Crawley NHS worker and mum-of-two reflects on a year of juggling home learning and work

A NHS worker from Crawley admitted that working while her two daughters have been home learning has been a 'challenge' throughout lockdown.
Hanah Mecrow (right) with her daughters Willow (centre) and Wynter. Picture courtesy of Angela StokerHanah Mecrow (right) with her daughters Willow (centre) and Wynter. Picture courtesy of Angela Stoker
Hanah Mecrow (right) with her daughters Willow (centre) and Wynter. Picture courtesy of Angela Stoker

Hanah Mecrow, from Gossops Green, cares for her two daughters Wynter, six, and Willow, four, and works as a trainer for new NHS staff and oversees the electronic patients' record system.

The mother-of-two revealed that she has had to 'adapt' to these demanding circumstances but paid tribute to her manager for being so understanding during these tumultuous times.

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She said: "Once you're at work, you're at work. When you can go into the office everything is fine.

"There are different stresses of course, but you just adapt to it.

"I train new staff and it used to be face-to-face so all of that changed.

"Materials got pushed to everything being e-learning or doing demos via webcam on Microsoft Teams.

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"I do one day at home but I have to do home schooling, and that's a challenge.

"We always made sure we covered the essentials like maths, English and reading. They learned loads by going out in the garden

"I was lucky, though, where I can be in the situation where as long as I got my work done it was fine.

"My manager said even if I have to work to catch up with stuff on Saturday, or change your hours, it's not a problem. I was very lucky that my manager was very flexible, which was great.

"But it was different for people that were on the frontline on the wards. They'd have to do their standard shifts."

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