The COVID-19 Recovery and Rehabilitation project was kindly funded by The Rayne Foundation to help care homes share with each other what they are doing to help individuals living, dying, visiting and working in care homes for older people to move on from COVID-19. This story relates to Developing the workforce, which is an important part of Developing best practice together.

 If you have a story to share, please email us on mhlcharity@outlook.com.

As one care home shared…

The training needs of the care home workforce is ever-changing and, in the pandemic, this awareness has been intensified. We’ve had to learn and adapt quickly. Our staff have had to take on demanding roles and been placed in situations which have been indeed challenging. We’ve had to pool together our resources, including staff members from various departments of the home being called upon to support care staff, as appropriate. Sometimes, managers or senior members of the team were off due to isolation, and the remaining staff had to coordinate the affairs of the care home. Things were very difficult. We had some staff who worked throughout the entire period of great difficulty, especially in the first lockdown.

 

To us, developing the workforce is not simply a focus on regular clinical training, or other competency training. It is ensuring that our staff are supported in every way that we can. For example, we have invested in training staff to become mental health first aiders in the home, to support colleagues. A well-being hub just for staff was also started and this includes paid counselling, relaxation resources, offers on essential oils and other perks. Although staff may not always access these, it is a way to demonstrate that management are investing in their well-being and development, as opposed to simply having an interest in competency training. In other homes, various managers have introduced ‘trauma, trivia and joy’ in team meetings, with the idea that staff can better understand what everyone is currently going through outside of work. This helped tremendously during the pandemic.

 

Bonuses were also paid to staff in the middle of the pandemic and another bonus is coming soon. But really, there’s no way you can really repay people, in terms of money or stuff, for what they did during the very difficult days of the pandemic. Continuing to recognise them, says much more than a one-off bottle of wine. What people need is gratitude and respect. We continue to try our best to meet these needs.

What did your organisation do to help you and other staff develop during the pandemic? (we’d love to hear from you)