Face-to-Face Socially Distanced Groups
The following has been written to provide some guidance on delivering face-to-face groups during times of social distancing. Current Government guidance and local policy should be followed; this guidance provides some additional suggestions and points to consider when delivering face to face DESMOND education.
Inviting patients
· Please consult with your local Governance team where possible about reinstating group delivery.
· Consider in advance the room you are using and plan out how you will be able to set it up.
· Depending on your venue size, you will need to consider how many participants you can safely have on the course. This will also be governed by National and local guidance.
· A risk assessment in line with your local governance may be necessary.
· The organisation will need to consider the health and safety of the Educators that deliver the programme.
· Consider the toilets that are available – if they are communal with other teams you may want to consider blocking some toilets off specifically for use during the course and ensure thorough cleaning before and after.
· Consider the timings/length of the sessions and advise patients accordingly in advance.
· Current guidance on wearing masks and other items of PPE should be followed and communicated to participants in advance.
· Follow your local guidance on checking for Covid-19 symptoms of participants prior to attendance; this may be via a telephone call, asking them to complete a questionnaire, taking temperatures etc.
· In cooler months it would be advisable to encourage the participants to dress warmly so you can keep windows open to create air flow.
Preparation for delivery
· Make sure all food models, laminates & other resources are cleaned in advance.
· You will need to consider the use of the traditional patient packs – we are aware that some organisations have banned the sharing of similar items for contamination reasons. If you do provide them you will need to wipe them down before providing to patients. Alternatively, you could email the Health Profile and Action Plans to participants ahead of the session and ask them to print and bring with them. Alternatively. send the participant packs or worksheets to them with their invite letters.
· Ensure you have all the necessary cleaning equipment as identified in your risk assessment e.g. hand sanitiser and wipes for wiping down of chairs and tables throughout.
Setting up the room
· When setting up for a DESMOND course, ensure that rooms are set up so that there is distancing that adheres to the current guidance between educators and participants, and between participants.
· You may find it useful to use blanked off chairs in between to maintain distancing throughout.
· Due to spacing issues and limitations on group sizes, it may be necessary to ask that participants attending DESMOND do not bring anyone with them.
· Ensure that the DESMOND teaching environment is clean. Have hand sanitisers and wipes for cleaning surfaces/chairs/teaching resources available. Wipe down chairs, tables and door handles.
· If possible create air flow by opening windows
· Ask participants to bring their own refreshments and a pen to the course.
· If providing patient packs – wipe down and place on chairs in advance to avoid having to hand them to participants.
· If providing pens ensure there is enough for one each.
· Educators will need individual sets of flip chart pens so they don’t need to be shared.
When participants arrive
· Educators should make themselves aware of local & venue specific procedures and follow these, you may also wish to consider the following:
· As participants arrive ensure appropriate signage is in place to guide them to the room, this could include instructions to keep left or similar.
· Try to avoid corridor conversations or queues where it makes it impossible for others to pass by safely.
· Prepare a register and rather than passing it around to get signatures, check who is present and tick this off or have separate sheets per participant that each can complete themselves.
Changes to delivery
· It is important to maintain social distancing throughout the delivery.
· To try and keep food games interactive, you could invite the group to select a member (participant or educator) to move the food models on their behalf – they should use hand sanitiser before and after touching the resources
· Using laminated food pictures that can be wiped down after use maybe easier to disinfect than using the food models and packets. There are a couple of ways you can access these -
You can buy a ready-printed set from us via our order form downloadable from here https://www.desmond.nhs.uk/ordering-resources stock item is code DES013 priced at £30.00
Or you can print your own below:
Food Image Cards - to download the pack
or for a link to the file including crop-marks for professional printing
· It will be important as an educator that you continue to follow the DESMOND Behaviours, such as the use of open questions and reflections to ensure that everyone is engaged.
Closing down the room
· Follow venue and local guidance as per your risk assessment when packing away
· Please be sure to keep your DESMOND teaching environment clean.
· Have hand sanitisers and wipes for cleaning surfaces/chairs/teaching resources, available.
· All chairs, tables and teaching resources including pens and flip chart markers must be cleaned after use.
Additional Guidance
· Learning to socially distance is something we have all been getting used to after a lifetime of not having to think about it. Help yourself, your co-Educators and participants by:
· Politely reminding each other to stay at a social distance.
· Do not squeeze past colleagues wait for them to finish what they are doing.
· Do not chat in the corridors/doorways making passing each other difficult.
· Washing hands continues to be one of the most important things everyone can do.