How a hospice education team responded to the Covid-19 crisis
11 June 2020
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How a hospice education team responded to the Covid-19 crisis
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Bridget Moss, Head of Education at Saint Francis Hospice in Essex, tells ehospice about meeting the new educational needs that have emerged as a result of Covid-19.
Like all of the services at Saint Francis Hospice, educational services changed to ensure everyone was safe whilst essential learning continued.
Of course lockdown meant the majority of face-to-face events, scheduled to take place at the Hospice Education Centre, had to be postponed.
My role went from leading a varied schedule on site and in the community, to completely re-thinking our offer so we could meet the rapidly growing learning needs of professionals providing end of life care.
The speed of change was rapid. It went from coordinating the team to relocating and working from home, to adapting roles to take on new responsibilities. At the same time. I became aware of the increasing need for education in our local community.
It was vital to be able to respond as soon as possible, and liaising with the right colleagues quickly was key. Initially a lot of the work was done over the phone off site.
This close partnership working meant we gained a clear understanding of the increasing learning needs as they emerged day by day. More and more professionals were being redeployed from their usual roles to provide care to people with Covid-19 as services were remodelled to meet growing need.
Sadly, a lot of this was end of life care, and this was where our expertise and experience could help and be part of the local and national response to the crisis. We needed to make sure that everyone was equipped and supported to provide this care with skill and compassion.
We’ve provided teaching within local hospitals in small groups, with all the measures in place to keep everyone safe. Some teaching has been via eLearning, and designing and launching the tools was achieved within days, all reflecting the most up to date national guidance.
As I write this lockdown measures are being gradually being eased, but of course this work will carry on as the learning need hasn’t gone away, nor has the need for this type of care.
