As the local integrated partnership project manager, my role was to lead the development of integrated community teams for the borough. This encompassed everything, from health and social care to third-sector organisations and voluntary services.
In March 2020, I received an email on a Sunday evening requesting my redeployment, as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response, to support in the local hospital as the on-site contact for community services. At first, I thought my redeployment would be for a few weeks, due to my limited understanding of the pandemic and its impact at the time. I was based in the integrated discharge team, which is a newly integrated service that includes health and social care colleagues across both Warrington and Halton to support safe discharge.
As the weeks progressed, my role developed on a daily basis as the demand and reality of the pandemic developed and shifted: we began to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE) and see an increase in acute admissions due to COVD-19. Community restrictions were put in place, including limitations on seeing family and friends, and the impact was visible in the empty streets I witnessed during my daily commute to work.
Pandemic response
Locally, it was agreed for existing pathways within the integrated discharge team to be enhanced to support safe discharge of patients, enhance communication and build key relationships with stakeholders. My role was to work as the interface between hospital discharge functions and community services to expedite discharge pathways. My developed relationships across system partners allowed me to share links and establish a collaborative culture to improve patient experience and system working.
At first, I was naive about the impact the pandemic would have on my personal and professional life. During this time, my own resilience was tested, and I became tearful at times, which is very alien, as I am generally an upbeat and extroverted person, who likes to see the positive in all situations.
However, over the past 18 months, it has been an honour and privilege to work as part of a system which, during the most challenging times, has come together to provide the best patient care. Colleagues have gone above and beyond, working long hours, not seeing family and providing support to each other.
Impact and learning
We have all been impacted both personally and professionally, with no opportunity to visit loved ones and facing the loss of close family members or friends, working long hours within new contexts and challenges, while simultaneously trying to support team members to remain as positive and safe as possible. This has been compounded by a growing operational demand on all teams and services.
Therefore, caring and compassionate leadership has become vital during these challenging times, and my awareness of the need for trust and open and honest communication across teams has heightened. I am so proud of the colleagues, teams and community I have had the privilege to work alongside and be supported by. I have built a number of key relationships as part of the development of a wider system appreciation of each partner's challenges, turning them into opportunities for us to work collaboratively together.
For me, working in health and social care is a calling. I have always believed that people enter the profession because they are compassionate, positive, resilient and possess the ability to encourage empathy in others. It takes a certain type of person to have the flexibility to communicate effectively with so many different people and organisations, while always keeping a person-centred approach at their heart. We have truly seen a phenomenal amount of caring and compassion as part of our community coming together.
Missing time with my parents, in particular, has allowed me to really focus on what is important in life: the opportunity to sit with family and friends over a cup of coffee; precious moments spent baking together and laughing with each other. In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic offered me an opportunity to see the little things in life that really matter.
The past 18 months has demonstrated to me why I nurse and why I am so proud to work as part of a system where there have been and will continue to be so many opportunities, through collaborative working, to achieve the best for our population: our patients, friends, family and colleagues across Warrington.
We have embarked on a journey from siloed working to a forward-looking vision of system collaboration, through the power of resilience and effort of the community that we are part of.