Reimagining the future

It’s been a mixed week emotionally

We have had a few more patient deaths, which is hugely distressing, and the incredibly sad national stories of people losing several close family members to coronavirus have been truly heart-breaking. I can only imagine the gut-wrenching grief and pain.

The one-minute silence on Tuesday gave us all an opportunity to show our deep gratitude and appreciation for those care workers who have lost their lives during the pandemic: it was an immensely moving, but poignant moment.

But amongst the sadness, there are also small chinks of light.

Boris Johnson announced at yesterday’s press conference that the UK is now ‘past the peak’ of this pandemic and, on this week’s regional CEO call, they said that coronavirus hospital admissions in the North West have gone down on eleven out of the last sixteen days. We are also seeing the number of people dying gradually reduce.

The figures offer hope that restrictions may be curbing the spread, even though there remains an understandable atmosphere of apprehension and caution.

Because, even if we are over the worse, we know that our lives are going to be lived in the shadow of this pandemic for some considerable time.

And therein lies the dilemma for leaders: how do we balance an appropriate degree of caution and sensitivity to those affected by it, with the creation of hope and optimism about the future?

Napoleon said, ‘A leader is a dealer in hope’ and leaders need to give hope, especially when people are anxious to hear it and are scared, tired and frustrated. But not false promises, overly optimistic decisions or risky gestures that could lose these hard won gains.

It’s a difficult balance that you can see being played out in the government as they work their way through this dilemma. But it’s one we face, as we turn our thoughts to what a ‘recovery’ strategy might look like.

One thing is for sure, life after lockdown won’t be the same. But we’ve done and learnt so much in these last few months that this is an opportunity to reimagine a different future and ‘lock in’ the positive changes that have been made.  As we know, necessity is the mother of invention.

We have found different ways to engage with people and provide support to our service users, so that overall activity is only down by about 4%. We’ve introduced a range of new digital technologies and remote consultations, as well as new services, such as the 24/7 helpline. We’ve run training and development workshops using new technology and introduced remote working for over a thousand staff. And whilst doing so cut a lot of the bureaucracy, which will be music to many of our ears!

I know this has energised many teams, who can see more clearly the contribution they are making, and that’s why we shouldn’t just go back to how it was. Many of you have said that you don’t want to lose these new approaches when we enter calmer waters.

As well as keeping the good stuff, we also need to start preparing for the psychological impact of this pandemic. There will no doubt be an increase in demand for mental health services, particularly amongst children and young people, and care workers who have been closest to the stress and trauma of the virus’ impact.

So, we are beginning to think about our plan for recovery and to start reimagining our future, and we want to hear your ideas about what’s worked for you and what you would want to keep as we move forwards.

This awful crisis, despite its very sad and horrible implications in terms of sickness and loss, has galvanised us. It’s drawn us together to see more clearly what we are collectively capable of achieving, and to bring into focus what can be done.

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew.

This one is no different. It is a portal: a gateway between one way of doing things and the next.

We can choose to walk through it reluctantly holding onto the past or we can walk through lightly ready to imagine another world.

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Amidst the grimness of this pandemic, we’ve seen so much creativity. The constraints seem to have been a trigger for people’s imaginations.

Muhammad Khan, a resident on our Heathfield House rehabilitation unit in Stockport, has been writing a novel during this pandemic. He has also described his experience of being on the unit during the lockdown, and I wanted to share this with you, as I was inspired by the hopeful nature of his story despite everything.

Muhammad Khan

“Things have changed a lot since the lockdown and life on the unit has become harder. Leave has been restricted and activities have stopped. My GCSE exam has been cancelled and staff are now wearing protective personal equipment at all times.

The staff here are caring and understanding. They arrange pool competitions and other activities to keep us entertained. We have a great occupational therapist, who keeps us busy with different activities and whatever our interests are, such as scrabble, cooking or maths.

The hardest thing is not being able to go home to see my family. My family originate from Bangladesh and have been very supportive of me over the years. Visitors aren’t allowed on the ward, but we can use Skype and Facetime to keep in touch with friends and family.

I believe we can all use our free time to do something positive. My religious faith has helped me through many dark times. I pray for myself, my family and friends and all of mankind that we can get through this ordeal.

I have always enjoyed writing, so have used my free time to fulfil my dream and write a novel. I have written the first draft of my book. It is called The Fire Mage and is a fantasy story about a bullied child who grows up to become a great magician.

I hope for the day when I will be able to go home and see all my loved ones again and go out whenever I want, wherever I want.

To read the longer version (700 words), please click here

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Best wishes
Claire
You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2