Key workers tell how they’ve had to adapt to coronavirus ‘new normal’
Jayne Howarth, a social worker based in Whitby and Scarborough, said the biggest change she had faced was not being able to speak to service users face to face.
Jayne, along with other key workers across the county, has helped keep North Yorkshire running smoothly despite the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic.
She said: “There’s two sides to my job; I’m in the independence team – normally we do assessments of people who are not currently open to health and adult social care.
“We assess, screen and put in Reablement if it’s appropriate or we pass it on to the planned care team if they have long term support needs. At present we are adopting a one team approach across all of the independence and planned care teams so we are doing a bit of everything.
“I’m also a safeguarding officer, so a good chunk of my work is safeguarding too.”
The hardest thing has been giving assessments over the telephone. I’ve not worked with anyone so far who has been able to use Skype or video call meaning most of my assessments have been done over the telephone.
One of the main ways Jayne has adapted in her job is doing assessments over the phone, rather than face-to-face.
“We had one case where I had to make a decision about a long-term care plan for someone who lacked mental capacity to make that decision for herself. Usually, you’d spend time with them, getting to know them, but under the current circumstances that hasn’t been possible.
“The person was in a care home; it was a potentially life-changing decision. I found out family had been going to speak to her through the window of her care home, so I decided to do that. We had a good chat.”
Communication
Robert Swindells is one of North Yorkshire’s key employees, working in the Whitby Planned Care Team.
Like other front-line workers across the region, Robert has been continuing to work during the Covid-19 pandemic – but has adapted in a big way to a new, socially distanced way of doing his job as a social worker.
Robert said: “The biggest part of our job is about communication, as well as assessing people, so that has been very difficult not being able to do it face-to-face.
“It’s about gathering information, developing a plan and forming a solution, all done via good communication. Generally this has been done face-to-face, but the Covid situation has denied us that ability to meet with our customers.
“We deal with a full range of people, from our older residents, those with disabilities, mental health problems to those who might be homeless, may have issues with substance abuse, asylum seekers and vulnerable young adults.
“So it’s been incredibly important for me doing my job to adapt in the best way to deal with the broad range of lives I come into contact with because of my job.”
Robert, who is also a Safeguarding Officer and Best Interest Assessor, explained he’s had to adapt to be able to speak to people in a way they understand – and especially with elderly people, many of them may not use the technology some of us have become so familiar with like video calling.
He added: “For me, it’s been about having more regular contact in smaller doses. A lot of people are feeling overwhelmed at the moment, so it’s important to take time for answers and responses to assess people appropriately.”
It’s also been important to communicate with colleagues both within North Yorkshire County Council and within the heath service – this has been a positive to come out of the pandemic. We’ve had to learn to communicate more efficiently across our own teams and the teams we work with and I hope we don’t lose that when society goes back to normal.
