Coronavirus: Queen Alexandra Hospital staff upskilled to provide support in different departments

With many colleagues returning to the NHS, and clinical staff, including nurses, doctors and Allied Health Professionals, being asked to work in a different setting to usual, teams and individuals at Queen Alexandra Hospital have been attending training sessions to ensure all staff have the necessary skills to provide care to the sickest and most vulnerable patients.

The Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Team recently underwent intense training to prepare themselves to support the Critical Care Unit.

Physiotherapist Hayley Price said: ‘This is a big change for all of the team who has embraced a new way of working. It’s a bit nerve wracking to be working somewhere I’m not used to, but on the other hand I’m also excited to be working in a new area.

‘I came into care to help people, so it’s great to be able to use the skills I have to support other teams during this uncertain time.’

The training day was organised by Susie Calvert, Team Lead Physiotherapist for Critical Care.

She said: ‘Day to day the team are not normally used to this. It will probably be a bit daunting for them at first but they are all working really hard and are an amazing team.

‘The Critical Care Unit usually has five physiotherapists but will be increasing to 40 in the coming weeks, so this is a big change for them all.’

Training has also been delivered to non-ward based staff and administration colleagues have been upskilled to free up ward staff for clinical responsibilities.

Debbie Knight, head of non-medical education, added: ‘I am extremely proud of the hard work of the Learning and Development Department. They have delivered training sessions providing upskilling opportunities for over 3,200 staff members, along with creating bespoke E-Learning.

‘The training sessions have received excellent feedback with staff reporting they now feel more confident within their role. Not only that, we have recently added Mental Health in the Workplace Training to support the health and wellbeing agenda.’