Spiritual Care Team

Supporting Patients and Staff During Covid 19

In the normal working day in NHS Tayside, Chaplains working across our hospital sites support patients and staff at their most vulnerable and at their strongest every single day and, during the coronavirus lockdown chaplains continued to make sure everyone was supported. 

There is never a normal day for a healthcare chaplain.  They see people at their most vulnerable and in their greatest hour of need.  Chaplains are aware that there are so many emotions when a person comes into hospital, there is fear and anxiety, a loss of independence and a loss of control and are there to support them.  Chaplains come alongside people and give them an opportunity to talk things through, but never impose themselves. 

The scope of a Chaplain is very varied, such as helping people to come to terms with a diagnosis, supporting people who are receiving treatment for their illness, and supporting staff.  They are keenly aware and acknowledge there is a need to care for the carers.

During the lockdown, Chaplains had to stand in the place of loved ones and relatives because visiting was restricted; they also had to help staff members deal with the enormity of working on the front line during a pandemic.

Chaplains had to visit Covid-19 patients and end-of-life Covid-19 patients.  They had to stand at someone’s bedside because their family couldn’t visit them, and pass on their last messages because they were dying.  It was difficult for families not to be there, but they were comforted to know that the Chaplains had passed on their messages and tell them their loved one was not in distress and was peaceful.

Chaplains were part of the NHS that were still going into work throughout the lockdown.  They recognised that there was a high degree of anxiety over the anticipated challenges and making sure everyone was ready for what was to come, and waiting for that to come was hard for people.

Chaplains would talk about these anxieties with staff and specifically those who were working in intensive care and Covid areas to support staff. 

Healthcare staff were courageous to come into work and face the unknown, something that could potentially adversely affect them and their loved ones at home.  We recognise that it took courage for them to walk from the car park into the hospital every day.

NHS Tayside Community Listening Service

The listening service is an early intervention, at point of need and provides a 50 minute, confidential appointment with a NES trained, experienced Listener with follow-up appointments available. 

GPs have reported the main benefits to be a reduction in surgery attendance, increased time for more seriously ill patients, and some possible changes in psychotropic medicine prescribing. GPs have clearly identified the positive impact the service has had on time and ways of working in their clinical practice. For many, it has embodied the shift away from the ‘fix me’ culture towards one of self-management, current tenets of health policy.

Community Listening was shown to provide a better alternative to other statutory agencies for people with subclinical issues such as bereavement, anxiety, non-clinical low mood and other non-medical problems where simply having the space to talk and have someone listen is more coherent than taking up a valuable GP appointment. As a consequence of referral, GPs noted clear improvements in their patients, and were also able to use their own clinical time more efficiently, focusing better on those patients with complex medical problems.

During Covid 19 we had to change the way that we were working to move from face to face to telephone support.  The Community Listening Service has been available for people throughout the pandemic by providing support through phone appointments.

Fully trained Community Listeners, who usually provide the service face-to-face in GP surgeries, have taken to their phones to support anyone experiencing loss, illness, low mood, difficult relationships or life transitions. Over 1000 appointments have been booked so far in 2020. Over half of these during the pandemic.

The Listening Service Coordinator said, “Often we find that by providing the opportunity for someone to tell their story, uninterrupted and judgment-free, it can help people sort through their emotions; they are then able to rediscover their strength.”

 A Tayside patient who recently used the service told us, "Services like yours are needed in the community, not just for easing social isolation, but also providing a stop-gap for the waiting time between diagnosis of mental health issues and seeing a professional."

The service is available to anyone registered with a Tayside GP practice.