This year has presented greater challenges to community and district nurse education than ever before. Within higher education institutions, we have certainly felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in a variety of ways, but I am proud to say that within my own university, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), we made the switch to online teaching with consummate ease and have continued to provide teaching and learning support for our precious students throughout the lock down. But, for some lecturers within our faculty, continuing the ‘business unusual’ approach to teaching and learning was also accompanied by a personal drive to return to the front line of NHS care. With the support of our school leadership, I am proud to say that within my own team of family community and public health specialists, more than 75% of us were able to offer support to front line colleagues in a variety of forms.
The Managing Adult Malnutrition in the Community team has worked with the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) to develop a range of patient information leaflets to advise those who have Covid-19 illness, or who are recovering after the illness, on eating well to assist in their recovery.
In the UK, it is estimated that more than a million older people, or around 10 percent of the older population, experience some form of abuse in any given year (NatCen, Kings College London, 2013).
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) has always offered a wide range of direct support to community nurses. Recently, we expanded our offer with a new listening service.
In 2019, NHS England published its much anticipated Long Term Plan, where the delivery of ‘personalised care’ was identified as one of five major changes that would help the required transformation of the English health and care system into the future.
Kissing it Better is a healthcare charity working to end the isolation of old age by bringing young and old together. So, how did the charity cope when coronavirus put an end to direct human contact? Here, Jill Fraser, CEO, tells the story of how a small charity adapted and thrived.
Good relationships are important for our mental wellbeing. As well as helping to build a sense of belonging and self-worth, such relationships also provide an invaluable opportunity to share positive experiences. NHS England advises arranging a fixed time to eat meals with family or friends, as a key step to mental wellbeing — providing a direct correlation between the effects that eating with others can have on our state of mind (www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/improvemental-wellbeing). At a time when we, as a nation, are living through a pandemic which prevents us from socialising with friends and family, eating together is proving more problematic than ever.
