Division Manager of Community Services, Nicholas Tidman shares his experience of supporting our District and Community Nursing Teams throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges of finding the right clinicians for the job during the past year.

“During this pandemic I have been extremely proud of my team and the way they have adapted quickly to the challenges, three lockdowns, working from home and the significant increase in demand within Community Services.

We are the specialists in Community services, and we have embraced the term Community wholeheartedly and over the past year working together has become even more vital. Myself, Ursula, Frankie and Ananya alongside the wider team have worked incredibly hard to ensure we can continue to support our existing services with quality and competent clinicians for each individual role whilst also supporting new clients with their expanding requirements.

Personally, I feel there have been many more challenges felt in Community and District Nursing Teams during the pandemic. The urgency to keep as many patients safe at home has increased as Community Service Providers have had to step in to support Primary and Urgent Care Services.

Hallam Medical has seen a significant increase in demand for Community and District Nurses as patients were no longer able to attend settings such as Walk-in-Centres, GP surgeries and Minor Injury Units. When these services closed their doors, patients still needed to be seen and treated but they could no longer freely walk in to a setting to get this – Our Community Nurses and our District Nurses have played a massive role in ensuring Primary Care Services continue to be delivered to everyone.

This has really highlighted the key role these specialist clinicians play in our healthcare system. Working together with the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) over the years and our partnership with the QNI has given us insight and helped us to understand what life is like for a Community and District Nurse.

The pressure of this pandemic has put strain on the nation’s Mental Health, which could last for generations so the importance of the Community Psychiatric Nursing Teams will increase and become the norm going forward as we recognise that early intervention is better than an admission into a hospital setting.

Now, more than ever, building relationships with both our clients and our clinicians has become vital, due to the number of options available to both our candidates and clients. Clear, honest, and open communication is so important.

The lessons we have learned and the relationships we have built during this time will stay with us forever and help us to continue to support our clients in keeping patients out of hospital and in their own homes.”