Our Response to COVID-19

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Apr 27 2020 News

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has seen unprecedented times for Health and Social Care services. We know the ever changing situation has brought increased pressure, change and extraordinary challenges for all individuals and organisations.

Like many, the AQuA team have rapidly been working on a number of ways to be responsive to our members and the wider NHS at this critical time. We are committed to providing active and valuable support to our members, and wanted to share an update on the work we have been doing.


COVID-19 secondments and essential work

We are actively supporting our members during the crisis through a range of COVID-19 secondments. Our expert staff are working directly in member organisations to provide direct support where they need it. These include:

  • Working with NHS England on their national Covid-19 Behaviour Change Unit
  • Support to trust Communications Teams
  • Returning to clinical practice for those staff still registered or requesting re-registration
  • Supporting with staff engagement and wellbeing planning and delivery

Alongside our secondment support, our team continue to deliver essential pieces of work to our members, such as analytics and evaluation support.

We continue to invite secondment requests from you and we are reviewing these on an on-going basis during this crisis. Please get in touch if we can provide any support during this time.

AQuA Knowledge Xchange 

In addition to providing direct support through secondments, our team have rapidly developed a new website; the AQuA Knowledge Xchange. The online platform curates the latest thinking and resources out there which you might find helpful with the current pressures. Since it launched in mid-April, we’ve already made over 50 resources available, with over 2,500 visits to the site. The resources are based around the below themes:

  • Analytics & Business Intelligence
  • Communications & Engagement
  • Improvement
  • Leadership
  • Safety
  • Systems Working
  • Workforce Wellbeing

We are regularly adding new publications, work we’re doing with members and research on the Knowledge Xchange for you and NHS colleagues to freely access. Our team have also developed a number of practical, bite-sized resources for you and your teams to use. So far, our teams have developed resources on wellbeing, PDSA cycles during COVID-19 and communication in PPE.

If you hear about, or have undertaken any work which might be of benefit to others, please get in touch as we’d love to share this on the Knowledge Xchange. You can also join in the conversation and content sharing on Twitter using #AQuAKX

Programme postponement

All of our scheduled member programmes and events have been postponed, with future dates to be confirmed in due course. This was not a decision we took lightly, however, it ensured we are able to react quickly to support our members respond to the COVID-19 situation.

Our team are currently revising our programmes to ensure they are practical, relevant, impactful, and easy for staff to access in the most appropriate way once the crisis abates.


As always, over the coming months AQuA will continue to be here to support our members and customers and help in any way we can.

If there is any way in which AQuA can provide support or help to you during this time then please do get in touch on aqua@srft.nhs.uk

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