OT Week and The Impact of COVID-19: Sue Martin - Mental Health and Neurology

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in ways we couldn’t have imagined back when the first lockdown started in March. Over that last 7-8 months, we have all come together as a community to learn how to adapt and to cope with the stresses that the virus has put onto our everyday ‘normal’ lives.

As we adjust into the ‘new normal’ (again), and to mark the start of OT Week, I, along with my expert OT team at Julie Jennings and Associates, have reflected on how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected our work, and what we are doing to make sure we continue providing our vital services safely to those who need it most.

Across OT Week we will be highlighting each of the individual roles we undertake, to give a broader picture of life as an OT during the pandemic.

Name: Sue Martin

Area of work: I am a Medico-Legal Expert & Consultant OT to the Hebden Bridge branch of Riding for the Disabled.

Background experience:  13 years’ experience within a hospital for people with learning disabilities (then known as mental subnormality), at first mostly providing a variety of occupations and later preparing them for life outside hospital in the community. I then worked for a social services department within residential care and day centres with people who had learning disabilities, physical disabilities, mental health problems and elderly people. I managed a team of activity organisers who worked within residential homes. I also managed OTs in the Residential & day care section and later an area office of OTs and OT assistants who covered all client groups. I was also a member of the Joint Care Management Team.  Whilst working for a voluntary organisation I covered residential homes for people with physical and neurological disabilities in Northern England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.  Whilst in that capacity I advised on equipment, moving & handling, new technology and housing design for residents moving into the community.  I then became manager of a head injuries team and young physical disabilities team and worked alongside a social work manager in managing the social work duty team and organising care packages. 

Impact of COVID-19 on working practice or your personal perspective

The impact of COVID-19 has had an impact on the way I carry out my assessments.  I have had to change the way I work by carrying out initial video assessments followed by an actual face to face assessment, if this is possible.  Up to now I have not come across any client without a computer so it has been relatively easy but if a client does not have a computer the initial assessment will need to be undertaken on the phone. 

I have had to revise my risk assessment strategy to include more phoning of clients to check if they are well and what measures we can agree on before I visit e.g. the wearing of masks, washing hands, social distancing. I have found that an actual face to face assessment is necessary when the client has physical problems that affect the climbing of stairs, for example.  I have visited clients in Tier 3 of the Coronavirus levels and I, myself currently live in a Tier 2 area.  I have ensured I drive directly to the clients’ homes without stopping on the way or on the way back.  I also have the NHS App on my phone that informs me if I have been in contact with someone who has the virus.  Meetings and conferences have taken place via “Zoom” and “Teams” and those words together with ‘social distancing’ and ‘bubbles’ have increased my vocabulary. I am expecting that there will be more Covid-19 related words to learn in the future. 

On a personal level I have had to reassure my brother, who has anxiety and depression, that I am taking advice from the Government and using my common sense to ensure that visiting clients in their homes is as safe as possible for them and for me.  He lives the other end of the country to me and has been unable to visit me since before March, one visit being cancelled the day before he was due here.  His mental health has suffered during the pandemic and he drifts between total anxiety and anger at people who complain about the wearing of masks and deliberately do not socially distance.  This results in nightly phone calls from him to me to discuss these issues. 

I know people who live nearby who have contracted COVID-19 and have learned much from their descriptions of the longer term complications, such as severe fatigue.

Your OT perspective and what you can do to positively influence challenges imposed by the pandemic

One challenge I will most likely have regarding COVID-19 is how to carry out a physical assessment if the client refuses to see me until the pandemic is over.  This nearly happened to me but the client changed his mind at the last minute and agreed to see me.  This, of course is not just my problem but is also a problem for my instructing solicitor and the Court.  I will discuss this with my OT colleagues at our next training session via ‘Zoom’ or before if necessary.  We may need to think about alternative ways of carrying out these assessments such as asking the client’s relatives, with everyone’s agreement and if they have a Smartphone, to video the client on the stairs, transfers, dressing/undressing, cooking etc and then forwarding it via a secure method such as Dropbox. 

I also consider that clients should be told via their solicitors to expect more phone calls from me than they have had before the pandemic and I intend to discuss this with my OT colleagues so we can consider the most appropriate way to action it.  I have found that more frequent phone calls to clients increases our rapport and they begin to confide in me much more than they did before.

Your commitments to support the recovery of People that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic

I am continuing to learn about the impact of COVID-19 and especially the longer term difficulties to ensure I am continually updated.  This is a new virus and its longer term effects are not all known as yet. I use professional networks such as LinkedIn and other websites where people who have or have had the virus talk about these issues. I watch relevant programmes on TV, talk to my colleagues and regularly listen to the medical experts. I fully expect that OTs will be amongst the professionals who will be called upon to carry out assessments of people with longer term ‘side effects’ of COVID-19.