COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 8 April
April 8, 2020
This is our once a day slightly rainbow coloured bulletin. This will take all national and professional guidance and information and tell you which changes we are implementing when and how. We really hope this bulletin helps colleagues isolating, shielding or working from home to stay in touch. Remember KINDNESS is our watchword in implementing our plans.
In addition to our local Wellbeing Offer and psychological support arrangements, you can access new national support as we go through the Pandemic ‘marathon’. There is a helpline number which includes signposting and support to lots of different pathways, including domestic abuse, mental health, coaching and bereavement support. The helpline number is 0300 1317000 or text frontline to 85258 – these are 24/7 services.
1. Temporary deployment: Necessary but hard going
Across the NHS there is a massive movement of staff roles and patterns going on. We may have the biggest, or one of the largest. But what matters is the quality of the support you get to move. Be assured this is temporary deployment. The learning will be permanent. We hope the support you get in the challenges you will face make it tolerable. Please work with us flexibly wherever you can as we build new teams at speed. Those moving working in new ways, those welcoming them also facing new roles of mentorship or clinical supervision. If you are unhappy with being moved, where you are moved to, or how it was done, there is a central process to register your opposition. We will listen to you and work with you at pace to get everyone into the right place to face the pandemic. Get in touch through ext. 3116 to understand the simple process of concern. But maybe first chat to your line manager and see what reasonable adjustments can be made.
If by Monday 14th you were expecting to move, because your department’s work has paused, but have heard from no-one, then please reach out to tobylewis@nhs.net and we can work through the plan for you and your team. Shout out to neurophysiology and health visiting for pushing hard to join the fightback!
2. Hotels available and are not “ending soon”
Top quality hotel rooms are still available. If you are in one, you will not be evicted. We are keeping them for the duration. If you have had a letter asking you to seriously consider moving in, please do just that. And if you are recognising that for the next little while the best answer for you, your work, and your loved ones is separation, then please do make that move. The plan for our organisation to manage best the Surge, and begin to move towards Pandemic Exit in time, is to have the right workforce at work, and keep absence of all types below 30%. Swab testing and hotel separation play a key role in that.
Remember you can get swab tested, so can household symptomatic loved ones, and from later this week children too. You need to be symptomatic for the test to be effective.
3. Opening CCS-Newton 1 and CCS-D16 this week!
Thank you to everyone working to open more ITU beds tonight and get the full Surge Plan up and running into the Easter Weekend. Taking on new ventilators, learning new skills, assimilating new colleagues, and dealing with some very challenging clinical situations is a massive ask. The Trust is blessed with an Outstanding Critical Care team, and we are working to make sure that both that Unit and our sister team running NIV are at full capacity in the days ahead.
4. Getting a break – annual leave update
The Trust is seeking to avoid barring annual leave but it is recognised that the scale of leave will have to reduced owing the need, allied to the lack of vacation options! Leave carry over from 19/20 has to have been agreed in writing by 31/03 with your line manager. If you need, or we need you to, cancel your leave we will work with you to try and ensure you get a break.
The only bar on leave (existing approvals or new approvals) is in departments with more than 30% absence, in line with our Surge Plans. If you are unsure of the application of leave rules to your department please seek guidance from your Group Director of Operations: Beth Hughes, Tina Robinson, Amanda Geary, Fiona Rotherham or Tammy Davies. Executive directors only provide guidance on their departments not professions.
Please work flexibly within your team to try to support colleagues, both longstanding and re-deployees, to get some down-time at this very challenging time.
5. Underlying health conditions update
A number of staff have already, or continue to receive Shielding letters/texts from NHS England. Please act on those communications and let HR on ext. 3116 know. On Saturday last we adopted the latest RCOG Pregnancy guidance for employees. We have previously indicated that any employee over 70 would be subject to an individual health assessment for practice safety. For all other pre-existing conditions we will issue Trust level replacement guidance before the weekend, for adoption from Tuesday 15th. With COVID status now commonplace across care settings this will focus on risk, PPE and remote working.
Dawn’s video is almost as popular as Mark Anderson’s on PPE – so we kept it in!