As we come out of business continuity, we are aiming to step back up Recovery College within our service. This has previously been accessible by all three wards, with inter-ward mixing to participate in the session. How are people delivering Recovery College at present, particularly given current restrictions in terms of social distancing, issues relating to infection control and inability to have mixed ward groups?
We do not have any current Recovery College sessions running. The person who was taking the lead on this retired at the end of last year, no-one has been put in place to replace her. As this is a time consuming role it isn’t really practical for it to be done by staff at a ward level, ward duties wont allow such a time demanding role. Due to the current restrictions still in place here we still have no cross pathway sessions, we also have limits for the amount of people who are allowed in our therapy rooms at any one time. Most of our rooms are 4 people maximum, this is not many when all service users have to be escorted. It is a shame we don’t have a dedicated lead for the Recovery College, they could be trying to find solutions to our current situation. We have had some really positive feedback from some of the courses we ran, it would be great to get them back up and running. Newton Lodge
Hi we are finding it extremely difficult as wards cannot mix. I am only able to have co delivered courses running if the patient co delivering is delivering it to patients from their own ward. I am finding the time useful to promote recovery college by going to coffee mornings and using the time to write some courses with patient groups on the ward. Another solution now that visitors are allowed back in, we have an ex patient who we trained as a peer trainer, having him coming back in has allowed us to deliver courses one ward at a time on different dates. Although uptake at present isn’t brilliant as most patients enjoy the mixing of wards when they attend. Wathwood
At Waterloo we have just started a 12 week Term – Wednesdays are our Recovery College Day- we are only releasing 4 weeks at a time and have had to make changes already before the 2nd 4 weeks is released due to staffing. We are risk assessed to mix wards due to high uptake of vaccine and after discussions with CQC in particular; around staff movement around wards and section 17 leave is allowed and then being able to justify not mixing for therapy- which we class recovery college. We are limited on numbers due to social distancing- we ask people to confirm booking on that morning as part of their planning meeting so we can arrange room accordingly. Max 6 people in one room, can fit up to 9 in another. We social distance, wash hands and wipe down. We are focusing courses on fun, building relationships and confidence in attending groups again. We are also trying to put on courses that don’t require much in terms of physical elements or passing things around. E.g. we do an around the world group that we used to cook and taste- we are now doing individual quizzes and fact sheets with individual food options where possible to take away, another is music appreciation where each person selects a song to listen to – one person only uses the computer and discussions are had around the song choice- we are creating a playlist over the weeks to share with others to try and encourage people to join us down the line. Waterloo Manor
