2 Years Since The First Lockdown

It’s been two years since the first national lockdown was announced………………two years!

Cliché as it sounds in some ways it feels like a lifetime ago and in other ways it feels like yesterday.?

I don’t think any of us actually had any idea of what was about to unfold, and how we were going to have to rapidly change so many things to react to the constantly changing environment. It came as a real shock.? I wanted to take this opportunity two years on for a little reflection.???

When the government published the coronavirus action plan on the 3rd March 2020 with its 4 phase response. We were blissfully unaware of what was coming and I’m sure we were not alone in this.? We were under the impression a bit more hand gel and maybe more mask wearing was going to get us through, and everything would be business as usual very quickly.? How wrong we were!???

Things kept changing, becoming ever more chilling and urgent.? Things were changing day by day, then minute by minute.? Every day it felt like got out of bed, ripped up yesterday’s plan and started re-planning due to new recommendations, advice and rules.?

Obviously once the national lockdown was announced, as front-line essential care workers, this meant something different to us (and those others) who were not heading to the garden, to wait it all out safely, tucked away at home.? We had to find a way to provide our usual outstanding care and service, but with so many new obstacles and barriers in our way, all with the constant worry of keeping everyone safe.?

So, what did we do??

Our priority throughout, what has now been a long, long two years was safety.? The safety of our carers and customers has been pivotal.? We needed to find a way to ensure exceptional care while making sure rules were adhered to and make sure we didn’t contribute to the spread of the virus.? It has been a very busy time!?

Initially all workers had to be provided with letters and documentation they could present, if challenged, to prove that they should be out and about travelling, as they were essential front-line workers.? These documents were prepared and distributed immediately.???

The next thing on our list was scheduling.???

This is always a massive task, but now we wanted to minimise contact with multiple people and guarantee our customers and staff were not putting anyone at unnecessary increased risk.? The rotas were arranged to make sure we limited where possible the interaction of different staff with each other and multiple customers.?

Alongside this the office staff were arranged into bubbles to limit contact and make certain, with the inevitable sickness and staff absence, we were always able to complete a full complement of tasks.? Making sure the standards of care and attention to detail were as meticulous as always.??

Where possible the office staff were working from home.? This in itself created extra work and more challenges.? We had to hurriedly invest in much more equipment in terms of laptops, phones, ipads etc.? Our work phones are Voip phones, so we had to confirm everyone had sufficiently fast internet connection to be able to work effectively.??

The new IT equipment had to be programmed rapidly and distributed as a matter of urgency.? Luckily our Managing Director worked tirelessly, installing, programming, formatting and testing all the equipment himself to establish everything worked correctly and the team could continue their daily work seamlessly.?

The obvious and well reported issue, surrounding working in care every day was PPE. As we provide Domiciliary Home Care and are not a Residential Care Home we were not initially provided with personal protective equipment.? There was a shortage of all PPE country wide, costs rocketed, and it became an almost full-time job to locate items to purchase wherever they were available all over the world. .? The internet was trawled on a daily basis and a real sense of achievement was felt when a supplier actually had stock and was able to fulfil an order.?

Full PPE was, of course, worn by each carer and replaced multiple times a day, often the same carer will make many visits to the same customer throughout the day, each time a brand-new set of all PPE was donned and then had to be bagged up and disposed of correctly.? It was all a bit daunting.?

When the government did start to provide some PPE to social care frontline staff it was quite a relief, although with limited supply, it was still a challenge to make sure everyone had enough to secure adequate distribution.?

Enhanced cleaning of everywhere was implemented.? Both office and customers homes.? Door handles, light switches, keyboards, handsets, everything was being wiped with anti-bacterial cleaning products.? This of course had a knock-on effect of everything taking just a little longer.?

Throughout the pandemic we remained in even closer contact with all our carers than usual.? Many staff members, particularly in the early days, reported feeling tense, uneasy and worried about working in such worrying times.? Our door is ever open for support and never more than at this time, we tried to reassure as much as we possibly could and were always there to listen to and try and help with any concerns.??

A unique safety measure we put in place (of which I am really proud) was to supply all our customers with their own supply of face masks and hand gel for their personal use, not only was this for added safety but removed the worry of having to source or purchase these items themselves. This level of comfort and reassurance went a long way.? The carers worked tirelessly making sure the supplies of masks and hand gels were kept stocked up and accessible.?

As we settled into the new way of life things became less fraught and less fear was being experienced.?? Of course, there were still the same challenges together with new ones.?

One difference was that the demand for all our services actually increased during the pandemic.? NHS waiting lists became longer meaning more patients were in need of support from Adult Social Care, in addition, other individuals were? being discharged from hospitals sooner than usual to decrease the risk of covid infection, this resulted in discharge with more complex needs and more time needed from our services.?

Inevitably we had to deal with staff and customers contracting the virus and becoming ill, meaning rising levels of worry and concern and rapidly changing rotas, schedules and responsibilities for different people.? It was particularly troublesome when a customer contracted the virus, as they needed the same, if not more, levels of care.? We changed who was visiting covid positive customers and limited other contacts. We did everything possible to maximise infection control and keep people in a safe environment.??

We consider ourselves extremely lucky and have only lost a few customers to the virus, however few, this was devastating to all involved and it is testament to all our carers that we continued to keep going.? It has been reported that death rates amongst care workers are double that of the general population.? A statistic that is horribly frightening, but we have not lost one staff member to the virus, a statistic we definitely intend to keep.? There was of course, staff absence but thankfully no serious illness.??

As a company we always thought it was best to pay full wages to all our staff who were unable to work due to infection or isolation, hoping to ease any worries around financial matters.? Luckily the government grant we received, helped when it arrived some distance into the pandemic.? We were more than happy to pass this onto our amazing carers.??

Further support from the councils came in the form of prompt invoice payment.? Payment of invoices and cash flow has always been a traditional hurdle in Adult Social Care, the new approach was very helpful.?

Yet more support we received was when the covid-19 vaccination program was set up.? The aim was to protect those who were at highest risk from serious illness or death, or at risk of transmitting infection to multiple vulnerable people. Adult Social Care workers were included in phase 1 of the roll out, in December 2021.? Although it was being suggested that the vaccination was going to be made compulsory for all workers in Social Care, as a company although we advised everyone to receive the vaccine, we gave our carers the option, with the understanding this may change, Happily the overwhelming majority of our staff had the vaccination when offered, in order to protect themselves, the customers and our work force.? All customers were kept informed of staff vaccine status and their opinion and choices were listened to when scheduling individual carers.??

With all these new steps in our daily set up, it seems an odd thing to say that, the new implementations have aided our company and improved customer service. The pandemic as a whole has highlighted the skills and dedication of many workers and we couldn’t be prouder of our team.?

All in all, the pandemic has also highlighted that the type of care and support people want has changed.? The experience of the lockdown has accelerated the desire of many people for home-based solutions.? At Care More we are doing our best to meet the ever-changing situation.? If we had known at the start of the pandemic the extent of everything that was coming, we would all have been very concerned, but it has highlighted how proud we are of all our team, and put a spot light on the massive effort and dedication out team put in.???

A heartfelt thanks goes out to all.?

What were your experiences over the past two years???

I would be very interested to hear your stories, so please do get in touch.?

Stay Safe!?

Written by K Patel for Care More ?