Case management
As the country faces the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the management team at Richardson Care reflect on their experiences so far. Richardson Care has six specialist residential care homes – three for adults with acquired brain injury and three for adults with learning disabilities. Caring for up to 78 people, many of whom are vulnerable brings added responsibilities and pressures, as well as additional skills.
Our experience in supporting people who are rebuilding their lives after brain injury or living with learning disabilities means that we are problem solvers. We support people to overcome challenges every day. Never has this been more important and we’re proud of the way that our management team and staff have responded.
Case management has faced many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, to enable vital support continues to be delivered to clients. Here, in the first in a series of Q&A features with case managers across the country, Lisa Brown, managing director of Coastal Case Management, shares her experiences
How did you adapt to the restrictions of lockdown? Were you able to do this quickly or did it take a bit of time? We were pretty much set up with remote working and had literally just got our own IT man, who was invaluable. We changed to Sharepoint so the new way of working was certainly a challenge. It took a few weeks for us to settle in to our new world of Zoom and Microsoft Team chats but I love it.
A key figure in UK case management has won a prestigious award in recognition of her work in opening up access to chronic pain management support through innovative use of digital technology.
Deborah Edwards has overseen the creation of the RESTORE programme, an eight-week online support and coaching initiative which is helping people across the country to improve how they manage and deal with pain. The “revolutionary” programme, which delivers evidence-based improvements in sleep and movement for chronic pain sufferers, has enabled people to bypass long NHS waiting times to access a tailored programme and bespoke advice from specialists.
Case managers and service providers across the UK have embraced new ways of working during the COVID-19 pandemic which could become commonplace going forward, but concerns still persist about the lasting effects practically and financially, a new report has found.
Though the adoption of technology and remote means of client engagement, rehabilitation has continued to be provided in ways that will most likely become part of the ‘new normal’.
The Coronavirus - Impact on Rehabilitation report also highlights how by using ‘telerehab’, clients can feel more connected to their service providers, as more time is freed up for communication by taking out travelling time.
Case managers, clinicians, therapists and other brain injury professionals will gather virtually later this month for a national conference.
The 18th annual brain injury conference, hosted by law firm Hugh James on Wednesday 18 November, will feature discussions on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting patients and claims; plus challenges in paediatric neurorehabilitation and the latest on lobbying for improvements for all living with acquired brain injury.
A UK-wide research project to look at the experiences of case managers and clients during the COVID-19 pandemic has been launched.
The initiative will gather personal accounts of people living with brain injuries and their support networks during the pandemic, from lockdown to the present day, reflecting on how people have changed and adapted during that time.
The study, spearheaded by BABICM, will assess how case managers and clients alike found the availability of support and access to services during the past few months, and how challenges were responded to and overcome.
Remote working in case management can be a safe and effective means of interacting with clients, new research has found.
Three research projects commissioned and funded by CMSUK analysed how effective remote working and use of telerehabilitation could be in case management.
The projects - which assessed the barriers and challenges of remote working, the safety and quality of telerehabilitation, and its effectiveness - have demonstrated how effective it can be, supported by training for case managers where needed.
Despite the significant pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Neuro Case Management UK (NCMUK) declined the opportunity to furlough any of its near 100-strong team. Martin Gascoigne, founder of the Sheffield-based business, explains more.
As a family-owned case management company, one of the biggest of our kind in the UK, we have built our reputation on providing a first-rate service in a caring and compassionate way. Care and compassion are values which run deep for all of us here and we appreciate the great efforts our team go to for our clients. So in times when the going gets tough, we will always show we’ll support them every step of the way.
To help assess the changing nature of case management, Heidi Stevens has produced a research protocol, ‘The effectiveness of a case management approach to care for adults who suffer trauma through injury: protocol for a systematic review’. Here, she discusses her aims and ambitions for the protocol, which is set to be released later this month.
What is your background and what are you doing currently? I am an associate public health nutritionist and have just started working on a systematic review for Teesside University investigating weight management interventions for people with severe mental health issues.
The use of telerehabilitation has an important role in the future of case management, but a case-by-case approach and better patient education is needed to ensure its continuing efficacy, a new report has concluded.
While it is accepted as a safe and effective means of service delivery for initial triage, immediate needs assessment and subsequent case management and treatment coordination phases - backed by clinical support where needed - the research recommends that a number of factors need to be considered on a patient-by-patient basis to fulfil an effective consultation.
