Table 2.

Demographics of participants and changed experiences over time^a.

Pseudonym	Age	Ethnicity	Pre-COVID role	Grade	DASS score	Redeployed In 1st wave	Accessed MH resources offered by Employers	Time off due to stress or COVID	1st interview		2nd interview
									Circumstances	Wellbeing / impacts of COVID-19	Circumstances	Wellbeing / Impacts of COVID-19
Laura	31–35	White British	Hospital based	6	Mid	Yes – ICU	No	No	Just finished her redeployment to ICU	Angry, e.g. public wrongly wearing facemasks	She left the NHS after 1st wave, continued bank shifts	Stressed and angry
Camila	46–50	White British	Hospital based manager	7	High	Yes – green zonesb	Accessed counselling but not through her Trust	Yes with long-COVID	Just returned to pre-COVID role after redeployment to green (non-COVID) zones	Angry - particularly at the public for not wearing PPE	Returned to pre-COVID role Time off work helped her to recover	She was beginning to feel better
Sarah	26–30	White British	Hospital based	5	Mid	Yes – ICU	No, has accessed counselling via a charity	No	Just returned to pre-COVID role after ICU redeployment	Anxious and distressed	Returned to pre-COVID role. Ward re-configured & received promotion	Undervalued, sad and disappointed
Jo	46–50	White British	Hospital based clinical	8a	High	Yes – ICU outreach	Yes accessed via Trust	No	Just returned to pre-COVID-19 role after redeployment	Felt useful but stressed	Returned to pre-COVID role	Stressed due to lack of doctors
Isla	36–40	Mixed multiple ethnicities	Private hospital	6	Low	No	No	No	Remained in pre-COVID role	Unhappy with treatment from employer	No second interview	No second interview
Rachel	31–35	White British	Research nurse	7	Low	Yes – ED	Used the Headspace app	No	Returned to pre-COVID role after redeployment to multiple locations	Felt anxious	Embarked on focused research and will not face further redeployment	Survivor guilt - leaving patients and colleagues
Becky	46–50	White British	Social care charity	9	Mid	No	No	No	Remained in pre-COVID role	Stressed, pressure managing staffs’ fears	She was promoted	Some people left - got rid of toxic culture which existed in first wave
Alison	46–50	White British	Mental Health(MH) community	8a	Low	Yes, COVID ward, MH hospital	No	No	Just returned to her pre-COVID role after redeployment	Less autonomy; difficulty questioning decisions	Returned to pre-COVID role	Currently community work is isolating because of working from home
Tessa	46–50	White Irish	Hospital based	7	High	Yes – ICU	Used Headspace app & counselling	Time off due to stress	Just returned from her redeployment to ICU	Abandoned and less autonomy	Redeployed again - spent little time in her pre-COVID role since COVID onset	Angry, let down and stressed. Worried about career progression
Ellie	31–35	White British	Hospital based	7	Mid	Yes – ICU	Considering accessing counselling	No	Just returned to pre-COVID role from her redeployment	She liked the good team support and culture she had with colleagues	Redeployed to ICU again (Since COVID onset spent little time in pre-COVID role)	Anxious, upset and exhausted
Mary	51–55	White British	Hospital improvement	7	High	Yes – to green wardsb	No	No	Working in her pre-COVID role, redeployment did not last long- a few clinical shifts	Felt angry, e.g. public not wearing face masks properly	Spent a lot of time on the wards doing lots of improvement work	Has not felt well supported by managers which has been stressful
Peter	20–25	Not stated	Specialist role	6	Mid	Yes, infection control	No	No	Working in specialist setting	Stressed & anxious; raising concerns during COVID	He has left the NHS	Stressed before leaving. Job felt too political.
Mia	56–60	White British	Community	6	Low	No	No	No	She continued to work in her pre-COVID role	Stressed regarding conflicts with managers e.g. PPE donning	Continued to work in her pre-COVID role	Stress due to conflict between returning shielding staff & others
Sherie	51–55	White British	Hospital based	6	High	Yes – red COVID wardb	No	No	She was redeployed to a COVID ward	She felt distress, but also pride	Returned to pre-COVID role	Stressed, over-stretched, catching up backlog
Sophie	46–50	White British	Community nurse	6	Low	Yes –community team	No	No	Working on the different community team that she joined during COVID	Angry / Lack of autonomy / not well supported	She has stayed with the team she was redeployed to	Stressed, lack of meetings and training in procedures etc
Gaby	56–60	White British	Health visitor	6	Mid	Yes –community hospital	No	Yes	Off sick with long COVID after redeployment	Stressed, distressing and traumatic events	Returned to pre-COVID role	Felt traumatised. Declined further redeployment
Isabella	51–55	White British	Hospital based	7	High	Yes – ICU	Psychologist via a charity	No	Just returned to pre-COVID role after redeployment to ICU and other red wards	She felt very unsupported, encountered unsupportive teams, and found the work hard and distressing	Returned to pre-COVID role	She declined to be redeployed again. She felt less compassionate at work and irritable
Catherine	41–45	White British	Mental health unit	9	Mid	Yes- to aid clinical perspectives on MH	No	No	Mostly remained in her pre-COVID role with 1 or 2 days per week redeployed	Anxious regarding patients no longer receiving face-to-face support	Mostly remained in her pre-COVID role with 1 or 2 days per week redeployed	Main anxiety about mental health of staff
Sandra	41–45	White British	Hospital based	7	High	Yes – ICU	Yes – psychologist	No	Just returned to pre-COVID role after redeployment	She felt anxious and exhausted	She is back to her ICU outreach work	Stressed as she felt that her work had no impact
Helen	46–50	White British	Midwife unit	7	Mid	No	No	No	Continued in her pre-COVID role	Stressed regarding protocols and procedures which felt stressful	Continued in her pre-COIVD role	Stressed regarding procedures
Sue	51–55	White British	community hospital	8a	High	No	No	No	Continued in her pre-COVID role	Distressed regarding relatives not visiting	Continued in her pre-COVID role	Felt angry and stressed
Saffron	51–55	White British	Hospital based	8c	Low	Yes – some days in ICU	No	No	Mostly remained in pre-COVID role	Found redeploying staff stressful	Continued in her pre-COVID role	She worked constantly during pandemic and felt exhausted
Lara	56–60	White British	Bank staff in I.C.U.	5	Low	No	No	No	Worked as regular bank staff in ICU	She felt proud that she was doing her bit.	Continued to work as regular bank staff in ICU	She felt isolated and anxious, poor staffing was a massive issue
Lizzy	56–60	Mixed white & Asian	Community	5	High	No	Apps, yoga, counselling	Yes	Remained in pre-COVID role	Very anxious; pressured to work when wanted to shield on health grounds	No second interview	No second interview
Julia	56–60	White British	Mental Health nurse	6	High	Yes –MH centre	No	No	Returned to pre-COVID role	Stressed. Took on work that she did not feel trained to do	Returned to pre-COVID role Service was being reconfigured	Anxious. Her manager left and she felt unsupported
Amie	56–60	Mixed white & Asian	Manager in the community	8b	Low	No	No	No	Remained in pre-COVID role	Stressed; numbers of deaths, PPE shortages bullying	Working in her pre-COVID role	Felt unsupported and bullied by her external managers
Louise	46–50	White British	Research nurse	8b	Low	Yes –red & green wardsb	No	No	Returned to pre-COVID role	Witnessed distressing / traumatising events	Returned to her pre-COVID role	Stressed, declined further redeployment

^aIn the UK nurses have standardised grading with band 5 the entry level for registered nurses and band 6 for many registered midwives. Nurses who work at higher grades have achieved a higher level of seniority and greater pay. Participant's Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) scores taken from participant's responses in the ICON study, were used in the sampling criteria so were varied.

^bGreen zones or wards were for COVID free patients and red zones or wards for COVID positive patients.