3 minute read
COVID-19: A Call to Action
Article by Keely Jennings, Content Developer.
At the beginning of 2020, a topic that was fast beginning to dominate our news and day-to-day conversations was the possibility that the world was facing the onset of a pandemic caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
As news feeds and official sources were being updated at a rapid pace, we at Blue Stream Academy were closely monitoring the available information and the impact this would have on all sectors and organisations providing health and social care in the UK. As a provider of eLearning, we knew we were in a position to act quickly and give essential support to our customers, who were facing the huge and unprecedented effects of COVID-19.
In February, our initial response to assist our customers with vital training and knowledge-sharing was to create a concise COVID-19 module, which collated key information, such as the number of COVID-19 cases (updated by our content developers and programmers on a daily basis), the symptoms, what a pandemic is, and infection prevention and control measures.
This module was added to our eLearning suites within a couple of days and in March – as we also adapted our working practices – it rapidly developed into our comprehensive COVID-19 Staff Support Toolkit.
The inaugural Toolkit – which gathered together essential and relevant information, including Government and national organisations’ guidance and recommendations related to COVID-19 – was created in-house and was designed to be a completely flexible resource that could be updated and expanded promptly on an ongoing basis.
Free to Everyone Working in Health and Social Care
As it was reported that thousands of former NHS staff members were returning to work to help in the fight against COVID-19, to accompany the Staff Support Toolkit we developed our Essential Refresher Training. The modules included in this training focused on key areas that would be relevant for those coming back to work in health or social care and provided an easy-to-use resource for refreshing their knowledge and core skills.
With the back-up of our highly experienced and dedicated Sales and Media Teams, we made the decision to ensure that both the COVID-19 Staff Support Toolkit and the Essential Refresher Training were made available for free to anyone working in health and social care.
As an organisation that works so closely with our frontline and key workers and has such strong relationships with the health and social care sectors, it was extremely important to us to provide as much help as possible, as accessibly and as quickly as we could, in such immensely challenging circumstances.
To date, over 27,000 health and social care professionals have completed our COVID-19 Staff Support Toolkit training.
In these exceptional times, we’ve learnt that easy access to essential information, gathered together in one resource and updated regularly, is extremely important and reassuring for those working in the sectors we support and who are dealing with the wide-ranging effects of the pandemic on a daily basis.
We are honoured to have received feedback from our customers that has reinforced the benefits and value of eLearning in delivering important information to those who are working under enormous pressure in key roles. As we continue to support our customers and the wider health and social care community, everyone at Blue Stream Academy would like to thank those who have been involved in delivering all aspects of health and social care and for caring for us all during these incredibly difficult months.
We made your COVID module mandatory for all staff. It was a timely and most welcome addition to our library. It was comprehensive but easy for staff of all grades to understand. It gave confidence to us as an organisation that our staff were as prepared as they could be for an ever-changing situation.
Christina Cleworth, Group Business Manager, Portsdown Group Practice
