Dear Friends & Colleagues

TVABIF moves to it's first hybrid meeting:

- 15 Spaces available for face to face meeting at Royds Withy King's offices in Court Minns Business Park, 5 West Way, Botley, Oxford. OX2 0JB. Refreshments will be provided.

- You can also continue to join us online via zoom if you prefer.

Attendance is free in either case, but please make sure you select the correct ticket.

The presentation will be:

Connection stories: an evaluation of patient, family and neurorehabilitation staff experience of digital communication as an alternative to hospital visiting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Interim results: December 2021 family experience

Dr Georgie Boothroyd, Principal Clinical Neuropsychologist

Dr Ciara Preston, Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Chloe Stokes, Research Assistant

Sophia Clemans, Assistant Psychologist

Melissa Layden, Assistant Psychologist

Dr Audrey Daisley, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist

Abstract

Admission to hospital for rehabilitation following a serious neurological illness or injury is a very stressful life experience for the patient and their family members. The positive impact of delivery of family-centred care in neurorehabilitation on patient outcomes is well established. At the Oxford Centre for Enablement (OCE), a Level 1 Neurorehabilitation Service serving patients with highly complex changes arising from neurological conditions and acquired brain injury, family-centred care provision forms an integral mainstay of our ethos. The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically impacted on our, and almost all, NHS services from being able to deliver services that support family and patient connection and psychological attachment needs. Almost overnight, families were prevented from visiting their relatives in hospital. Then from the June 2020 the Trust introduced the “Rule of One” for visiting which remained in place until March 2022.

In the in-patient neurorehabilitation context, patients are typically admitted to the OCE for many months and visitor restrictions had the potential to impact negatively on patient rehabilitation outcomes and lead to loss of role and emotional distress for relatives. Additionally, many of the patients at the OCE did not have the physical or cognitive (or both) capacity to contact family independently.

The OCE responded rapidly with a wide-ranging information and support programme for patients and staff (which included the rapid development of tailormade informational materials for patients and families, including child relatives, about Covid-19). A key part of this support programme was the implementation of daily video and telephone calls for all in-patients who were unable to do this independently due to cognitive, physical, communication or access issues and were in receipt of rehabilitation at the time of the pandemic.

Interim findings indicate relatives experienced high levels of emotional connection and involvement with their loved ones’ rehabilitation and they rated the overall value of the service as incredibly worthwhile. In some cases, the service provided increased patient/ relative choice (i.e. for those travelling from greater distances). In summary, digital communication as an alternative to in person visiting appears to be an acceptable surrogate for supporting relatives emotional and attachment needs. It is recognised that it does not replace the need for in person contact; however, with the average length of admission for patients receiving the service being 15 weeks, it represents valued intervention.

Bio

Dr Georgie Boothroyd is a Clinical Neuropsychologist working at the Oxford Centre for Enablement. He is part of the wider neuropsychology service who have been supporting the families of people with brain injury to maintain relationships over the course of the pandemic. Prior to joining OUH Trust Georgie worked for Berkshire Neuropsychology Service across their outpatient and community neurorehabilitation services and provided a consultation service to Headway Thames Valley.

Schedule:

1pmArrival/ Log-in

1:05 pm Regional Updates & Networking

1:20: Presentation

2:15pm Discussion & Reflections