BEST COVID-19 RESPONSE IN HEALTHCARE (UP TO 15M TURNOVER)

CardMedic – CardMedic Web and Mobile App

Founded during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic by anaesthetist Dr Rachael Grimaldi whilst on maternity leave, CardMedic is an innovative and award-winning web and mobile app designed to improve communication between healthcare staff and patients. Stuck abroad due to travel restrictions, Dr Grimaldi was inspired by a news article about a patient admitted to Intensive Care with COVID who was terrified by not being able to communicate with staff through PPE. As a result, Dr Grimaldi created digital flashcards that could be used by staff to communicate with patients. From concept to launch in 72 hours, CardMedic has gone on to receive over 50,000 users in 120 countries with over 16,000 app downloads since April 2020, garnering government support, awards and international press coverage. Written by clinical experts and carefully designed to be clear and concise, the CardMedic app offers an A-Z list of pre-written scripts replicating clinical conversations around common healthcare topics. At the touch of a button, content can be converted to different languages, sign language videos, easy read with pictures or read-aloud mode. Only CardMedic allows instant access to a bespoke flexible communication support tool for patients with differing language needs, sensory abilities and capacities.

Greater Manchester Resilience Hub – Wellbeing through Covid-19

The Greater Manchester Resilience Hub, is an all-age psychology led trauma responsive service, originally established to coordinate the mental health care needs of all those impacted by the 2017 Manchester Terrorist Attack. When the covid pandemic struck in early 2020 the dedicated staff team rapidly adapted and expanded its offer to meet the mental health needs of all healthcare and allied public sector workers, and their families under a new wellbeing workstream. Offering; outreach, screening, 1:1 treatment, advice, training, peer support, & family support. Successful in its business case to the commissioners of the Greater Manchester health and social care partnership, it was operational from early 2020 and has supported a couple of thousand individuals, who themselves support the rest of society. The model was highlighted nationally as best practice and we supported other regions across England to mobilise similar responses to keep the health and care sector staff psychologically healthy so they could continue to do the valuable work necessary, and so heavily relied on by the public. Staff from the Hub advocated for a national expansion, which contributed to NHS England securing funding to commission 40 wellbeing/resilience services based on the core principles of the GM resilience.

Laura Hyde Foundation

The Laura Hyde Foundation have provided significant free mental health support, innovation, research and greater understanding of mental health issues within the emergency services sector. Covid has seen a 500% increase in demand of what we do and using Laura’ story to help break down stigma, deliver both short and long term therapies and change to the sector, we have helped thousands of frontline emergency services across the NHS, police, paramedics and medical students get the support they need.

Priority Digital Health – Covid-19 Welfare Platform

At the height of the pandemic, Priority Digital Health rapidly designed and launched the Covid-19 Welfare Platform. In partnership with Provide CIC and commissioned by Essex County Council, the platform enabled vulnerable Essex residents to register for support or register as volunteers. Healthcare professionals could then match volunteers, in real-time, to support requests via the platform. Almost 9,000 vulnerable people have received support from over 3,500 volunteers via this platform. The Covid-19 Welfare Platform has now been further developed into the Essex Wellbeing service which allows Essex residents to access and be referred to the services they need.

Skills for Health – Free Covid-19 Awareness Course – Rapid Response eLearning

When Covid-19 broke out, life as we knew it changed forever, overnight. Everyone had a part to play and we knew we could support our NHS, health and care workforce with the rapid response needed. As the Sector Skills Council for Health and one of the UK’s leading healthcare online learning providers, we created a mobile and interactive training solution at pace to meet the increased demands on our key workers, faced with Coronavirus challenges. The training was extremely well received, that as a result, we had the opportunity to support many other sectors in the next mammoth task of returning to work in a Covid-19 landscape. Since the course launched on March 25, over 58,000 professionals from our NHS, health, care and wider public sector workforce signed up for this vital training.

WingFactors – Pilot Sim / Patient Engagement

WingFactors is an educational organisation working in collaboration with the NHS to promote and enhance the Human Factors training landscape within hospitals. Through multi-departmental simulation training and customer service courses, the aim of WingFactors is to use our extensive aviation experience to highlight the value of interprofessional learning and ultimately improve patient safety. WingFactors formed organically during the first-wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Grounded airline pilots and cabin crew volunteered in uniform serving ‘tea, coffee and empathy’ to staff at the NHS Whittington Health Trust. This led to a number of conversations where it became clear that there was a unique opportunity to bring aviation expertise in both human factors and customer service skills directly into the front line of the NHS. Alongside the formation of the highly successful In Situ ‘Pilot Sim’ programme (HSJ Shortlisted ‘Best Education Programme for the NHS 2021), cabin crew were invited to create a ‘Patient Engagement’ training course. This focused on the use of soft skills when interacting with patients and de-escalating a potential conflict at an early stage. This programme is rapidly expanding into both clinical and non-clinical patient-facing areas across multiple Trusts.