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Article History

Received: 27 June 2022

Revised: 2 December 2022

Accepted: 5 December 2022

First Online: 14 April 2023

Ethics declaration

: The authors have no interests to declare.

: The data were uploaded onto a pre-print server on 29 April 2020.

: Prior to data collection, an assessment was made of the need for ethical review. The survey was found to be exempt from UK ethical approval. The HRA's 'Does my project require review by a research ethics committee?' document was consulted in conjunction with the HRA online decision tool. The proposed survey was identified as research. At stage two, assessment for each country within the UK was made using the online decision tool 'Do I need NHS REC review?' The online tool established that the survey did not meet the necessary requirements for ethical approval. The UK HRA document 'Standard operating procedures for research ethics committees' was additionally consulted. The proposed survey did not meet the necessary requirements for ethical review: the research only involved staff of healthcare services (by virtue of their professional role). Further reference to 'Governance arrangements for research ethics committees' confirmed the proposed survey did not meet the necessary criteria for ethical review.

: The study participants had to enter their GDC number on the landing page as part of the confirmation that they were willing to take part in the survey and to ensure that duplicate entries were not received. Consent to participate was implied by completion of the survey. IP addresses were used on a temporary basis to ensure the integrity of the data, but these were not stored. A statement explaining that each participant's survey data would be anonymised was made.

: The BDJ Editor-in-Chief is satisfied that an appropriate ethical pathway was followed in this study given the unique prevailing circumstances.

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