Health & Wellbeing

 Health & Wellbeing

Employee Assistance Programmes



HCPA - COVID-19 Employee Assistance Programme 


The HCPA have setup an Employee asistance programme to help provide you with extra mental health, anxiety or bereavement support relating to COVID-19.

The service is totaly free and completely confidential. Right at Home will not be notified in anyway if you have been in touch with them.

If you need extra support relating to COVID-19 please contact the HCPA's friendly team either via:
email: eap@hcpa.info
send a text message to: 07520 649 448

Once your request has been received, the HCPA will then arrange access to support for you.
New App for adult social care workers in England

A new dedicated app for the adult social care workforce in England has been launched to support staff on-the-go through the coronavirus pandemic. The Care Workforce app, developed with NHSX and NHS Business Services Authority will be introduced under the new CARE brand and will act as a single digital hub for social care workers to access relevant updates, guidance, support and discounts from their phone.
 
The app is available for download from on Apple and Android supported smartphones, or can be accessed by browsers on any device. Download the app now or search 'Care Workforce' on Google Play or the App Store.

The app also contains links to SilverCloud where you can find more online self help tools for things like Covid-19, Stress, Reslilience, Sleep etc.
Click here to get more information on SilverCloud but to get access you will need the app.

Offers for social care workers (brought to you by NHSX and CQC)

NHSX and the Care Quality Commission are working together to identify and disseminate priority food offers for social care staff. 
These include offers that are available to individual employees and for care providers.

Below are details for offers from the following:

Food to care
Iceland
Morrisons
Blue Light card for carers
Discounts for carers

What to do if a Client is Anxious about you wearing PPE

Guidance
Helping the Client to understand the changes
Supporting people with a learning disability or those with an autism spectrum disorder requires skill, patience, and time in what can be sometimes complex situations. Similarly, some Clients in the middle to later stages of most types of dementia may start to behave differently. This can be distressing for both the person with dementia and for those who care for them. The coronavirus pandemic will have undoubtedly caused further confusion, fear and anxiety for some people. Inevitably, this will bring additional challenges to how we support and care for Clients and how we continue to communicate and provide practical and emotional support to our CareGivers.
There may be a need for detailed planning where Clients are used to specific routines and are unsettled by change. Each person is an individual. It is therefore important to think about what the person you are supporting enjoys normally – how they choose to spend their time, who is important to them and what strategies and plans typically work when things are not going well and for CareGivers to continue to provide calm and reassuring support.
Much has been changed by the coronavirus, but the personality, preferences, and interests of the Client you are supporting will likely not have done. Make sure that the person is therefore included in discussions and decisions so that they will have the best chance of understanding what is happening and staying in control of their life as much as possible.
It may help to think about what strategies have been used before if the person was going, for example, on holiday or to hospital. In addition, the following strategies may help:
  • Think about the things that can remain normal and emphasise them to the Client.
  • Encourage the establishment of daily routines, including exercise, social contact and good sleep patterns.
  • Provide consistent CareGivers – people who are familiar with the Client and who are familiar with how the Client likes to be supported, their preferences and what works for the Client.
  • Explain in simple terms why things are changing (e.g. there is a virus that might make us ill, so we are trying to keep safe).
  • Explain that the restrictions are not forever, and we can go back to normal when the risk posed by the virus has passed.
  • Use accessible resources from organisations such as Learning Disabilities England, the National Autistic Society and Books Beyond Words.
  • Keep a list of all the things the person wants to do once restrictions are lifted so the person can see that these have not been forgotten.
  • Think of things that help to calm the person and support them to carry out those activities (e.g. listening to music, gardening or baking).
  • The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that people exercise daily. Plan taking a daily walk or run with the person.
Managing behaviour that challenges and Clients who do not follow the guidelines
To maintain Client and CareGiver safety, CareGivers should follow Public Health England/Public Health Wales and Right at Home guidance regarding the use of PPE. The Client may not understand or be reluctant to stick to the rules and restrictions around social distancing and self-isolation or the need for good personal hygiene. They may also become anxious because of the introduction of face masks and eye protection. This can be complex and have wide-ranging implications for the Client and the CareGiver, most notably the risk of infection for themselves and other people.
It may not be possible for every person to address this completely in each situation, but it may help to do some of the following:
  • Remember, behaviour that challenges may be because of a physical health issue or unmet need (e.g. uncontrolled pain, untreated depression, infection or side effects of medication).
  • Consider whether environmental factors might be contributing factor (e.g. changes in noise level or temperature, or other triggers that may impact on behaviour).
  • Maximise self-care wherever possible. Some Clients may simply need prompting, enabling CareGivers to remain at a safe distance and therefore to wear reduced PPE.
  • Explain, repeatedly if necessary, the reasons behind the new ways of living and support the person using some of the tips and resources listed in this guide.
  • If the use of masks and eye protection is a trigger for a Client, please refer to the Temporarily Removing Face Visors and Masks During Care Visits guide, which is available via the Hub under Resource Centre>COVID-19>Information & Guidance.
  • Encourage the Client to follow good hygiene practices, including hand washing. If the Client is reluctant to wash their hands, encourage the use of alcohol gel instead.
  • Encourage CareGivers to keep language simple and give periodic reminders about rules and routines.
  • Encourage CareGivers to use positive language, stay calm, adopt a low-arousal approach to avoid escalation, use diversion and distraction techniques and, if required, withdraw from the situation if it is safe to do so for the Client.
  • Use whatever communication techniques and tools work best in normal circumstance with the Client. Where required ensure the Client has an up to date communication support plan.
  • Use positive reinforcement wherever possible to encourage the person you support to stick to the guidelines.
  • Help the Client understand why you are wearing PPE – some people may be anxious of people wearing face masks and eye protection, who may be hard to recognise as a result. The CareGiver could attach a laminated photograph of themselves on their clothing or lanyard or provide photographs of CareGivers which the Client can keep close to hand.
  • Carry out a risk assessment if the Client persistently does not stick to the guidelines.
  • Mitigate any risks. For example, you could go out at quiet times if the person cannot maintain social distancing or clean surfaces if the Client does not wash their hands after a trip out.
  • Consider any escalation in need for your Clients and speak to your local social work and community teams for a reassessment of need in accordance with the Care Act.

Client Case Study: Anna
Anna (name changed for privacy purposes) is a young adult who started receiving care from the team at Right at Home South Cheshire in September 2019. Anna has four care calls each day and is supported by a consistent team that knows her complex needs, triggers and coping strategies. Anna has complex mental health issues and has a wide range of support, including from community psychiatric nurses and therapists. As a result of very traumatic events in her early adulthood, Anna lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic anxiety, depression and agoraphobia. Anna has developed coping mechanisms and is supported to safely self-harm.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Anna has experienced severe anxiety problems due to the amount of PPE that her CareGivers are having to wear. She has previously experienced abuse within the care sector and she finds that masks are a major trigger for her. I have had lengthy discussions with Anna to explain the reasons why it is important that the CareGivers wear face masks and visors, and I advised her that we would work together to ensure that we could make the experience less distressing for her.
As a team and with Anna’s involvement, we have come up with some coping strategies for her. On entering the property, the CareGivers announce themselves before entering the room, say who they are and remind Anna that they are wearing face masks and why they are wearing them. They give her constant verbal reassurance and tell her their names, where she is and what year it is, as she experiences dissociation.

Anna is a keen knitter, and she suggested knitting ladybirds and attaching these to CareGivers’ clothing as a way of reminding her that the person wearing the mask was her CareGiver. This was a great idea from Anna, although because of infection prevention and control issues I suggested that she get some ladybird stickers so that the CareGivers can stick these to their aprons and face masks. Ladybirds are a favourite for Anna and help her to identify the CareGivers as people that she can trust. I sent Anna the link to Amazon via email to enable her to order the stickers. She has since been in touch to say that these have helped to relieve some of her anxieties.

We have also created a photo board with photographs of all her CareGivers so that she can see their faces, and this has been placed on the wall at the end of her bed.
I have found that the communication methods we have agreed with Anna have been crucial to her physical and mental well-being, and she relies on me to reassure her that we are keeping her safe in this difficult time.
Kirsty Roberts, Registered Manager, Right at Home South Cheshire

Ideas of what to do with Clients

Check out any of our social media pages during May 2020 for selected activites.

or 

click the image below to download a copy of the full Activity Booklet and get some great ideas of what to do with our lovely clients.
This will be especially helpful during the Covid-19 Isolation period when lots of our clients and loved ones are in isolation

Mindfulness mornings and Mindfulness afternoons Invitation

You are warmly invited to Mindfulness mornings and Mindfulness afternoons in Hertfordshire every Monday to Friday at 8:30am and 4.30pm each day starting from Wednesday 15th April 2020.

These live sessions are open to all health and social care professionals in Hertfordshire including volunteers.

Please enrol on these sessions via the Mind in Mid Herts website: www.mindinmidherts.org.uk then the ‘Register your interest for digital mindfulness’ button to register your interest.

Mind in Mid Herts will then send you an email with the joining instructions. An email will be sent once a week with the details for the morning and afternoon sessions for that week. This means you will only ever need to register once. You will continue to get the details whilst this programme is running so that you can access any of the sessions you need. 

Each session will be 30 minutes and will consist of a 5 minute introduction, 15-20 minutes guided mindfulness and 5-10 minutes to reflect and share thoughts if you would like. Mindfulness is an opportunity to stop and pay attention to the present moment; to your own thoughts and feelings and to the world around you. This can help you identify what you need, and helps recognise early warning signs of stress and anxiety so that they can better managed. 

Mindfulness is not relaxation, although this may be a benefit. During these sessions you will be guided through a practice; and be invited to follow along as best you can. These sessions will be facilitated by a qualified practitioner and a mental health professional; who will be able to provide support as needed in the session. 

This coronavirus pandemic is affecting everyone differently whether it be your new working arrangements, managing childcare and/or missing loved ones. Mindfulness is a tool that supports you to stay in the present and not dwell on the past or worry about the future. We can only manage a moment at a time. We especially want to support our many health and social care workers who are likely to be under enormous pressure during this situation – this is perfectly natural in these uncertain circumstances and Mindfulness is just one of the support offers we are putting in place for you


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