Redeployed council workers join the fight against Covid-19

East Lothian Council said staff who found themselves unable to continue in their normal roles because of lockdown restrictions have been deployed to give additional support to services which remain key to protecting residents.

The local authority is East Lothian’s biggest employer with just under 4,500 workers.And it has identified about 3,000 local residents who have been ordered to shield by the government.

Among workers who have swapped jobs during the crisis are Claire Pannell, Jo Moulin and Tracy Robertson who are part of the council’s museums team.

Their pre-lockdown roles involved managing museums, their collections and working front of house.

Now they are part of the council’s shielding response team, reaching out to everyone identified as being at high risk from Covid-19.

Jo said: “At the beginning, we were finding households in crisis situations, households who were going to run out of food. It is quite different now though, we can see that all the systems and supports that the local authority and government are putting in are working.

“We are not seeing people as desperate as they were at the beginning of the pandemic.”

Jo, who normally works with Tracy in Dunbar, looking after John Muir’s Birthplace and Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery, makes up to 28 calls a day, taking her over six hours.

She has juggled this work whilst caring for a six-year-old child and supporting her husband who is a keyworker for the NHS working 12-hour shifts.

She said: “People are dealing with really complex situations, where they themselves might be disabled or have significant health concerns, but they are also caring for their children or other members of the household with reduced access to their usual support systems. The resilience we have seen is incredible.”

Tracy has about 20 phone calls to make each week and encounters the toll the lockdown is having on some.

She said: “It is the loneliness that people are finding difficult. We all need someone to talk to.

“I tend to stay on the phone a little longer with those people but there is a long list of great charities and support networks we can tell people about.

“People are lovely and really grateful for the phone call. All I want to do is pop round and have a cup of tea with them.”

Tracy’s regular role with the council is public facing, with lots of interaction with the public and that is what she has missed most about lockdown.

Tracy, Jo and Claire said that taking part in the shielding exercise has been incredibly positive and has reinforced what great communities there are across East Lothian

While Tracy, Jo and Claire carry out shielding calls to the public, they are also thinking about what will happen when they go back to work and what the ‘new normal’ will be.

Collections officer Claire, normally based at Library and Museums HQ in Haddington,said: “After lockdown we will start collecting objects and artefacts to add to our contemporary collection that represent East Lothian’s response to Covid-19.

“Items that tell the specific story of how East Lothian experienced the pandemic.

“We want to make sure we are still providing a service.  We are starting to think how we can do things a little bit differently to ensure we are continuing to support local schools and communities.”

A council spokesperson said redeployed staff were working in a variety of services from waste collection to supporting HR and payroll as they face increased demand for business support grants.

They said more than 80 workers were now helping run the six children’s hubs providing care for key worker families while schools are closed and others are providing support to the many volunteers heading up community resilience efforts in towns and villages.

A council spokesperson said: “Council employees are maintaining services as far as possible while supporting communities, customers and helping vulnerable people throughout East Lothian.

“The commitment and added value staff are providing during this outbreak is phenomenal.

“This includes office based staff including HR/payroll and IT teams, whose work enables us to maintain operations. There have also been tremendous efforts to handle the processing of business support grants.

“Colleagues from around the council have been involved with the mobilisation and staffing of the six children’s hubs providing childcare for key worker parents/carers.

“Meanwhile, our education and children’s services staff are working in creative ways to facilitate home learning and continue providing support for children and families at this difficult time.

“Colleagues from across the council have joined forces to form our shielding response team, which has been in direct contact with almost everyone on the shielded list in East Lothian, to ensure they are aware of the support available.

“We also have teams working with and supporting the tremendous volunteering efforts at our community resilience bases.

“These are enabling the many volunteers within local communities to help others – whether providing support to pick up and deliver food supplies or medicine, providing details of emergency tradespeople and health contacts or simply arranging regular phone calls to those on their own the response of volunteers has been fantastic across the county.

“Social workers and social care staff working are working in different settings and at home to maintain contact with and support for clients and provide services locally.

“We are actively responding to social work enquiries and encouraging people to contact us if they have concerns about any vulnerable individuals.”

Councillor Norman Hampshire, depute council leader, thanked staff who had worked hard to ensure vital services continued across the county by switching roles.

He said: “We would also like to thank the council staff who have continued to work during the lockdown to make sure our communities are safe and healthy. Our care staff have continued to provide their services to the vulnerable people in our communities.

“Our waste services team were reduced due to Covid-19 but, with the support of staff from other services, they were able to continue our waste and recycling collections.

“In all other vital services our council staff continue to work and deliver the services our communities need and we are all extremely grateful for their service.”