Going back to work at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville after four and a half months feels familiar yet strange. I know many of the staff there and have received a warm welcome back. On my return I had a face mask fit test for a tight-fitting face mask to wear when working with ventilated patients. When seeing any patients I now need to wear gloves, an apron, eye protection and a face mask. I need to change these between patients so I’m not able to move so freely around the wards and need to allocate more time to ‘don and doff’ my PPE between sessions. This is as much about protecting patients from me, as it is me from them with the risk of Covid-19.  

Many of the patients who I was working with before the start of Covid-19 have been discharged. However, there are lots of new faces, with many patients themselves and members of the therapy team keen to get them involved in Aspire’s Assistive Technology service as part of their rehabilitation.

I have met a few new patients already, with more to meet in the coming weeks. It’s incredibly valuable being able to reassure people there are options we can explore to help them get back to work; helping them to use their device, particularly to stay in contact with family and friends while they are not able to visit, as well as many other normal day to day activities, like online shopping, social media and catching up on the latest TV.  

It’s really good to be back at Stoke Mandeville, meeting patients and being able to offer this invaluable service. 

Assistive Technology

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