Cystic fibrosis social workers’ experience of working during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a whole new range of changes and challenges for cystic fibrosis (CF) teams which wereintroduced at a rapid rate. A proposal was put forward for UK CF SocialWorkers (SW) to meet virtually to discuss emerging issues for people withCF, professional and personal impacts of COVID-19. We aimed to exploreSWexperiences of new ways of working during COVID-19.Methods: All 45 UKCF, SWwere invited to complete an online anonymised24 item questionnaire with a mix of Likert scale matrix and open-endedquestions. There was a focus on transition to homeworking, what workedwell and what didn’t, and an exploration of what practices developedduring the pandemic SW would like to see employed permanently.Results: Response rate = 38% (17/45) Paediatric (3) Adult (13) Lifespan (1).Pre-COVID-19, 76% of SW had never worked from home (WFH);now 47%were entirely home-based with a further 29% WFH a few days per week.57% felt the transition to homeworking went smoothly and 75% feltmanagement were supportive. 76% ceased all face-to-face contact withpatients with increased use of video technology to facilitate remoteconsultations. 65% expressed concerns about returning to pre-COVIDworking patterns and most wanted flexible working arrangements tocontinue. 82% attended at least one virtual meeting, 76% found thesemeetings very useful and 100% felt they should continue.Conclusions: Attendance at the SW virtual meetings has grown, indicatingSWvalue the sharing of insights and experience. In light of the escalation ofremote working and working in isolation, CF SW are rethinking peersupport and online learning events. Initially informal in content, thesemeetings have evolved into a structured format with plans to broaden thecontext to make them more purposeful. Plans for future working anddiscussing emerging needs for patients with CF will need to be exploredfurther