get in touch or find out about our new ventures, go to https://demos.co.uk/

Karen
"The Covid pandemic, for some areas of the NHS – like my department – has actually made work life better. Because you actually have more time allocated for patients. Because you've got additional time for your decontamination between patients and things like that. And just have a second in between your sort of conveyor belt of patients throughout the day. And I think, in terms of mental health, just being able to have a second to just breathe while you're cleaning things down and just writing up your notes, is actually making a big difference. And I know that myself, and other members of my team, are actually kind of not really looking forward to the day when we go back to the full-on conveyor belt - like 18 to 20 patients a day...It's been quite nice having an extra few minutes just to talk to and listen to patients. Because that's something the patients do value; being listened to and feeling like we're giving them time just to be listened to. For them to be heard."