© portishead1 via Getty Images competitions , jokes and birthday details , for example , to keep people in touch with both their centres and what staff and service users were doing during lockdown .
These proved very popular . Their role was also to maintain regular contact with families and service users and identify situations where stress was becoming apparent , linking then with the community learning disabilities team .
Extensive work was also done in sharing easy read information with families on COVID-19 and the associated restrictions , including personal protective equipment ( PPE ) and social distancing , to support them in explaining what was happening to our service users .
The effectiveness of this has really become apparent since the day centres re-opened , and the high level of understanding and adherence to the rules among our service users about PPE , hand washing and social distancing can be appreciated .
Alongside our day centres , the trust part-fund a large number of community and voluntary sector organisations , to provide day opportunity services for adults with learning disabilities across the city , the majority of whom do not access statutory day services .
In response to COVID-19 , our partner organisations developed a range of alternative meaningful activity options to enable them to continue to support and engage these service users .
Utilising a range of IT systems , social media platforms and smart phone apps ensured that some form of service delivery was continued and contact maintained with service users and their families .
Some organisations also provided a range of additional activities , which could be shared and offered to all people with learning disabilities across the city . This greatly benefited all our service users and at the very least provided some alternative options to enable them to access and engage in meaningful activity whilst at home .
Benefits of an activity worker
Prior to COVID-19 , a need for a structured meaningful activity programme had been identified in one of the residential homes , which would involve a role for someone to take the lead in researching and planning outings , alongside risk assessing such activities and working with both the manager and deputy manager in ensuring adequate staff were rostered to work to facilitate these .
The activity worker post was approved on a trial basis and funding
Across the various care settings , both statutory and commissioned , a number of initiatives were put in place to address the potential deterioration in service users ’ overall health and wellbeing .”
January 2022 OTnews 43