This may seem a very strange thing to be writing about under the current circumstances, but bear with me.
How will we look back on 2020 as a Health Board?
It is really important that we consider how we create and maintain a record of COVID-19 – the changes in service provision; the redeployment of staff; the decision-making processes – everything that has resulted from the pandemic.
We need to ensure we can be held accountable for all the actions we have taken; good decisions and those, with hindsight, that prove to be less so.
We also need to be able to look back on and take heart from all the successful outcomes we have achieved against difficult odds.
In order to achieve this we need to make sure we are keeping the right kinds of documents and storing them in a way that makes them easy to find and understand.
Once COVID-19 is over and we return to our normal routines much of the guidance and information will be seen as irrelevant, so we need to act now.
The Corporate Records Management team has been working hard to compile a list of material published on the staff intranet and NHS Forth Valley’s website and will seek to preserve this appropriately.
We know, however, that there will be many more documents and records that demonstrate how teams have adapted to new ways of working, new services and modes of delivery, photographs that illustrate the highs and lows of COVID-19; meeting notes that record staff redeployment; health and safety posters for staff and patients and ethical concerns recorded in email conversations.
The Corporate Records Management team is not alone in their desire to preserve the pandemic.
A recent article in Nature speaks of a global COVID-19 collecting frenzy.
Please contact us at fv.corporaterecords@nhs.scot as we’d love to hear from you.
Tell us about any COVID-19 related documentation that might help a member of staff in 100 years’ time understand how we managed this pandemic and perhaps give them a head start in managing another global virus outbreak in the future.
Amy Cawood
Corporate Records Manager
