3 minute read
Staff engagement during
All in it together How LTHT teams have been staying the course through COVID-19
From wobble rooms to pause buttons, our CSU teams have been innovating fantastic new ways to keep their staff engaged, informed and healthy during lockdown. Here are few of our teams in their own words about what worked well for them.
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Women’s Services
Sue Gibson, Head of Midwifery, said: “Maintaining the wellbeing of our teams throughout the pandemic has been a big priority. Our Maternity team introduced ‘Wobble Rooms’ at St James’s and the LGI so that staff could have space to recover when things got too much. “Our Professional Midwife Advocate (PMA) team developed a staff support handbook that provided help for dealing with anxiety, and we managed to source special Sanctuary boxes which went into the wobble room and were replenished as required. The PMA team continued with regular visits to the clinical areas to offer pastoral support on an individual basis. “We also made an extra effort to keep teams informed about changes to our services and to make sure staff knew their hard work was being acknowledged. We sent regular email briefings from the Women’s tri-team, whilst our Director of Midwifery held weekly virtual forums for staff in Maternity to check in with any problems or concerns and to ensure they felt as supported as possible with as much information available.
“Leeds Cares have also committed to providing a gift for all our community Midwifery staff. Community staff are a huge part of the team and we know you are all working so hard too. “Our staff who were shielding were offered the opportunity to meet regularly virtually as we were aware of the need to support staff who through no fault of their own were unable to work as normally. “Our third year student midwives also had the opportunity to join a virtual check-in where they could talk to the Director of Midwifery and have a voice for any issues they were having. It was extremely important to the Women’s CSU Triumverate team that our staff felt valued and appreciated, with up to date information in such an unprecedented situation.”
Leeds Children’s Hospital
Celia Mckenzie, Deputy Head of Nursing – Leeds Children’s Hospital, said: “At Leeds Children’s hospital we recognised the importance of the health and well-being of our staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our psychology team provided support and tips on coping mechanisms as part of our CSU-wide daily updates. This went down really well and soon became the ‘Pressing the Pause Button’ daily update sent to all staff Trust-wide.
“Our daily Covid-19 meeting ensured our staff were kept up-to-date with the impact of the pandemic with all clinical departments represented, allowing us to communicate key updates, changes in policies, and address any issues in a timely fashion. “Our weekly Grand Round went virtual (with regularly over 150 people attending) and saw our resident Covid-19 expert Sean O’Riordan providing informative and topical reviews during the height of the pandemic. Regular CSU-wide communication allowed us to disseminate changing clinical practice along with having a topical “Sean says” comment from Dr O’Riordan.
“Virtual meetings were adopted throughout by many of our staff teams including admin, allied health professionals, nursing, and medical teams. Our Junior Doctors were able to take ‘Tea with the College Tutor’ – a weekly virtual meeting where they could ask questions. “It was important the support to our teams was not just virtual, and our Matrons did a fantastic job conducting daily walks of each of the wards in their area, seven days a week. Staff were also offered drop-in ‘hubs’ where they could speak to someone face-to-face about any problems they were having. “With help from Leeds Cares we opened our Wellbeing Room in the school room (closed during the pandemic) in June as a space for staff to relax and have a moment away from the wards. This was possible to the generous donations from Leeds Cares and Asda providing products such as colouring and mindfulness books, and a coffee machine and pods.”
