Occupational Therapy News OTnews May 2020 | Page 13

COVID-19 FEATURE
Supporting colleagues to get through the crisis ‘one
day at a time’
Jo Wren started her new role as a dementia practitioner in
February this year, just a month before ‘everything changed’
with the COVID-19 restrictions.
‘[It is] an emerging role that sits between primary and
secondary care, with the main aim to provide a seamless service for clients
diagnosed with dementia in a specific geographical area, both in the community and
in 24-hour care settings,’ she explains.
‘Embedded in a community mental health team for older people, my first few
weeks had involved networking and developing relationships with GPs, social
workers, care homes, district nurses, Admiral nurses, the local hospice and voluntary
and third sector services, to inform my practice, as well as picking up a small
complex caseload and helping develop a clear pathway between these services.’
In March, the service responded quickly, with staff only going on essential visits,
increasing telephone support for clients and care homes, the development of a
seven-day service, and a split workforce of staff working from home, or from the
office to enable social distancing.
‘I saw stress levels rising in my colleagues, as they tried to manage a change
in work role with worries about the health of their vulnerable clients, dependents,
income, where partners worked in other industries, and childcare issues, as well as
the anxiety about the unprecedented impact of this awful virus,’ she says.
‘With less client contact time and a previous role as staff health and wellbeing
adviser, I started to think about what I could do to help.’
She adds: ‘I went back to basics in my thinking about what occupational science
tells us about health and wellbeing. I could see the virus impacting on our roles, from
family roles to worker roles, it was also impacting on the routines that ground us and
help us understand ourselves as occupational beings.
It was impacting on our ability to set and achieve goals, our self efficacy,
restricting the environments in which we function, our social contact and causing
occupational deprivation on a huge scale.
‘But as occupational therapists we are also specialists in adaptation and the
health promoting value of finding meaningful things to occupy our time, structure our
day and develop routine.’
Jo spoke to her manager and developed a one-hour staff health and wellbeing
session, which included mindfulness, relaxation and discussion on meaningful
activity, and RCOT guidance on staying well during social distancing. Jo also
adapted the NHS Five ways to wellbeing for the current climate and provided a list of
free resources, including a virtual nature walk on YouTube.
‘The sessions were held every day and were initially used mainly by my
community colleagues, but later included more colleagues from our inpatient mental
health units as coronavirus made its way onto the wards,’ she says.
‘The main message was for staff to be gentle with themselves for getting through
one day at a time, and finding things that might help them feel just a little bit better
for a while.’
Feedback has been very positive, but Jo says that the main reward has been
‘seeing staff a little more relaxed’ following the sessions.
‘I’ve shared the session with other trusts locally and will continue to provide
the sessions during the crisis and for as long as they are needed,’ she says. ‘It’s
difficult to see how the current crisis will change my practice in the future, but I
hope to do more work in staff health and wellbeing to care for the people who
care for our clients.’
Helping
older people
stay active
during the
lockdown
Staying active
is vital for older people to maintain
independence, but now that the over-
70s are having to shield themselves,
there is an extra barrier to maintaining
wellbeing.
It was a problem that Jane
Reddaway, the falls prevention lead
at Torbay and South Devon NHS
Foundation Trust, decided to tackle
with information sheets on activity that
people could complete at home during
lockdown.
Jane worked with the public health
team at Torbay Council, which she
had previously worked with on frailty.
Together they developed information
sheets on evidence-based activity and
exercise, of which over 300 have so far
been sent out with meals for those who
are shielding.
Says Jane: ‘I was particularly
concerned about the potential increase
in frailty and therefore falls, the loss of
strength and balance, and the general
loss of independence and wellbeing.
‘It was remarkably simple to pull it
together; we had all the information
there and just had to bring it together as
a brief guide for people to use.’
The feedback so far has been
positive from people who are accessing
online information, including bitesize
information and videos on functional
movement, saying that they are useful
in making a difference to their everyday
lives.
The next steps will depend on what
the new normal looks like, says Jane.
‘If we can’t get people to groups then
we will have to consider something a
bit more long term, including the use of
technology that some of that age group
will be new to,’ she says. However, she
is certain that the information sheets will
certainly have a role to play in future to
help keep people active.
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