It then became increasingly
evident that the virus was having a different impact on some groups in society.
A new phrase emerged suggesting that whilst we were all experiencing the same
‘storm’ we were in different ‘boats’. And,
as the pandemic unfolded, we saw the disadvantaged, the elderly, people from
ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities all being disproportionately
affected by the effects of covid.
People with learning disabilities have been over
three times more likely to die from covid than
those in the general population. We have lost service users to covid,
which I know has been very distressing for our learning disability teams and of
course their loved ones.
The statistics are shocking
and sombre, but maybe not surprising to those already aware of the health
inequalities they faced before the pandemic, including premature avoidable
death. People with a learning disability were often marginalised and had
a harder time in society before, and the pandemic has sadly amplified the
everyday discrimination and health inequalities they experience. Many have also not understood why certain changes are happening, and have
had even less choice and control over their lives than usual. They
have suffered isolation, loneliness and
the loss of their independence.
So, I very much hope that
the learning disability awareness week running at the moment has helped promote
the fact that more needs to be done to support them. I also hope that the week
celebrates the uplifting stories, outstanding services, and inspiring people
driving through change as they greatly deserve our thanks, admiration and
applause.
This year’s theme for the
awareness week has been arts and creativity. As for many people with a learning
disability and their families, this has been a way to stay connected and
positive.
We’ve been promoting stories
such as Mark Needham who has been painting throughout the pandemic. Mark is
supported by our Rochdale
community learning disability team and paints
things he loves from his mum’s garden to Michael Crawford in Phantom of the
Opera because “it makes him happy”.
Arts and creativity enrich all of our lives.
It develops our creative thinking skills, gives a fresh perspective and allows innovation to flourish. It helps reduce
stress, build our confidence and keeps us ‘present’, distracting us from
worries and focusing our attention. It enables us to find ourselves and lose
ourselves at the same time.
We are all born creative, but some of us
forget how to be creative somewhere along the way. As Picasso said, “Every
child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
All the restrictions seem to have boosted a
tsunami of creativity though, whether it’s been through gardening, sewing,
painting, photography, cooking or singing. Virtual choirs, knitting clubs and online
arts and dance classes have sprung up everywhere. A host of creative TV
programmes promoting and celebrating the immense talent out there have also
been storming ahead in the ratings. They shine a
light on what can be done by ordinary people with a special set of skills.
I’ve so loved watching the Great British
Sewing Bee. Charming judges, wonderful
contestants and the spirit-lifting sight of creativity springing from human
hands makes this contest soothing for the soul. I’m
rubbish at sewing, having only ever made an Eeyore soft toy and unwearable
dress when I was at school, but I’ve loved watching twelve amateur sewers
wowing us with fabric creations. Damien from
Bolton, who has been described as ‘TV gold’ and ‘an absolute legend’ was a joy
to watch. The engineer started teaching himself to sew three years ago
when a pair of work trousers needed altering and won fans throughout the
competition with his individuality, positivity, and, let’s face it, his
complete refusal to stick to the brief.
I also love The Great
Pottery Throw Down and Portait Artist of the Year and have
been inspired
to book onto an art course in September. It will cover everything, from the
technical side of translating what you see onto paper as well as using
different mediums such as acrylics, oils, charcoal etc. In preparation I’ve
started sketching, just to get a sense of how far I have to go! I really don’t
have any talent for drawing or painting (not being modest, trust me I don’t),
but it does matter. I’m going to unleash my inner child. After all, there are
no rules to creativity.
And creativity is not exclusively an artistic pursuit that we do in our spare time, but
rather the process of generating new ideas and solving complex problems. It’s
critical for an organisation in order to develop and thrive. We have to
think creatively to deliver the best services we can, something we’ve seen in
abundance over this last year.
The consultation for the corporate services
redesign is currently underway for example and this involves thinking
creatively about how we can adapt and change our corporate services to make the
required efficiency savings following the transfer of community health
services, while looking at how we can best support our new clinical and
operational teams and the wider system.
Some teams are coming up with alternative
proposals that they think could work well for their teams and our organisation,
so it’s great to see imagination and creativity flowing through this process. I
want to stress how much we encourage this. Consultations are about hearing
views about a set of proposals and seeking views and opinions in a genuinely
open way. Only after the consultation has finished will a final set of
proposals be created before moving into any management of change.
But I know that this is a stressful, worrying
and difficult time for corporate colleagues. It’s more complex with everyone
working remotely, and of course people are also doing their ‘day job’ on top of this. This is putting
additional strain on teams and so I hope we can support our corporate
colleagues as much as we can, showing kindness and understanding.
We’re asking everyone in Trust HQ to carry on
working as they have been over the last year in terms of location, especially
with the lifting of final restrictions being put back. We hope by the end of
the summer to have a draft business case about how we might use Trust HQ going
forward, as we need to hold onto the benefits of agile working, so we will be
engaging with you for ideas about how this should look.
When I touch on different themes, stories and
pieces of work in this blog it feels, every single time, that our values are a
golden thread running through all that you do. Kindness, fairness, ingenuity and
determination. Thank you, once again, for living and breathing these. They will
help play our part in building a better world.
Best wishes
Claire
You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2
