WORKERS across health and adult services spanning North Yorkshire have looked back at how they adapted to a completely new way of working.

There are 17,000 people working in the care sector in North Yorkshire – each one of them provide a service fundamental to keeping people safe and cared for.

Everyone across the care sector pulled together to absorb any extra work that came with Covid-19 and teams have worked 24/7 to transform services to protect our most vulnerable people in care settings and out in the community.

Creative thinking on what service users and their loved ones need has been seen in every area of care.

Care homes across North Yorkshire received technology to enable residents to contact their loved ones during lockdown – so even though they couldn’t be face-to-face, they could still see each other’s faces.

And Charlotte Finch, a social worker in Craven, was praised by service user Esta Watson when she went the extra mile.

Esta, who is deaf and has autism, requires regular contact – something which isn’t possible during a pandemic.

So Ms Finch set up video calls every Friday with Esta to provide structure and routine, and to prepare her for the “new normal” where video calls and meetings would be commonplace.

Ms Finch said: “We’ve prepared her to use things like Zoom by doing games of bingo – me, Esta and her personal assistant played and Esta was the bingo caller.

“It’s about letting her practice, making her feel comfortable and providing a bit of consistency in these bizarre times. If she has any questions, she knows every Friday I’m going to be there.”