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This page was last updated: 24th  2020

Information and resources for NHS professionals working with children during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis 

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Doctors’ wellbeing: self care during the covid-19 pandemic. During a period of increased stress and uncertainty it is more important than ever for NHS staff to look after themselves, say Michael Farquhar and Shreena Unadkat.

To be able to care for your patients, you must take care of yourself. Here are a few tips and resources to help you do that.

The COVID-19 outbreak is having a significant impact on all of us and has affected the way in which we work and live our lives. For many doctors and healthcare professionals this may be a time of increased pressure and stress.It is important during this time that you take time to prioritise your own mental health and wellbeing, recognising that it is more difficult to provide outstanding care for others when you are not adequately cared for yourself. The AMRC gives top tips on self-care as well as a multitude of links to other resources.

Delivered by The NHS Leadership Academy, this is an envolving site with information and guidance to help you you manage your own health and wellbeing whilst looking after others. Theey have a support page with numbers you can ring or text for support with your mental health or following a bereavement.

This is a guide for leaders and managers of healthcare services who will need to consider the wellbeing needs of all healthcare staff (clinical and non-clinical) as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. It offers practical recommendations for how to respond at individual, management and organisational level involving the appropriate utilisation of expertise within their practitioner psychologist and mental health professionals and anticipates the psychological reactions over time, and what people may need to recovery psychologically from this.

Occupational therapists are experts in helping others to maintain health and wellbeing, but sometimes it’s easier to advise than to practice what you preach. Now, during this COVID-19 crisis, you need more than ever to look after yourselves to ensure that you can keep helping the people you support.

In tackling the COVID-19 outbreak workers will be faced with a lot of uncertainty and may, at times, encounter scary situations. This can lead to a sense of threat and result in feelings of anxiety and fear. A major source of anxiety and fear is likely to be related to the possibility of contracting the virus from sick patients.

During the COVID-19 outbreak front line workers are going to be exposed to a range of extreme demands and significant adversity. Resilience can help protect workers and enable them to maintain their performance, health and wellbeing during this time

During the COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare staff will often be required to work in conditions of high pressure and potentially outside their usual areas of expertise. Making sure that staff are able to be attentive to errors, learn, share knowledge, innovate, and collaborate, requires a working climate where people are comfortable to speak up and act without fear.

COVID-19 workers are likely to witness a number of distressing scenes and be exposed to a range of potentially traumatic events. For some, this may contribute to the development of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

COVID-19 is placing significant demand on an already stretched healthcare system. Prioritisation of resources (e.g., staff, beds and ventilators) due to increased demand means that some patients may not receive the care that they would ordinarily get. When preventable loss of life occurs due to these reasons, healthcare workers may be at risk of moral injury.

In the face of the COVID-19 crisis NHS staff will face situations in which they will encounter difficult communication. This may be patients who are scared and anxious about the getting/having the virus, family members upset that they cannot be with loved ones, patients refusing to adhere to rules, having to deliver bad news to patients and their families or even disagreements with other staff members whilst working under such high pressure and uncertain circumstances.

Occupational therapists are experts in helping others to maintain health and wellbeing, but sometimes it’s easier to advise than to practice what you preach. Now, during this COVID-19 crisis, you need more than ever to look after yourselves to ensure that you can keep helping the people you support.

This professional advice from the Institute of Health Visiting aims to describe the new process for delivery of safeguarding vulnerable families by health visitor teams during the COVID-19 pandemic. Priority is given to protecting the health and wellbeing of both the family and professionals.

This briefing focuses on the experiences of children living in mental health wards and shows how Covid-19 and lockdown has affected their hospital experience. To understand more about the experiences of this vulnerable group of children during Covid-19, the Children's Commissioner surveyed ward managers and spoke to staff and children in two wards. They found that there were some positive changes reported. Children told them that, on the whole, the atmosphere on their wards was calm, with staff doing their best to allay anxiety. Things that children have been asking for over many years – increased access to mobile phones and the internet – were introduced in order to increase contact with friends and family. However, there have also been significant challenges, which have made things even more difficult for these children, including a reduction in visits from their family; a deal of disruption to education during this period; and visits from external professionals such as family therapists and advocates dropped alarmingly. Finally, Covid-19 has also hampered arrangements for getting children home when they were ready to be discharged. 

Child and adolescent therapists/play therapists

Play therapist Garry Landreth explains that the coronavirus crisis does not change the importance of the therapeutic relationship in children’s lives: Provide emotional support to your play therapy clients through parent-child special play time. 

 

A beginner’s guide to adding online support to your young people’s mental health and wellbeing service

A beginner’s guide to adding online support to your young people’s mental health and wellbeing service

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