COVID-19 triage in general adult in-patient psychiatry: perspectives from clinicians on a novel triage ward during the pandemic

Intra-hospital transmission of COVID-19 is a major concern. To mitigate this risk, `COVID-triage' psychiatric wards were implemented by some inpatient service providers in the UK. Although the effectiveness of this model has not been investigated, there are questions about the benefits and detriments of this model of care for patients and staff. This reflection draws from the experiences of clinicians who were redeployed from their planned clinical posts (and training rotations, in the case of trainees) to staff a newly established COVID-triage ward at a large urban mental healthcare provider, between August 2020 and March 2021.