Learning about Healthcare Resilience from the Initial Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic – A Physiotherapy Case Study

In April 2020, the UK's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in drastic and rapid changes to the way work was done within the National Health Service. Despite the difficult times, staff across this healthcare organisation adapted and developed methods of coping to keep the system functioning. This study aimed to capture the changes and adaptive ways of working specifically for one department, namely the physiotherapy service at one large acute NHS hospital trust in the UK. Eight online focus groups were held with a total of 26 physiotherapy staff to explore the changes in their work system as a result of the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The SEIPS 2.0 model was used to provide a system structure for the analysis. The results report the staff's experiences of work during this time, use a systems perspective to depict the changes in the system and new ways of working, and provide some recommendations for preparation for future 'waves' of this pandemic. Furthermore, by positioning the results within the resilience engineering paradigm, a larger theoretical basis is provided for developing recommendations.