Supporting The Wellbeing Of Community Health Teams

Your donations have allowed us to be there for all staff during the pandemic, not just those on the frontline but also those at the very heart of the provision of care at home – our community health teams.

As wellbeing spaces and support was being put in place for hospital based-staff, it was important not to forget the huge contribution that was being made across the region by our community health teams who unfortunately had limited access to these wellbeing resources. So, we brought wellbeing to them – in a tub!

‘Wellbeing Hub in a Tub’ recognised that staff in the community needed alternative ways to access support that would make a positive difference to their health and wellbeing during the Coronavirus pandemic. Working with teams across NHS Lothian and thanks to generous donations to our NHS Lothian COVID-19 Appeal, grants from NHS Charities Together and donations from businesses, 120 wellbeing boxes were prepared and delivered to Health and Social Care Partnership Community teams across Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian.

Each box contained sleep packs, handcream, lip balm, energy snacks, refreshments, car chargers, headphones, and many other items to support the wellbeing of our teams in the community as they continued to provide complex, person-centred care at home. They also contained a wellbeing booklet with advice and guidance on how to look after their own emotional and physical health during these challenging times.Amanda Langsley, Associate Director of OD and Learning, who spearheaded the initiative, said: “It was really important for us to acknowledge the crucial role that all staff were playing during the pandemic and ensure that we were also supporting the wellbeing of our staff in the community. We had undertaken a lot of work setting up wellbeing rooms in various hospital sites and we needed to find a way to replicate this as best we could for staff who were unable to easily access these resources.”

Director of NHS Lothian Charity, Jane Ferguson, said:

“Improving the health and wellbeing of everyone across Edinburgh and the Lothians is at the core of everything we do. Staff have been under a huge amount of pressure and strain during the pandemic and often put their own wellbeing second. That is why it was so important that while they were helping us, we helped them. This is another fantastic example of everyone coming together to support our amazing NHS Lothian colleagues and we are proud to be part of it.”

One of the recipients was Mhairi-Jane Ramage, a specialist practitioner district nurse in Midlothian. She said:

“As community nurses, we visit patients in their homes – we’re a ward without walls and build close relationships with patients and their families. When someone passes, we carry out a bereavement visit to see how the family is doing and give support. I went to see the wife of a patient who died in hospital. She hadn’t been able to visit because of COVID and broke down. You comfort and reassure, but you feel helpless. That was a hard day. After days like that you really appreciate having the ‘hub in a tub’. Every item in the tub was so well considered: lavender face masks to ease anxiety and snack bars to pop in the car in case we miss lunch. I took home a packet of seeds and now I have three flourishing basil plants. During times like these, pottering around and getting lost in wee tasks like growing herbs helps me relax and switch off.”

With special thanks to British Airways, Friendly Soap, Doublebase, Cetraben, Hydromol, Diprobase, Epoderm, KIND Snacks, RitterSport and BaxterStorey, and to Network Rail for supporting distribution.