Rapid transformation of the medical on-call rotas to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study.

At Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, an emergency rota was put into place in anticipation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key changes included re-deploying non-general medical (GIM) consultants on to the GIM on-call rota and re-deploying junior doctors on to medical rotas, and introducing a COVID-19 induction training programme to support these redeployments. Results from a survey showed 100% of consultants felt the rotas were resilient, with 96% of consultants stating they felt the rotas were well-staffed and 77% stating that they observed no drop in quality of care.