COVID-19 : providing valuable continuity of care
into the community
Clare Pearsall reflects on her experience as an occupational therapist in a COVID-19 outreach service
Clare Pearsall , a band seven occupational
therapist at Heartlands Hospital , University Hospitals Birmingham Trust , has for many years worked on a hyper acute stroke unit and treating outlier neurological patients . At the start of the pandemic , she found herself working with a whole new patient group .
‘ An intensive care unit ( ICU ) step down ward was created and the static band six , rotational band five , and their physiotherapy colleagues , quickly identified and reported to therapy management on patients ’ complexity of delirium , significant global weakness , nerve injuries and cognitive problems ,’ she explains .
‘ It was decided that neurotherapists would be well placed to join the team and so I was approached , along with a band seven physiotherapy colleague . I had never worked with ICU or respiratory patients , and this was an unknown patient group with regards to the virus .
‘ However , I saw it as a unique experience and significant learning opportunity and was confident I had the level of transferrable skill required .’
What evolved , she recounts , was ‘ a blended workforce of occupational therapists , physiotherapists , dieticians and speech therapists , with a variety of specialty backgrounds , coming together to provide a comprehensive service ’.
Clare ’ s role focused on delirium and fatigue management and cognitive screening ; ‘ seeing patients with my occupational therapy colleagues in order to up skill and enable a further enhanced service moving forwards ’.
Creation of a dynamic new service As the pandemic moved to ‘ phase two ’, and the
24 OTnews January 2021