In response to questions and concerns raised by front-line care home staff during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK (February – April 2020), research-based ‘Top Tips’ were co-produced with care home staff to complement emerging COVID-19 policy and practice guidelines. Designed as heuristics or rules of thumb, eight rapid, expert reviews of published, multidisciplinary research evidence were conducted. The reviews aimed to help answer care home staffs’ questions about ‘how’ to support residents, family members and each other at a time of unprecedented pressure and grief and adhere to guidance on self-distancing and isolation. Care home staff reviewed drafts of the Top Tips for relevance and usefulness to their work via representative forums, provider organisations and personal contacts of the team. Their feedback informed the content and design of the Top Tips and suggested they would be a helpful resource for new and inexperienced staff.

Eight Top Tips for Tricky Time resources are available to download on the ARC East of England website: https://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/covid-19-projects-innovations-and-information/covid-19-resources-training-information/top-tips
Journal article: https://journal.ilpnetwork.org/articles/10.31389/jltc.43/