NHS staff hit the high notes for Learning Disability Week 2020

Singing NHS staff have hit the high notes to help celebrate Learning Disability Week (Monday 15 June – Sunday 21 June).

Nurses and healthcare assistants from Shirley House, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust who provide respite care to 70 adults with learning disabilities, took time away from their breaks to record a song and sign a song that they have kindly dedicated to their service users and their families.

15 members of staff used Makaton which is a way to communicate using signs and symbols – along to the famous ‘You’ve got a friend in me.’ The aim of the video was to lift the spirits of the service users that use Shirley House every month for respite and to let them know they were still thinking about them even though they couldn’t see them, during the coronavirus outbreak.  In addition, it also will help celebrate this year’s Learning Disability Week, which has the theme of friendship and kindness. 

Friendships are known to help people feel happier and valued, but for people with a learning disability, opportunities to meet people and develop friendships can be more difficult – and even more so during these unprecedented times. 

Dee Edwards, Shirley House Manager said: “It was important to us really early on in the pandemic, that we wanted to make a connection to the service users and their families whilst the whole country was going into lockdown. We knew we would not be seeing them for a while. As a team we felt it would be appropriate to connect through music and more importantly Makaton and share the video via the internet and directly to them via email. We have had a super response from service users and their families!”

To view the video click here and for more information on Makaton click here