Warren shares his redeployment story
Warren Caffrey, Physiotherapist, talks to us about his redeployment from Musculoskeletal Outpatients at London Road, to the Intensive Care Unit at Royal Derby Hospital.
Before being able to fully settle into his new job at London Road, Warren was redeployed to help the respiratory team get through the pandemic. When speaking about how this has affected his new job, he said: “Some people would say it hinders your career progression, but I think sometimes when you look back and think about these things, it’s actually more rewarding, treating people in a clinical area. I’ll be able to utilise this skillset and knowledge for a lifetime.”
“Being part of the cure, helping these patients go forward, is much more beneficial.”
Warren spoke to us about being redeployed to ICU three times since April 2020, saying: “In November(2020) it was a little more distressing for me, initially because I’m in a static post and I didn’t understand why other people weren’t redeployed first. However it was more that they were asking for my skillset, they would rather I was redeployed as I’ve done the job before and I do enjoy it.”
When asked how his team within Musculoskeletal Outpatients were dealing with staff being removed to help other areas, he said: “Initially we had skeleton staff to manage the department and a lot of appointments would be taken over the phone and over video. I think a lot of the time it’s about adaptability and thinking on your feet, a lot of physiotherapy in that setting is more virtual; most of our notes are online now and we communicate a lot better as a team.”
“It’s opened up a lot more opportunities for me to network with people outside of my organisation; liaise with people in London, Nottingham and my old University, things I may not have done without being in a pandemic. I’ve said yes to a lot more opportunities.”
Speaking to Warren about working on Covid positive wards and how this affects him personally, he said: “Sometimes it’s difficult to switch off because it’s everywhere. As soon as I leave work I try not to talk about it as much, I put some music on in the background to zone out and I spend time with the most important loved ones; my family, fiancé and walking my dog.”
When asked about when he thinks he will go back to his job at London Road, he said: “Hopefully I’ll go back to my day to day role within two months, but it’s good for me to pick up my respiratory skills again.”