URGENT COVID-19 RESPONSE

A report from the evaluation of DR.VR™ Frontline Relief has been produced by Dr Kim Smallman from the Centre of Trials Research, and Dr Michelle Smalley from CTMUHB. You can read it here. The teams research has shown that VR has the potential to have an impact on the wellbeing of NHS staff, and in particular the management of stress and anxiety. Rescape.me adapted their VR platform and content to the specific needs of helping frontline staff during the pandemic.

The Team’s research was built around an earlier feasibility study by Dr Ceri Lynch and Gemma Jones at Cwm Taff Health Board. This research has just been published in ICU Management and shows how VR can help patient, family members and staff.

Read more about the research

Frontline NHS staff and care workers are under huge pressure. Protecting their wellbeing, needs to be a key focus in the coming months. We started Frontline VR with one simple aim to help reduce the anxiety of NHS and care staff.

We have seen from the staff we have worked with that VR can help reduce anxiety and aid sleep. We are now asking for a national response to deploy VR at scale, help staff today and learning how to refine the solution for tomorrow.

In collaboration with staff from the Centre for Trials research we are keen to develop an intervention aimed at reducing staff burnout and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of frontline workers, to then test at scale.

We are keen to gauge interest as well as find out what those working on the frontline think about what is needed.

You may be an ICU lead, a wellbeing psychologist, or a care home manager, whatever your job role, if you feel your staff may benefit from being involved in this initiative, please fill out the form.