Sharing your experiences to speak up for nursing

I don’t work in mental health, I’m clinical lead for the discharge lounge at Royal Preston Hospital, but the unprecedented pressures, uncertainties and difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic have affected everyone. The impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing was certainly something present in my workplace and we took quite a few positive steps to address it, so I was more than happy to share my experiences when my regional RCN officer asked me to give evidence in front of the committee.

I have to admit, I don’t think I fully realised what I was getting myself into to begin with. This was the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I did some research to try and get a better sense of what it was and that was when it dawned on me that it was quite an important thing to be doing.
 
Obviously, on this occasion the inquiry was all held virtually, and I think that helped give me confidence. I was in my own surroundings and it didn’t feel as daunting facing the panel and answering questions via the screen as I think it might have in person.

I was given a really useful rundown of how things would work on the day beforehand. I knew that Jeremy Hunt, as chair of the committee, would give an introduction and that me and a care home worker would give evidence first before the panel heard from expert witnesses from across health and social care, such as Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national mental health director.
 
They supplied the majority of questions they would ask in advance so I could prepare. They did throw a couple of additional ones in there on the day, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t answer.

I talked about the work we do, how we’d had to adapt through the pandemic and the challenges this had brought and how the trust had stepped up. As well as acknowledging that it’s been a really tough time, I wanted to share the positive steps we’ve taken this year to really try and provide a space for staff to feel supported.

I told them about the wobble book I started (inspired by wobble rooms, but unfortunately finding a spare room in our hospital is impossible!). This offered somewhere for staff to write down anything they wanted; their thoughts, feelings, experiences or even jokes. It was totally anonymous and gave people an outlet, to get these things out of their heads, and also something for people to read to know they weren’t alone and that we were all pretty much experiencing and feeling the same things.
  
We also set up a positivity jar, where people could put positive things that had happened during a shift. Then at the end of each week we would go through all the positive thoughts. In the discharge lounge we were lucky to be there to see people who’d been really ill reuniting with their families and getting to go home. It could be very emotional but it’s important to give people permission to concentrate on those positives.
 
The feedback I got was that my passion for nursing and for my team really came through and that it was useful to hear both the difficulties and the positives to have come from this. 

I’d definitely say to anyone interested in doing something like this to go for it

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to stay and watch the whole committee proceedings on the day, but I did record it and watched it back at home later. When I saw myself there on TV with my title underneath, being given a chance to speak about the work and team I’m so proud of, it was really something.

Off the back of this, I also had the chance to speak in a slot on Times Radio, which was coordinated by the RCN’s media team, and there have been some other opportunities to keep speaking out to represent nursing.

I’d definitely say to anyone interested in doing something like this to go for it. Don’t be nervous, just be open and honest. You’re just sharing your own experiences and that’s really important.