COVID19 hit during 2020 just as the network was being established. The pandemic impacted the development process of the network in a number of ways:
The advantages:
- The pandemic enabled regular engagement with regional colleagues through the Clinical Membership Group to understand challenges as a result of COVID19, which facilitated peer support, national and regional learning, and sharing of local and national guidelines.
- It provided new virtual meeting infrastructures which enabled more regional and national engagement opportunities without the need to travel.
- It facilitated linking with established Operational Delivery Networks across the South West such as Adult Critical Care/Congenital Heart Disease/ Neonatal/Burns/Major Trauma which enabled collaborative working.
The disadvantages:
- The pandemic created a delay in recruiting to the core network team, which delayed a number of workstreams.
- It prevented site visits to network organisations to meet regional members in their clinical environments.
- It delayed the ability to provide face to face networking and educational opportunities.
