The frontline response to the impact of COVID-19 has been nothing short of amazing. And in true #TeamBarnet spirit, back office colleagues have also risen to the challenge by making sure things run smoothly behind the scenes. This has involved a strong team effort across many departments, including people from Business Support, Transformation, IT Business Systems and Business Intelligence says Head of Performance, Improvement and Systems in Adults and Health, Appy Reddy.
Cast yourselves back to mid-March, just before the staff deployment scheme was in full swing and the Essential Supplies Hub was launched. Previous systems and ways of working had to be completely re-worked. One example Appy gives is the sourcing of PPE suppliers, setting up of systems, requests and training – which all had to be completed within days, rather than the weeks the process might usually have taken.
Appy says: “When COVID-19 first happened, we had to create quicker processes for things like social worker assessments and reviews. The Business Support Team were amazing. They rang round literally every PPE supplier there is. We also gained redeployed staff – including six people from libraries. None of these officers had ever worked on a social care system and IT Business Systems did a good job of starting their training on the systems and then quickly moved on to continuing training them online.
“Sara Hale and Saleta Paz-Vilas (Business Systems) managed the end-to-end system of the social care database, Ade Bamgbose was the data quality lead. Chanu Unadkat and Connor Jeffries and the whole team had such a brilliant hands-on approach with a willingness to be flexible and do anything we needed. This included making sure they were in the office to receive the first deliveries of PPE, starting to pack it up for different teams. This was just before the PPE Hub was set up. The Brokerage Team delivered a service seven days a week to make sure patients being discharged from hospital where placed into a care setting within a few hours.
“As with everyone else across the council, our work will not be ‘business as usual' for a long time, although we still have to manage the essential functions alongside additional responsibilities. In spite of this, my team, including the deployed staff with us, have really done everything they can, just getting on with things.”
Read the interview with Appy in full on Yammer here.