Dear Friends & Colleagues
TVABIF moves to it's first hybrid meeting:
-
15 Spaces available for face to face meeting at Royds Withy King's
offices in Court Minns Business Park, 5 West Way, Botley, Oxford. OX2
0JB. Refreshments will be provided.
- You can also continue to join us online via zoom if you prefer.
Attendance is free in either case, but please make sure you select the correct ticket.
To Book Click Here
The presentation will be:
Connection
stories: an evaluation of patient, family and neurorehabilitation staff
experience of digital communication as an alternative to hospital
visiting during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interim results: December 2021 family experience
Dr Georgie Boothroyd, Principal Clinical Neuropsychologist
Dr Ciara Preston, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Chloe Stokes, Research Assistant
Sophia Clemans, Assistant Psychologist
Melissa Layden, Assistant Psychologist
Dr Audrey Daisley, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist
Abstract
Admission
to hospital for rehabilitation following a serious neurological illness
or injury is a very stressful life experience for the patient and their
family members. The positive impact of delivery of family-centred care
in neurorehabilitation on patient outcomes is well established. At the
Oxford Centre for Enablement (OCE), a Level 1 Neurorehabilitation
Service serving patients with highly complex changes arising from
neurological conditions and acquired brain injury, family-centred care
provision forms an integral mainstay of our ethos. The Covid-19
pandemic dramatically impacted on our, and almost all, NHS services from
being able to deliver services that support family and patient
connection and psychological attachment needs. Almost overnight,
families were prevented from visiting their relatives in hospital. Then
from the June 2020 the Trust introduced the “Rule of One” for visiting
which remained in place until March 2022.
In the in-patient
neurorehabilitation context, patients are typically admitted to the OCE
for many months and visitor restrictions had the potential to impact
negatively on patient rehabilitation outcomes and lead to loss of role
and emotional distress for relatives. Additionally, many of the
patients at the OCE did not have the physical or cognitive (or both)
capacity to contact family independently.
The OCE responded
rapidly with a wide-ranging information and support programme for
patients and staff (which included the rapid development of tailormade
informational materials for patients and families, including child
relatives, about Covid-19). A key part of this support programme was
the implementation of daily video and telephone calls for all
in-patients who were unable to do this independently due to cognitive,
physical, communication or access issues and were in receipt of
rehabilitation at the time of the pandemic.
Interim
findings indicate relatives experienced high levels of emotional
connection and involvement with their loved ones’ rehabilitation and
they rated the overall value of the service as incredibly worthwhile.
In some cases, the service provided increased patient/ relative choice
(i.e. for those travelling from greater distances). In summary, digital
communication as an alternative to in person visiting appears to be an
acceptable surrogate for supporting relatives emotional and attachment
needs. It is recognised that it does not replace the need for in person
contact; however, with the average length of admission for patients
receiving the service being 15 weeks, it represents valued intervention.
Bio
Dr
Georgie Boothroyd is a Clinical Neuropsychologist working at the Oxford
Centre for Enablement. He is part of the wider neuropsychology service
who have been supporting the families of people with brain injury to
maintain relationships over the course of the pandemic. Prior to
joining OUH Trust Georgie worked for Berkshire Neuropsychology Service
across their outpatient and community neurorehabilitation services and
provided a consultation service to Headway Thames Valley.
Schedule:
1pm : Arrival/ Log-in
1:05pm : Regional Updates & Networking
1:20pm : Presentation
2:15pm : Discussion & Reflections
