Posts from the “Uncategorized” Category

Volunteering changed my life for the better – Sophie Ross

Posted on June 6, 2022

As part of Volunteers’ Week, Healthcare Improvement Scotland is sharing the stories of NHS staff who give up their own time to help others. Healthcare Improvement Scotland manages the Volunteering in NHSScotland Programme, and one of the aims of the work is to have a positive impact on the NHS and on the volunteers themselves. Sophie Ross, a call handler with NHS24, discovered that volunteering helped her go from being out of work to finding her current position, perfectly demonstrating how giving up her own time changed her life – and others – for the better.

I grew up with my mum, my role model, who was always offering to help others in some way whether it be charity work or volunteering and I would always be there behind her closely following.

I sadly lost my mum in 2013 and afterwards went through one of the darkest times in my life, involving depression and unemployment.

Pull quote graphic: "Volunteering was a great way to build my CV up and it also shows employers you are committed to using your spare time to help others."

I knew I needed a way out of this vicious cycle so I turned to volunteering again, hoping it would get my life back on track – and it certainly did!

Volunteering was a great way to build my CV up and it also shows employers you are committed to using your spare time to help others.

After gaining employment through The Princes Trust at NHS24 I decided to become a Princes Trust Young Ambassador to encourage other young people to take steps toward using the support that is out there for those who are struggling.

My passion for volunteering is a big part of my life and I’m always trying to find other opportunities to help.

I recently became a Give & Go Volunteer for NHSGGC providing a link to patients throughout the pandemic by bringing gifts in from loved ones.

Just being able to provide that small amount of joy meant everything.

Volunteering – for yourself and others

Pull quote graphic: "My passion for volunteering is a big part of my life and I’m always trying to find other opportunities to help."

Not all of volunteering is glamorous but to me it is such a good thing to do for yourself and others.

I would encourage anyone to consider volunteering – no matter how big or small the role, or how little time you can commit, you are providing something to someone somewhere to make things better in your own way. Find out more about Volunteers’ Week 2022. This is the 38^th Volunteers’ Week, with the focus this year on saying thank you to those who give up their time to help others. Find out more on social media, using the hashtag #VolunteersWeekScot

Sophie Ross is a call handler with NHS24.

More information

Categories: Uncategorized

Saying thanks to all who are involved in volunteering across Scotland – Janice Malone

Posted on June 1, 2022

To coincide with Volunteers Week and the launch of our report on volunteering in Scotland, Janice Malone from our Volunteering in NHSScotland Programme gives thanks all of the staff who give up their time.

Every year as my team and I begin to think about and plan for our Volunteers’ Week activity, I have a very distinct sense and feeling that no matter what we do to thank and to celebrate the efforts of volunteers will ever be enough to convey the levels of gratitude that I feel for the gift that volunteers give to our society.

Every 1-7^th June volunteer managers up and down the country say their own personal thank you to their volunteers, we all shout from the rooftops – well, all over social media really – saying thank you to volunteers in all sorts of creative and fun ways, but it never really feels like enough.

What more could we do? What different ways to celebrate the incredible value that volunteering brings to our lives? As professionals in health and care, we can see the positive impact that volunteers can make, every single day when we are working alongside them.

Pull quote: The satisfaction I get from supporting the organisation to grow and to thrive is why I volunteer

We say thank you every day, through striving to provide the best volunteer experience for our volunteers.

I am a volunteer, I am honoured to have the opportunity to be a trustee at SupportED, a small eating disorders support charity. The satisfaction I get from supporting the organisation to grow and to thrive is why I volunteer.

Inspiring

I also work in the world of volunteering, and have done for some 15 plus years. It is the most inspiring line of work, being there to create the opportunities for people to get involved in volunteering; to champion volunteering as a profession; to ensure that volunteers are treated with the respect that they deserve; to influence change in the sector. I consider myself to be very fortunate.

But when I really think about it, volunteering is all about the people, it’s about giving and kindness. Millions of people all over the world, who decide to get involved in something that they care deeply about.

Pullquote: But when I really think about it, volunteering is all about the people, it’s about giving and kindness. Millions of people all over the world, who decide to get involved in something that they care deeply about

Millions of people who give their own time freely. Millions of people who make an incredible difference to the people, causes and communities that they support. What’s not to love about that?

From my heart to yours, if you are a volunteer, have volunteered in the past or are thinking about volunteering – THANK YOU.

More information

Find out more about Volunteers’ Week 2022 at https://volunteersweek.scot/ . This is the 38^th Volunteers’ Week, with the focus this year on saying thank you to those who give up their time to help others. Find out more on social media, using the hashtag #VolunteersWeekScot

Our Volunteering in NHSScotland Programme drives forward the volunteering agenda in NHSScotland through effective leadership, governance, consultancy and expert advice for volunteering across NHSScotland. Read our Volunteering in NHSScotland Programme Annual Report 2021-22.

Categories: Uncategorized

Have your say and help deliver Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s future strategy – Robbie Pearson

Posted on May 20, 2022

Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Chief Executive Robbie Pearson shares our organisation’s vision to deliver safe, effective and person-centred care through the Leading quality health and care for Scotland: Our strategy 2022-27. He also outlines how you can have your say in how the final strategy is shaped to meet the needs of all the people of Scotland.

As Scotland recovers from the pandemic, Healthcare Improvement Scotland recognises that there’s a need for boldness – boldness in our actions to improve health outcomes for people, and boldness to ensure we meet the needs of diverse groups and to tackle deep-rooted inequalities.

Our organisation is here to support the highest quality, safest care for everyone, and this approach can be found in our draft strategy for 2022-2027 which is currently out for consultation. But in order to meet such a broad range of needs across society, we have to reach out; to communicate our thinking and to gather in opinions.

Therefore, I’d like to take this opportunity to summarise the key points of our strategy and to reach out to you, whatever your circumstance, to ensure that our intended approach is meeting everyone’s needs.

Meeting unprecedented challenges

As we all know, the health and care system in Scotland is facing unprecedented challenges.

This strategy is shaped by the need to concentrate our efforts in four key areas:

A recovered and strengthened health and care system – the COVID-19 pandemic has been the most significant threat to our health and care system, and it has also highlighted some deep seated inequalities in Scotland. The recovery from the pandemic will be a long and difficult road and there will be a need to retain and strengthen aspects of our capability to respond to similar future challenges. Adjusting to these circumstances is a recurrent theme through this strategy. We must use this opportunity to redesign services so we reliably deliver what people need, when they need it.
A person-centred system of health and social care – the commitment to establish a National Care Service is a central aspect of our future priorities. We will support the creation of a fit for purpose service which works to consistent standards, supports people to remain independent and which affords everyone fair access to high quality care.
A systematic drive to address inequalities and injustice – the pandemic has disproportionately impacted groups who already experience disadvantage in society, including on the basis of socio-economic circumstances. Particularly impacted are minority ethnic groups, disabled people, people with long-term health conditions, people living in poverty, unpaid carers, older people, children and young people and women. Impacts range from more severe illness and death to increased poverty and social isolation. A priority must be to highlight pre-existing injustice and take concerted action to narrow health inequalities.
A healthier and more sustainable future – there is a need to take radical steps in supporting improvements in the health of our population and to actively address sustainability and the global climate emergency.

Our actions will also remain firmly anchored in the ambitions of Scotland’s Healthcare Quality Strategy – to deliver safe, effective and person-centred care.

Assurance and improvement

There is not one single step to achieving higher quality care. It’s about balancing different dimensions and actions that help to make improvements.

We’ll provide independent assurance of the quality and safety of care provided in the health and care system in Scotland, and we’ll review how health and care services are improving outcomes for people and reducing inequalities in their care. With partner organisations, we will consider how services are working together within an integrated system, as well as how the system is performing as a whole.

We will provide national leadership and play our part in creating a National Care Service; one that ensures everyone receives the same standard of care wherever they live and empowers people to thrive.

By having a range of responsibilities for improvement we can make the most appropriate choices about how to tackle the problems or challenges that confront those who provide or require care, striking an appropriate balance between both supporting improvements on the care front line and in making the necessary larger scale changes across Scotland.

The need to adapt

We believe it is important that we continue to reflect on progress over the coming months and years, and adapt our strategic approach as required to ensure we continue to address the quality challenges in the system and are maximising our impact.

Over the next five years we will make a demonstrable and measurable contribution to meet these challenges by focusing on safety, quality and access to care which is equitable and person-centred.

We can ensure that we are able to adapt appropriately by reaching out to you and by continuing to engage and to listen to your opinions. We look forward to hearing your opinion and continuing to work with you all to take the bold and confident steps that will ensure our health and care services both recover and transform to meet the needs of us all.

We welcome all views on our draft plan: Leading quality health and care for Scotland: Our strategy 2022-27

You can take part in an online survey: Leading quality health and care for Scotland: Our strategy 2022-27

Categories: Uncategorized

Giving people and communities their say on their health and care services – Ruth Jays

Posted on May 17, 2022

Ruth Jays, Director, Healthcare Improvement Scotland – Community Engagement, wants the public to make their voices known when it comes to their health and care.

HIS-Community Engagement’s purpose is to promote the involvement and participation of people in the development and delivery of health and social care services.

And there has never been a more important time to engage.

HIS-Community Engagement is the operational and delivery arm of the Scottish Health Council and we relaunched in April 2020. We had plans for a bells and whistles relaunch – but the red carpet had to be rolled up due to COVID- 19.

We have continued to support and promote community engagement throughout the last two years, with the lifting of the emergency footing on NHS Scotland. As an organisation, we are now ramping up our work to ensure that the voices of all communities across Scotland play a role in shaping health and social care services.

Engaged

Arguably, since the pandemic we now have a more health literate population than ever before, a public who are more engaged in their healthcare and have a new-found respect for the NHS and staff, as well as an understanding of the tough operating environment and a willingness to help support it.

The public has seen what has happened when they haven’t had a say in how their healthcare is delivered – whether that was not being able to be with a loved one in hospital or not being able to access their GP in the way that they would want.

Pull quote image. Text reads "The way healthcare is designed and delivered has changed over the past two years, and will continue to change as the NHS recovers and responds to emerging challenges. It’s vital that the public’s views are taken into account."

And we know now that the impact of COVID will reverberate for years to come and has thrown into sharp relief the health inequalities already in Scotland.

We need to capitalise on all of this and ensure the voices of diverse communities across Scotland are harnessed in shaping the NHS as it emerges from the pandemic.

Change

The way healthcare is designed and delivered has changed over the past two years, and will continue to change as the NHS recovers and responds to emerging challenges. It’s vital that the public’s views are taken into account. But why? Understanding the views of a wide range of people and using these to shape and develop services is absolutely critical to creating and delivering person-centred health and care services. Without doing so, you run the risk of developing services which don’t meet the needs of the populations they serve.

Without engaging with people, you cannot know what the impact of something is. We’ve all seen examples – and experienced them ourselves – of when engagement hasn’t happened or when it has been limited, and the negative impact this can have. Engagement isn’t a “nice to do” – it is a “must-do” – failing to involve people in the development of services leads to poorer health outcomes and can widen health inequalities. This has never been more important than in the period ahead. As we move out of the pandemic and start grappling with the cost of living crisis, the most disproportionate impact will be felt on those who are already most at risk.

Care

Engagement ensures health and social care services are person-centred and deliver the best possible care and support for people and communities.

Engagement can seem like another ask of our already stretched health and care services. But engaging with communities has never been more important, and our team are skilled and experienced in supporting engagement. We are here to help!

We use a variety of tools and techniques, and are always testing new ways of engaging people. We provide expert advice and signposting to our stakeholders on the most successful ways to achieve meaningful engagement with people and communities.

Over the last two years we have developed the use of tools such as our Citizens’ Panel and Gathering Views exercises which have been used to capture feedback from the public – including seldom-heard groups – on important issues including accessing urgent care, priorities for future healthcare and the development of services for people living with ME and chronic fatigue.

Invaluable

HIS-Community Engagement has staff based in every territorial NHS board across Scotland. This means we have excellent links into local communities which is invaluable in terms of promoting and supporting engagement.

Pull quote image. Text reads - "Engagement ensures health and social care services are person-centred and deliver the best possible care and support for people and communities."

Working virtually has brought huge benefits for us in terms of better communication across our teams based across the country. And we have used this learning to adapt how we engage with communities.

Everyone has had to adapt their lives and the way they work over the past two years. This also meant we had to adapt how we engaged with communities and how we supported our stakeholders to do so. This resulted in some really innovative engagement methods and benefits for communities, especially in remote and rural areas. We will continue to use these going forward. We also ensure that in doing so we don’t create further inequalities – we are mindful that not everyone has access to digital technologies.

The current context we are living in – characterised by the four Cs – Covid, conflict, climate and cost of living, presents huge challenges for all of us working in health and social care. We have adapted our ways of working to continue to provide excellent support to engaging people and communities during the pandemic, and will be adapting our ways of working again to ensure we take account of the current context.

One of the programmes I am most proud of being involved in is the “What Matters to You?” movement, which HIS-CE co-ordinates. WMTY is a way of unlocking a person-centred approach to care and it never fails to amaze me that such a simple question can have such a transformational effect on care. “What Matters to You?” is what we need to ask of our communities when we are designing and delivering services.

So if you are involved in work to change how health and social care services are being delivered, please get in touch with us.

More information

You can email us at info@hisengage.scot or follow us on Twitter.

Find out more about the work of HIS-Community Engagement by visiting our website.

Categories: Uncategorized

New Infection Prevention and Control standards can achieve a great deal – Pauline McIntyre

Posted on May 16, 2022

Pauline McIntyre is Deputy Director of Care at Erskine, a charity caring for veterans in four care homes across Scotland. As Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate launch new infection prevention and control, Pauline explains why she’s been delighted to be a part of it.

At Erskine, our residents’ safety is paramount. Therefore, I was delighted and proud to be involved in developing new standards for infection prevention and control (IPC) in care homes in Scotland, alongside Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate.

IPC is well known to us all, never more so than during the pandemic. Now that the standards have been launched, alongside the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual, they will help us to deliver care in ways that minimise the risk of infection. This is particularly important in somewhere like a care home, which is not a clinical environment.

Achieving the standards

When the opportunity came up to be involved in developing the new IPC standards I was delighted to support this work and to offer my knowledge and experience as a care home nurse. From the outset it was important for me that the group considered the practical implications of decisions made about the standards especially around how the standards could be achieved in care home environments.

Over the past 20 months we have all been faced with profound challenges as we work tirelessly to keep our residents safe, well and living fulfilling lives. We have been responsive to implementing ever changing guidance around how best to keep our residents safe in their homes. There has been a great deal of pressure placed on us to embed new approaches, systems and processes at pace.

We continue to rise to this challenge because our resident’s quality of life and safety is paramount. Although it has been a difficult time, there have been good stories. I’m personally pleased to see more partnership and integration across health and social care.

Communications from the project team at Healthcare Improvement Scotland started in March of last year this year and the first development meeting was in April. The group met virtually to discuss, debate and direct the content of the new standards.

The project team kept us on track and everyone in the group was given opportunities to contribute throughout the development process. My input always considered aspects that we cannot forget, care homes are people’s homes.

A realistic approach

Until my involvement in developing new IPC standards I had not referred to the previous Healthcare Associated Infection standards from 2015, simply because I was not aware of them. They were healthcare focused and the language and terminology did not resonate in social care.

The new standards need to be viewed in a realistic way in that not every part will apply in every care setting but where we can apply this good practice, no matter the care setting we work in, a lot can be achieved.

Pauline McIntyre is Deputy Director of Care at Erskine. Pauline is a registered nurse with over 26 years’ experience.

To find out more about Erskine, visit their website: https://www.erskine.org.uk/

More information

Visit the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website to download the IPC standards.

Categories: Uncategorized

Why nursing makes such a difference for us all – Ruth Thompson

Posted on May 12, 2022

Ruth Thompson, Associate Director of Nursing & Midwifery at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, started her nursing career in coronary care, and today celebrates International Nurses Day.

I started my nursing career in Glasgow, training at the Victoria Infirmary. I loved my training, so many of the registered staff were generous of their time and invested in the development of the next generation of nurses, something I try to replicate and support. During my training my biggest struggle was sewing-up my starched lace cap!

As a registered nurse I worked within Coronary Care, where I developed my love of cardiac medicine, Acute and General Medicine, starting as a staff nurse progressing to senior charge nurse, directorate senior nurse manager and then to chief nurse of both Hairmyres Hospital and Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire.

I then joined Scottish Government as a professional advisor working with the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors to maximise the impact of robust workforce planning on patient safety and quality of care, and to reduce the reliance on supplementary staffing. I joined Healthcare Improvement Scotland in 2019, transitioning the Healthcare Staffing Programme from Scottish Government, before successfully securing the Associate Director of Nursing and Midwifery post.

Caring

During the pandemic I supported several NHS boards. Every day I witnessed nurses going above and beyond, working in new roles, environments, delaying their retirement plans or indeed coming out of retirement to support colleagues and services. All done with a can-do attitude, humour and humility. I also required ED treatment myself, the staff were amazing, kind and caring. Whilst not a surprise to me, I was overwhelmed.

I have been truly blessed to work with many inspirational nurses, who work tirelessly to enhance their own skills and knowledge to improve the care, experience and outcomes for patients.

I don’t think I could have made a better career choice, my experiences whether they made me laugh or cry have been wonderful learning opportunities and shared with fabulous colleagues of many professions.

Unique

For me, nurses are in a unique position to provide the continuum of care across the age spectrum, supporting people to manage their own health and providing that additional support when people are unable to meet their own needs. As a nurse you see people, both patients and their families, at their most vulnerable and the trust placed in you is humbling.

I believe the greatest improvements are those challenges identified and owned by the team; they know their clinical area, the ideas for improvement and then prioritise their improvement programme. Undertaking leadership walk-rounds or “back to the floor days” was a great opportunity for teams to share their successes using the improvement boards and safety crosses and for me to see them in action. Their pride in the improvements made to patient safety and care was palpable.

As a chief nurse, embracing the work of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) we worked tirelessly to move from the traditional ‘bed meeting’ to the hospital safety huddle. Changing the focus from an ED wait for a bed to whole site responsibility for a patient safety issue, using data to understand the blockages in the system and testing new ways of working. This significantly improved the ED quality standard performance and reduced the number of lengthy waits for patients

Impact

The SPSP programme was the foundation stone to improving patient safety and care, this was then strengthened by the Excellence in Care programme which specifically identified the impact of nursing care. None of the quality improvement work can be delivered without having the right number of staff with the right skills at the right time and this is where our Healthcare Staffing Programme supports the delivery of safe, effective care.

Nurses are educated, knowledgeable and skilled practitioners, regulated by the NMC.

I hope that nursing continues to balance the art and the science, both are equally important to patients and their families. I hope to see more nurse-led services. The enhanced and advanced skills of nurses allows patients to be assessed, treated and discharged by nurses, allowing professional relationships to flourish.

Ruth Thompson is Associate Director of Nursing & Midwifery at Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

More information:

The NMAHP directorate (Nurses, Midwives and AHPs) provides professional support and leadership, stimulating improvement in care and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams in HIS and the wider health and care system.

Visit our website for more information.

Categories: Uncategorized

Life on the Board of Healthcare Improvement Scotland – Suzanne Dawson

Posted on March 17, 2022

_{In this video Suzanne Dawson explains the role of Board Member within Healthcare Improvement Scotland}

As Healthcare Improvement Scotland recruits for new Board members, Suzanne Dawson, a Non-Executive Director on our Board, explains the role, how she joined the Board and the importance of diversity and collaboration.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) is currently looking to appoint three new Non-Executive Directors to our Board. To many, being on a board may seem like a mysterious role, but they may not be aware that they could be exactly what a board is looking for.

My own journey to the Board

I have been a member of the HIS Board for three years, three of the most turbulent years in the history of the NHS in Scotland.

Before I outline some of my reflections on my role, let me tell you just a little bit about how I got here. Although I had previous board experience, it certainly isn’t a necessary requirement for us, and each of us has to start somewhere. For me, it was as a member of a Further Education College Board.

My professional career was in marketing, primarily in economic development, promoting Scotland in key sectors such as the life sciences, tourism, and the creative industries. Following maternity leave I decided to take a different approach to my working life and set up my own marketing consultancy business. Around the same time, I saw the College Board position advertised and, thinking it would provide me with a great new opportunity to contribute to my local community while gaining new skills and experience which I could bring to my business, I took the jump and applied. I didn’t have any previous board experience and I wasn’t wrong about what I would get from the experience. By the time I left the College at the end of my two terms I recognised just what an important and influential role a board member plays. It certainly wasn’t always easy and with a major estates project happening during my time with the College, there was a whole lot of learning to do.

Board life before and during lockdown

I was appointed to the Board of Healthcare Improvement Scotland a full year before our first COVID-19 lockdown and so was lucky to be able to spend time getting to know my new colleagues face to face. Like now, there were three of us starting around the same time, which was a great support and helped create a collaborative induction process. Like everywhere else, we had to change ways of working in March 2020 and Board business was no different. We adapted very quickly to Board meetings by MS Teams, and it is our intention to take some of the learning from our experience into the future. It is likely that some Committee meetings will continue to be held online, and others will offer hybrid alternatives.

The role of governance committees

Each Board member sits on a couple of governance Committees. In my case I Chair the Committee which is responsible for ensuring public and community engagement across NHS boards and healthcare providers. I also sit on the Quality & Performance and Succession Planning Committees. As Board members it is our role to provide scrutiny, to seek assurance around decisions which are being made and to hold executives to account through effective challenge. Committee work provides a good opportunity to dig deep and ask questions: where’s the evidence for this and are there any gaps in the evidence; what actions are being taken to mitigate risk; how might this proposal impact on patients or local communities; how will we recognise, monitor and evaluate success. These are just some of the questions I have heard asked while I’ve been a Board member.

Diversity makes us stronger

In my experience a strong board is a diverse board. By that I am talking about diversity of thought which goes beyond protected characteristics. Life or community experience which brings a different perspective adds real value to decision making. As our organisation operates across Scotland it is also important for us to fully understand the impact of any proposal across diverse communities, including both rural and urban.

While we can be a diverse Board, with Non-Executive Directors coming from different backgrounds and with a wide range of skills and experience, the key to the Board’s effectiveness is around how we all work together as a team. We are not simply a group of individuals, but are at our best when we work collaboratively, building relationships based on a clear set of values around trust, openness, compassion, dignity, and respect.

Could this role be for you?

If any of what I have said here chimes with you. If you have a real desire to help shape the future of the NHS in Scotland, while broadening your own skills and experience, I would encourage you to apply. You don’t need years of board experience, you just need the commitment to make a difference, to challenge effectively and influence decision making based on your skills, knowledge and experience however that might have been acquired. You have nothing to lose by applying and you, our Board and the people of Scotland have plenty to gain.

Suzanne Dawson is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

More information

Visit the Scottish Government website to apply for this role.

Categories: Uncategorized

The importance of having hope when living with an eating disorder – Ellen Maloney

Posted on January 27, 2022

Healthcare Improvement Scotland have published a new clinical guideline on Eating Disorders. Ellen Maloney, a patient representative on the guideline development group, explains her experience of living with anorexia nervosa and outlines the changes she hopes the new guideline will bring.

I was twelve years old when I first developed anorexia nervosa. I had just started high school and on the surface, everything in my life was going well. I had a group of close friends, I did well academically and had plans to study medicine at university, and I played the harp, performing and competing around the country. Yet I felt constantly overwhelmed and paralysed by anxiety that I had no words for. One day, I simply stopped eating and for the first time, the unbearable anxiety dissipated, and I felt calm.

Managing unbearable feelings

The thing about eating disorders is that they are not about food or eating or weight. Eating disorders are essentially, about managing unbearable feelings. It took years of prolonged hospital admissions before I was able to access therapy that helped me to understand this and find other ways to manage how I felt.

I now volunteer for Beat, the UK’s leading eating disorder charity. My story is not unique: I hear time and time again that access to appropriate treatment is delayed or obstructed because eating disorders are so misunderstood, and professionals focus too much on the symptoms, how much someone is eating or what they weigh. This barrier is highly problematic because we know that a predictor of recovery is early intervention. My hope is that the recommendation in the new guideline produced by SIGN – part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland – for early intervention is implemented as it is not only effective, but it saves lives.

Eating disorders are mental illnesses

A further barrier that many people experience when trying to access treatment, is the focus on symptoms and physical health. Once they reach a certain weight, they are considered “recovered” and support is taken away at a time when it is most needed.

What I hear all the time through my work with Beat and have experienced myself is that this is the hardest stage of recovery. All the coping strategies have been taken away but mentally things can feel very much unchanged. It is acknowledged – for the most part – that weight is only one measure of health in eating disorder treatment, and yet it is too often conflated with recovery. What we found when reviewing the literature for the new guideline is that weight gets conflated with recovery all the time because it is easy to measure, and so terms like recovery and relapse have started to lose meaning because recovery means “weight restored” and “relapse” means “weight loss after treatment”.

There is too little emphasis on the psychological change which is needed for things to be different for the quality of people’s lives to have improved by the time they finish treatment. This has proven to be problematic when writing a clinical guideline on eating disorders as there is no agreed upon definition of recovery. We need more research into this but also more conversations with patients. I had been in treatment for over 10 years before a psychiatrist asked me what I wanted out of my treatment. Maybe recovery would not be so hard to define if patients were engaged more collaboratively with their care.

Language matters

I also think the language used when talking to patients is important but it’s often overlooked. It’s not uncommon to hear stories of people being labelled “treatment resistant” or of being told by clinicians that they will never get better, that their inability to change is because they don’t want it enough – the implication of course being that “wanting to change” should somehow be enough to make that change happen. It doesn’t work like that – and I know that.

My own time in treatment was often a fraught process because the professionals involved in my care so openly expressed frustration as I struggled with change, and I felt blamed and isolated. As it transpired, I was not at all treatment resistant, I needed different treatment. Blaming patients for ineffective treatment must stop. What we know about eating disorders and the treatments we currently use is that not everybody responds in the same way. That should be a time to pause and reflect on the treatment, not a time to dismiss the patient as untreatable.

There is always hope

When I think about the patients I have met at focus groups during my time as an Ambassador for Beat, or through my own time in hospital, I think of people who have struck me as determined, thoughtful, selfless, and caring. Yet they all have stories of medical professionals labelling them as selfish, manipulative, controlling and somehow responsible for their difficulties. These are people who almost always want to get better and yet feel paralysed to a point where the fear of change outweighs the fear of staying the same. For me I began to get well when the balance tipped, and I was more afraid of staying the same than I was of making changes. What the evidence we have looked at shows, is that it doesn’t matter how long someone has been unwell or how many times they have been in and out of treatment, change is possible and there is hope of life beyond an eating disorder.

The guideline development group had long discussions around terminology and it was a deliberate decision to avoid using phrases like “treatment resistant” or language that blames patients in this guideline. My hope is that this will bring about much-needed change in practice and patient experience.

Click here to read the full guideline.

First diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 12, Ellen Maloney spent her teenage years and 20s in and out of treatment. Now in recovery, Ellen uses her platform as an Ambassador for Beat, the UK’s leading eating disorder charity, to channel her passion for both raising awareness and understanding of mental health difficulties and campaigning for easier access to treatment.

Ellen has also written articles about her experiences for Young Women Scotland, American Association for Suicide Prevention, Third Force News, and The Guardian.

Ellen is studying Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, and in her free time can be found translating TED talks or pole dancing.

Categories: SIGN, Uncategorized

Tagged: eating disorder, SIGN

Helping the COVID-19 vaccination effort for Scotland – Bernie McCulloch

Posted on December 20, 2021

When the call went out for vaccinators to aid the national effort to respond to the Omicron variant, many of our staff with clinical experience put their hands in the air to help. One of those volunteers is Bernie McCulloch, Portfolio Lead for Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Community Care programme. In this blog, Bernie explains what’s involved in being a vaccinator, and how people and healthcare professionals alike are rising to the continued challenge of the pandemic.

When the call went out for volunteers, it made perfect sense to me to become a vaccinator.

Taking my teenage son to get vaccinated I saw at first hand the long queues of people keen to play their part to help themselves and others in the continued pandemic. As a trained nurse, who has worked away from the frontline for a number of years, I instantly felt the moral obligation to dust down my skills and answer the call.

For me, the issue at hand is clear: the more people we can support to get vaccinated – especially in the wake of the Omicron variant in the lead up to the festive period – the better for everyone in Scotland. So I jumped at the opportunity to use my clinical skills and experience in a way that can make a real difference.

Getting the right training to make the right decisions

In my role as a vaccinator, I screen individuals, obtain consent and administer first and second COVID-19 doses, boosters, as well as flu vaccines to those who are eligible. Similar to the COVID-19 vaccine, there are different types of flu vaccines depending on age and medical conditions.

The training to become a vaccinator takes place through extensive and comprehensive online courses and through physically shadowing of other vaccinators. As a trained nurse, I’m able to carry out assessments to determine the appropriate vaccine for people; to support this is the Green Book, which lays out all the side effects and contraindications for all vaccines. In addition, our training covers the legal aspects in relation to consent, how to fill in appropriate documentation and how to correctly handle people’s personal information.

Although the training is thorough, at the vaccination centres there is always support on hand: doctors, nurses, pharmacists and healthcare assistants – so, if you ever have any questions, there are other experts to call upon to help make the right decision for every patient. In addition, daily staff huddles, before the centres open to the public, help to ensure that any changes to national guidance are communicated effectively.

The spirit of togetherness

Aside from the feeling of helping to make a difference, it’s hugely satisfying to have patient contact again and reminds me of what it is that we do in the NHS: caring for people when they need it.

Those who turn up at the vaccination centres all want to be there, which is great to see. Sometimes people are spending hours queuing for the vaccine, but they are all grateful and appreciative to the healthcare workers, the volunteers and to the NHS. As a result, I try to make my interactions as person-centred as possible: thanking them for turning up, for doing the right thing for themselves and others, and for making the effort.

This feeling of us all being in it together also extends to those working at the vaccination centres. There’s a real appetite for everyone to help each other whenever it’s needed.

I’m also encountering people under 50, who are not eligible for the free vaccine, paying privately to get the flu vaccine from their local pharmacy. I think this shows how many people are seeing the benefits of vaccination programmes, and the important role they play in keeping them and other people safe.

The festive season and beyond

I continue to carry out my duties with Healthcare Improvement Scotland alongside shifts as a vaccinator. Over the festive period, I expect to undertake more shifts and in all likelihood into January also. But I’m looking forward to it. I hope that every vaccination that’s carried out takes us all one step closer to coming out of the pandemic, maybe saves a life, while at the same time bringing us all a little bit closer together as a society. If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, please come to one of the centres. We’d be delighted to see you. You’ll be helping yourself and helping everyone else around you too.

Bernie McCulloch is Portfolio Lead for Community Care in Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s ihub.

Categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: COVID-19

Long COVID: The importance of holistic care – Dr Tom Fardon

Posted on December 14, 2021

We have learned a lot about Long COVID and its effects over the past year. In our latest blog, Dr Tom Fardon, Consultant Physician of Respiratory Medicine at NHS Tayside, outlines his own experience with COVID-19 and explains the steps he takes to diagnose and treat patients who may be experiencing long-term effects from the syndrome.

COVID-19 is an unusual illness. The range of symptoms is broad, much more so than the original case definition of early 2020 that included only breathlessness, persistent cough, and fever. The range of severity of illness is equally as wide: some people suffer only mild symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection; some have no symptoms at all; some develop a rapidly progressive pneumonitis requiring ventilatory support – in wave 1 of the pandemic 20% of people who were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 did not survive.

The unprecedented collaboration between scientists, clinicians, and pharma companies around the world has led to the discovery of a small number of treatments that can, and do, improve outcomes. But, most importantly, we now have safe and effective vaccines that protect against infection, reduce severity of disease, prevent admissions to strained NHS services, and reduce mortality.

The new ‘normal’

For most people COVID-19 affects two weeks of their lives, with a range of flu-like symptoms that are unpleasant, but don’t lead to hospital admission, and they will recover. Most people will take a few weeks to recover their fitness, get back to their normal level of activity, and feel “normal” again. People always ask: “How long until I get back to normal?” Everyone is different. Depending on your previous baseline, the severity of your illness, the length of time laid up resting, and your expectations of recovery, it can be a week, two, perhaps six.

For some people, recovery from the acute illness is only the start of the journey. What we have now come to term Long COVID affects somewhere between 5% and 20% of people who have had the COVID-19 infection. The severity of disease does not seem to predict progression to Long COVID. Indeed most of our critical care COVID-19 survivors have not gone on to develop Long COVID, though their rehabilitation has been long, simply due to the severity of their illness.

Offering a service to people with long lasting symptoms following COVID-19 infection is very challenging. Long COVID is a syndrome for which there is no clear clinical definition; no diagnostic test; large overlap with other diseases and syndromes, some of which are ‘diagnoses of exclusion’; and no mechanistic or pathophysiological pathway. Most hospitals do not have an existing team dedicated to the holistic care of people presenting with the symptoms of Long COVID. The symptoms cross speciality borders: cardiology, respiratory medicine, neurology, rheumatology, dermatology, endocrinology.

Emerging Patterns

In NHS Tayside we followed up our patients from COVID-19 critical care areas after wave 1, and we’ve seen a range of people in our outpatient clinics with Long-COVID symptoms. My experience of seeing people with protracted symptoms following COVID-19 infection has shown me a few emerging patterns.

Speaking to people who have protracted symptoms following COVID-19, there are commonalities in their concerns: is this Long COVID? will it get better? how long will these symptoms last? is there anything I can do to get better? will it get worse? and is this how it’s going to be forever?

Steps to diagnosis

Our first step is to rule out other causes of those symptoms. If someone is breathless following COVID-19, have they developed asthma? If someone has chest pain, is their ECG normal? Just because symptoms started after COVID-19 doesn’t always mean that COVID-19 is responsible. A detailed history often reveals mild symptoms prior to COVID-19, and new things can happen at any time.

Step 2 is to look for modifiable causes of symptoms – deconditioning and weight gain are very often implicated, so a gradual return to an exercise programme, with planned weight loss can be very effective. Addressing any psychological issues is also critical.

Aftercare

Holistic care is vital. There is no clear answer to most of the concerns these people have. We simply don’t understand enough about the Long COVID syndrome to give reliable information about the outlook. In my experience it is uncertainty that scares us: once we’re given the diagnosis, the prognosis, the clear plan, we then have a target, something to aim for, a route to take, and a team to support us.

For people with Long COVID we work in an area of extreme uncertainty. Development of multi-disciplinary teams to help people with this wide range of symptoms, and causes has to be a priority for the next 2 to 5 years.

In NHS Tayside the COVID-19 Assessment Rehabilitation Enablement and Support (CARES) service consists of highly specialised physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and secondary care consultants, like me. Our approach is to ensure early screening to look for serious conditions known to complicate COVID-19, such as pulmonary embolus, atrial fibrillation, pericarditis; followed by a personalised patient-centred care plan delivered by the team; and early referral to secondary care if there are concerns over developing complications.

My own experience with Long COVID

I had COVID-19 in April 2020, just before I should have been running the Boston Marathon. I had a dramatic loss in fitness over the 2 weeks of illness, and suffered for over 12 months with daily headaches, earache, tinnitus, sore throat, dizziness. Those symptoms have, with time, settled. I have no explanation for why they happened, why they went away, and even whether they were definitely related to my COVID-19 infection. They certainly created a high level of uncertainty for me and my family, adding to what was already a stressful 2020. But it has helped me to have first-hand experience of the uncertainty that people can experience.

Hope for the future

As we approach 18 months of the pandemic we see more people who do recover and return to normality, but as the restrictions are relaxed and infection rates reach dizzying heights across the country, we will undoubtedly see more people with symptoms of Long COVID. It is therefore vitally important that we have clear guidance on the approach to people who present with symptoms suggestive of Long COVID. As the national guideline continues to develop, it will be a vital place for clinicians and the public to look for reassurance and guidance. Most importantly, it’s important that we don’t miss newly presenting illnesses, and equally important we don’t ignore or downplay the symptoms that people are now presenting with. As we wait for more studies that help us to diagnose and treat, this approach will be crucial.

Dr Tom Fardon is a Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at Ninewells Hospital and Honorary Reader in the University of Dundee