References
How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect wellbeing of staff working in child and family teams?
Abstract
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, child and family health teams were required to adapt and prioritise services, which were increasing in demand. This investigation aimed to understand how the changes in service delivery and workload, as a consequence of the pandemic, impacted the wellbeing of staff in these teams. Using two datasets, a quantitative secondary analysis of anonymised routine patient data and a qualitative primary interpretive analysis of data, collected via focus groups and an interview with staff, were conducted. The quantitative data confirmed that universal contacts have increased dramatically since the pandemic and all tiers have increased in duration. Three themes were identified in the qualitative analysis as having the greatest impact on staff wellbeing: redeployment, increased workload and remote working. Staff need supportive opportunities to share their experiences to identify specific dimensions of stresses felt individually during times of pressure on services.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on healthcare systems and service users, challenging service delivery and placing pressure on the workforce, while increasing the needs of vulnerable patient groups (Marmot et al, 2020). According to the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV, 2021), 0–19 services in England entered the pandemic with significant cuts to funding, heavy caseloads and reduced staffing levels. During the pandemic, these services were then required to rapidly adapt with many staff facing redeployment (iHV, 2020).
The most recent iHV survey (2023) indicated that health visitors have seen a rise in poverty, foodbank use and perinatal mental illness. The pandemic meant that more restrictions were imposed on the way in which services could be delivered. The inability to deliver the quality of care that was in line with the expectations of their role has led to reported increases in moral distress among health professionals (British Medical Association (BMA), 2021; Spilg et al, 2022) working over the pandemic period. Moral distress or moral trauma ‘refers to the psychological unease generated where professionals identify an ethically correct action to take but are constrained in their ability to take that action’ (BMA, 2021). However, the impact on staff wellbeing as a result of these factors since the pandemic has not been fully investigated.
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