Sheffield Day Services supporting families during the pandemic

The team at Sheffield Day Services have overcome a number of challenges during the pandemic over the last 12 months and their flexibility and commitment to their service users has resulted in some fantastic feedback from parents and family members.

Sheffield Day Services, is a day service that specialises in supporting individuals with a primary diagnosis of a learning disability, in addition to those with complex health needs, physical disabilities and those with autism. As with other day services in the area the service closed in March 2020 during the first lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The closure of Sheffield Day Services, and other similar services in the area, had a major impact on families who were not able to access respite. It was also a very difficult time for the service users who were used to accessing the service. One parent wrote that her daughter, “found it really hard to cope when the centre had to close for a couple of months. It was a really difficult time for her at home and she found it very hard to adjust to the changes.”

Despite the enforced closure the team at Sheffield Day Services were determined to still provide some kind of support to families. Initially this was in the form of phone calls and even picking up groceries for families from the local shops. The team also trialed activities via Zoom but this didn’t really work out due to the complex needs and communication difficulties of some service users.

The team brainstormed other alternatives and realised that they could provide activities in family members’ gardens. The activities were none contact social distance activities, for example; singing, stories, and general interactive fun. Another parent praised how the team kept in contact with the family in the early stages of the pandemic and that, “when allowed had staff visit us at home in full PPE to spend time with my daughter in the garden which she loved, also giving us as parents a much needed break.”

The garden at Sheffield Day Services

As restrictions began to ease other activities included socially distanced community group gatherings in Graves Park, Sheffield. Despite these initiatives families were still struggling so on 24th June 2020 the team reopened the Day Service again. To ensure safety the staff team and service users were formed into three bubbles. Two extra staff rooms were created to enable staff to maintain the bubbles.

Helen Ullyatt, Service Manager, explains, “The day service is an essential service for our service users and their families. Some of our families are key working staff, so relied on our service to enable them to continue with their working commitments, also some of our families have no other support other than the day service. The service users need the stimulation and to continue their routine. They have also made friendships groups so it was important that they could interact with their peers.”

“Whilst working under Covid-19 restrictions, we have endeavored to keep our activities as “normal” as possible, in keeping with the tight bubbles. Staff are wearing PPE but our service users are unable to. This has taken great imagination from our team to enable us to keep our activity menu as planned but keeping everyone as safe as we possibly can.”

“Despite the restrictions the team have still been able to provide lots of fun activities such as painting rainbows on the windows and filling the garden with lots of colourful flowers. We then all dressed up to celebrate Halloween, and Christmas. We also had lots of fun when we had a western day, socially distanced line dancing filled the service with laughs!”

The re-opening of the service had a huge impact on a number of families with one parent saying, “Being able to continue our son’s day service during the pandemic has been a lifeline for the whole family. Without this help and support, and knowing how our son so enjoys his time there, it has made a very anxious and upsetting time more manageable.”

Another parent said, “We would genuinely be lost without Day Services who have come to mean a great deal to us all as a family. Helen and her team are doing a great job at making a safe environment for everyone.”

Unfortunately some service users, who have vulnerable health conditions are still not able to travel to the Day Service. The team are continuing to support these individuals as much as they can including three trips a week to support one particular lady in Gainsborough.

Helen has nothing but praise for the hard work and flexibility of her team, “The staff team have shown outstanding commitment to the service. They were initially re-deployed to other services to assist during the pandemic. They returned to the service with a whole new way of working from what they had been used to before the pandemic. I am incredibly proud of each and every one of them and how professional they have been under tough circumstances.”

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