Weeknotes: 17th April 2020
Starting in a new role is always exciting and nerve-wracking — but never more so in a time tainted by a global pandemic. I’ve been drafted into the transformation programme at a local authority, and my role will be focused on improvement and change, working will all sorts of colleagues and departments across children’s services. And I must say that I’m very impressed by my new colleagues and their approach to supporting vulnerable people in the borough – and how they’ve moved to action so quickly during this crisis.
I’m also continuing to work on the ‘gaming for charity’ project for The Children’s Society. This project focuses on using gaming (theory, design and play) for engagement and income generation as well as youth impact. We had our first workshop today in partnership with
from Fundamentally Games. I learned so much about the psychology behind game design, risk and reward behaviour and how importantly, we can use games and game theory to engage others.Quote of the day was definitely Oscar stating nonchalantly that his mom backed the first kickstarter of
. As you do.
I’m also super excited to announce that
is partner to the ‘You Are Not Alone’ #YANA global gaming event on the 2nd May, alongside Edge E-Sports; Ubisoft and Barclays. We are delighted to have been chosen as the charity partner for the event. In the wake of #COVID-19 we want to encourage people from all over the world to get gaming, have fun with their friends and family at a safe distance, #playtogetherapart and donate to a worthy cause.
The Coronavirus crisis has put vulnerable children in even more danger. Lockdown means they are hidden from view and trapped at home, at risk of abuse and neglect and without the vital support they need. They’re all alone, trying to cope with their worries, fears and worsening mental health.
Video games connect us. We want to be able to provide a platform for people to connect and help bring some normality to the disruption caused by confinement. We want people to feel that they are not alone. So please sign up, participate and donate. This will help our front-line staff deliver vital care packages, provide urgent support and advice, and arrange an emergency response for children in imminent danger that could save their lives. #YANA has kindly set us up a JustGiving page for those who would like to donate. Donate here and follow the updates on the event on the #YANA website or on Twitter.
WHAT I’M CELEBRATING
I had many different expectations moving into work in the public sector during lockdown. I’ve been impressed by the speed and agility at which things are moving — which, at any other time feels like drawing blood from a stone, in my experience. I’d like to share an example from the current team I’m working in.
A new innovative service has been launched in my local borough which involves deliveries of prescriptions to vulnerable residents within the borough. Obviously, these vulnerable people aren’t able to leave their homes during this COVID-19 crisis as they are at extreme risk to the virus. But many of them, particularly some of the more elderly residents, will not be able to collect any prescriptions or medication in person. There was recognition from the borough that something had to be done to support these people. #HelpNewham was launched which offers support to:
- Residents aged over 70 who live alone and do not have the support of friends or family
- Those who receive support through adult social care and who have health conditions identified by the NHS
- Young people whom are cared for or support through social services
- Families with children with special educational needs and disabilities
- Members of the street homeless community
- Families living in temporary accommodation
- Those who have been contacted directly by the NHS as part of their programme to shield 1.5 million people nationwide
#HelpNewham is way of delivering support to residents who are most in need. They are using a network of schools and council buildings across our community neighbourhoods to act as distribution centres for support services for our residents like supporting vulnerable families and people with food, toiletries and other essential supplies.
#HelpNewham’s leaflet provides information to people who rely on prescription medication. If people already get prescription medications delivered to their home, this will continue. If they do not already get them delivered, they can ask someone they trust to collect the medication on their behalf. If that is not possible, a person can ring Newham’s Customer Service team (they have now had over 900 calls). And that brings me to talk about the prescription distribution service.
Newham has partnered with taxi company CityFleet Business (a Global Ground Transport Provider that provides safe and reliable transport for the UK corporate market) and Newham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to design and deliver a prescription delivery service to those most in need. 7 pharmacies were involved in the prototype — and this number has grown daily since, in more recent testing phases.
So how does it work? Taxi drivers are paired with a distribution worker (both DBS checked). Taxi drivers have a screen in their cars to separate the back and the front of the cars. The taxi driver picks up the distribution worker at Newham Council offices in the morning, they pop by the chemist to get all the prescriptions for the day and they embark on the drop journey. The taxi drivers receive the schedule for drops and plot the journey in an app that CityFleet uses to plan the most effective and efficient route. The pharmacy rings the resident to let them know their medicine will be dropped off by a volunteer. The worker arrives at a property, rings the bell or knock three times, drops the medicine on the doorstep and steps 2+ metres way from the door. The door is opened and the person collects their medicine. Any non-deliveries are returned to the pharmacy.
This initiative was launched last Thursday and already there are an additional number of pharmacies across the borough who want to be involved. The ambition is to work with the 61 pharmacies all over the borough. CityFleet are able to up the number of DBS’d taxi drivers available to do the drops and Newham are in the process of redeploying further staff and sourcing volunteers to act as distribution workers.
What struck me most about this is the following:
- This service was designed and mobilised in 9 days
- It brings together multiple partners from different sectors — hardly something to be sniffed at, in the best of times
- The workforce is redeployed from their council day jobs, which still akes use of their time and skills set
- This initiative is driven by a local authority which very often, we know, have poor reputations for speed of action
- Risks were considered and mitigated very quickly
- There is not one jot of cost to the Council
They are doing a lot of learning on the trot. The prototype showed:
- Roughly over 100 prescriptions per day delivered over 3 days on a staffing rota of 2 people as a prototype (this has grown over the last 2 days of testing).
- Delays in the drop schedule were often related things like some more elderly residents taking a long time to come to the door or deliveries having to be done in council blocks with broken lifts
- Deliveries do not include refrigerated medicine which is important as the risk to the partnership and residents would be heightened
- Some pharmacies have a 50–60 prescription allocation per day so these pharmacies can have a specific driver / worker team allocated to them alone
- Some pharmacies have stated that they don’t require help at this point in time-they have paid for their own drivers / delivery staff
- The initiative needs extra capacity to do more deliveries
- Keeping drivers working with the same distribution worker is a good idea as these teams have now developed a good flow, rapport and trust
- There is a small number of prescriptions that haven’t been able to be delivered, which is returned to the pharmacy and is the responsibility of the pharmacy to follow up on
- People behind the door want to see and know who the person is who are delivering the parcels
#HelpNewham is also launching a Befriending Chat Service will provide vulnerable people with the opportunity to have a chat with one of the Council employees. Talking to others is an important part of making sure that peoples’ health and well-being is being looked after. Obviously the trained befrienders are not able to meet people in person at the moment but the Befriending chat service will allow a vulnerable person to make a tea and have a friendly chat to someone on the phone! Again — this was designed in 5 days will go live early next week.
In my mind, this is an absolute feat. It’s an good lesson on how this environment and context can cause urgent action — when in a non-COVID world — this would take months to design and mobilise. A sterling example of innovation in crisis.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
I’ve read some super cool articles in the last few weeks about what people feel they’re learning during this time. My favourites are Eric Young from Huron Daily Tribune (made me laugh out loud); Chrisfino Kenyatta Leal, an opinion contributor to
; Cat Davis from The Mission Group, featured in The Drum and of course, from The Children’s Society publishing learnings on medium. So here are my own learnings thus far:- There are no excuses for not acting anymore. Risk, timescales, capacity, skills and expertise can be real barriers to action — however, a lot of the time they are are just often used as excuses NOT to get things done. Where there is a will, there is a way.
- Multi-disciplinary teams where a variety of skill sets are brought together to find a solution to an opportunity or a problem. This is the golden ticket. There is also no space for ego — we are all in this together. We all have very valuable ideas, thoughts, skill sets and experiences to bring to the table — no one trumps another.
- I used to chuckle at my colleagues in the private sector having daily, early morning ‘scrums’. I’m eating my laughter. I’ve seen just this action transform the way teams work. Touching base, talking out, finding solutions to issues, assigning actions — and being accountable for these on a daily basis allows for much quicker pace and sense of ownership.
- I’m generally cynical about humans — but I’ve been amazed and humbled by how people are giving during this time. Not just of their money (to emergency appeals and so forth) but of their energy, time and voice. I’ve heard about people who are re-connecting with others they haven’t seen for years, since school for instance— and now they do weekly pub quizzes together over . People becoming virtual community companions to the elderly in their local area. Essential workers putting their health on the line to help others.
Our team set up a Whatsapp group where we encourage each other daily with anecdotes, cute videos of dogs, funny stories, photos of ourselves like #MeAt16 and sharing of the lockdown meals we are consuming on a daily basis. I’ve even been to a
where one of my friends who is an extraordinary singer and songwriter took requests and played them on her keyboard while we all chimed along like cats. This week, we had Victoria Beckham asking her virtual party goers to donate to as part of her birthday celebrations. Restores my faith in humanity.- Some people I know and work with are no longer saying “that’s not my job”. People are just getting on and doing it. The realisation is that everyone has to pull together to make stuff work.
- On a more personal level — I’ve realised a few things:
- I can rub my eyes whenever I want without worrying about smudging my mascara and “coopering” (a term made famous in Cougar Town). Wearing no makeup is liberating.
- I’ve always wondered what being full-time self-employed feels like — and now having to work from home everyday, I know. It’s a struggle for someone that gets her energy from being around people in a face-to-face capacity.
- My coffee machine is one of the best birthday gifts I’ve ever received.
- Why Joe Wicks has now become such a household name.
- I profusely dislike spending a whole day full of meetings on video conferences. It’s energy sapping.
- Watching the news and refreshing twitter constantly throughout the day was making me terribly anxious. So I stopped doing it and have kept engagement with the news to a minimum.
- I don’t actually need Pret a Manger to survive in life.
- I would not be able to live without my virtual workspaces. Using tools like slack and teams has transformed the way I work, share and learn both inside and outside of the organisations I work in and with. My favourite one by far in this time (set up by ) is for freelancers, called “Tech Maverns and Mavericks”. I’ve never met half these people in person, but they are super supportive, kind, constructive and very very good at what they do!
8. And lastly, this crisis isn’t a localised thing. I speak to my friends and family all of the world and we are all experiencing the same thing — to varying degrees. My family in South Africa are not even allowed to leave their houses to go for walks or exercise. In other disasters of this kind, it would sometimes be hard to empathise or relate because it happened “over there”. Now it’s happening all over — and we all have to work at combating it together.
In the background to this, I’ve also spent time writing a new blog (more accurately, a mini-thesis) about the last three years experience of our team setting up, mobilising and running
’s incubator, titled “the Accelerating Impact” Programme. It seems like we have reached a very pertinent milestone with this work and it’s time to share more broadly on what we have learned. It’s agonising to try capture everything that was achieved and everything that has been learned — and hopefully my colleagues who have worked so hard with me on this, will be able to provide the much needed focus for my ramblings, when I send it on for them to proof read.And with that said, and another week of isolation under the belt, it’s time to say (in the words of Train Guy — Bob Mortimer) ‘Bella Omelleto’.
