Our very own Martin Gascoigne was recently interviewed for an article in the NR Times, talking about how the field of Case Management has been affected by the pandemic. Below is a snippet of the interview. You can read the full article on the NR Times website here.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced huge changes within case management and the traditional ways in which clients have been supported. In our continuing series of Q&A features with case managers across the country, Martin Gascoigne of Neuro Case Management UK (NCMUK) shares his experiences.
Can you summarise how the past few months have been for you?
The past few months for NCMUK have been extremely challenging. This is due to the Government initially ring-fencing all of the PPE supplies for NHS staff which made it very difficult for us to procure the necessary equipment. Also, due to our Paediatric Clients Parents furloughing, we have experienced different challenges with the type and level of care that they felt they would like us to provide whilst still working in accordance with National Minimum Standards.
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 managed to adapt to all of the new guidelines effective immediately as we were informed by the Government that failure to conform with these would mean that we were no longer able to deliver the care needed. NCMUK, therefore, reassigned staff to new roles to deal with the new daily/weekly challenges set, identifying new sources of equipment provision, medication and standards of care.