'Into the fire': a focus group study of redeployed staff during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, redeployed staff whose services were temporarily suspended were offered a range of opportunities for work to support efforts to manage the impact of the pandemic.A new team, known as the Cygnets was established within an existing team SWAN, to provide non-specialist end of life and bereavement care during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to evaluate new services and one important component of this is understanding the perceptions of those staff who took on the new role. Aim: To evaluate the service from the perspectives of staff. Method: A purposive sample of 14 NHS staff who had worked as Cygnets during the COVID-19 pandemic took part in three focus groups. Results: The themes identified broadly followed the focus group schedule. Participants considered that overall, they had benefited greatly from the challenge of taking on the Cygnet role, and that this had been a learning experience. Conclusions: This was a rapid response to a need for increased provision of compassionate end-of-life care and was a beneficial experience for staff. More research is required into the broader value of the role within the hospital infrastructure.