FEATURE REHABILITATION
From acute care to rehabilitation
Based on reflections and input from the occupational therapists in the allied health
professions team at the temporary NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, Steven
Brown charts its rapid evolution from initial delivery of acute care to rehabilitation
The challenges faced nationally by established health and social care services in response to COVID-19 have
been well documented. So how do you meet some of those challenges in a temporary hospital constructed
in a building that was originally a railway station, and is currently Manchester Central Convention Centre?
New staff arriving on site could not fail to be amazed at how, in two weeks, a combined team of army and
civilian engineers had transformed it into the fully functioning and spotlessly clean, temporary NHS Nightingale Hospital
North West (NNW).
Conversations in corridors with the chief allied health professional, requests to the host
trust, and a chance meeting of occupational therapists currently in other roles provided
the initial team of three occupational therapists and three physiotherapists, all from
different backgrounds. They arrived on Monday morning, with the first patient due
on Wednesday.
Recruitment of physiotherapists would not be an issue, with many
in private practice not working due to COVID-19 restrictions in place.
Occupational therapists, without such a pool of potential staff, posed
more of a challenge, and were recruited through a combination of
secondment from NHS and private settings and recruitment through NHS
Professionals.
The team eventually comprised occupational therapists from fields
such as paediatrics, mental health, acute pain and neuro-rehab, to give
just a few examples, with a clinical lead with acute experience in trauma
and medicine.
Some occupational therapists were apprehensive about their potential
roles. Comments including ‘I’ve had very minimal experience in the
physical health setting as a qualified therapist’ or ‘I haven’t been
on a ward for 25 years’ were heard.
48 OTnews July 2020