Psychological support during a pandemic: an intervention for hospital teams

Abstract

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented stress on healthcare professionals and resulted in teams being scattered by shielding, working from home and redeployment. The Recovery, Readjustment and Reintegration programme (R3P) was implemented and evaluated in an acute NHS hospital Trust with the aim of supporting those staff involved. Aims To explore the impact of offering themed reflective sessions to staff in an acute hospital and to disseminate this learning for application in other settings and future pandemics. Methods During the initial recovery phase of the pandemic, all Trust staff were invited to attend an R3P where themed discussions were facilitated by psychologists. Feedback was requested pre- and post-session, and a mixed-methods design was followed to gain quantitative and qualitative information. Results A total of 430 staff members attended an R3P between April 2021 and January 2022. A significant majority found attendance helpful and agreed that it had provided them with the opportunity to reflect on their own and their teams’ experience of pandemic working and led them to feel more supported by their organization. Conclusions Finding meaning in experiences through facilitated reflective discussion can help limit the negative psychological impact of working in an acute hospital during a pandemic. Staff are likely to benefit from such opportunities in any future pandemic recovery phase.