COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 3 June

June 3, 2020

This is our last but three daily bulletin. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. Throughout June we are determined to reduce avoidable harm and death in the people we are taking care of. Kindness remains the guiding principle of all the actions in our work to tackle the virus – kindness in how we look after patients, visitors, and one another.

Antibody testing is not a magic bullet. But it is part of helping make sense of community prevalence and overall resilience. So please do book to get your antibody test. From June 15th we will open up our services to partners from care homes, schools and social care – because we are one system. So grab your test chance now and make that call. Over 1500 colleagues have been tested so far!

Numbers not statistics: Today’s totals (Yesterday’s totals)

1. Social distancing – Keeping a safe distance from those around you

To stop the spread of COVID-19 you should be taking steps to practice social distancing. Social distancing significantly reduces the risk of you and those around you contracting COVID-19 simply by leaving 2 metres (6ft) between you and those around you.

Whether you work in an office or clinical area, or someone’s home, you should be taking steps to limit close contact with colleagues.

• In communal areas such as coffee shops and restaurants you will see markings on the floor showing the ideal spacing between people.
• Observe the space around you and be mindful of not stepping in to the personal space of others.
• Make good use of the technologies we now have available such as WebEx Teams and Meetings to limit your face to face contact.
• If someone is too close, it’s ok to ask them to give you some space.
• Review your offices to make sure you have adequate space between desks as well as walkways to avoid close contact with your colleagues.
• The Health and Safety Team are available to you if you need some support or guidance on your working practices.
• Manage the risk around you, if you feel that the behaviours of those around you are putting you at risk, speak up and notify your manager.

2. Keeping well during COVID-19 – Food and shopping

It remains particularly important to continue to look after your health and wellbeing during the pandemic. A range of resources and support are on offer for all colleagues including 24/7 access to confidential counsellors, the Wellbeing Sanctuary, helpful tips to relieve stress and our wellbeing film and podcast library. Go to the dedicated pages on Connect for full details.

The latest film produced by some of our clinical colleagues shares some tips on how you can continue to shop safely for groceries and key worker access to supermarkets.  The Trust is phasing out on site donations over coming weeks as changes in the lockdown make this less necessary.

3. Reflect and decompress this Thursday at the Recharge Booth

The Recharge booth is a ‘virtual’ space that allows you to come together with others, reflect, recharge, decompress, and join a safe and confidential discussion. Hosted by Richard Burnell every Thursday at 2pm, the booth will be sharing stories from different colleagues over a 20-30 minute session.

This week the Recharge Booth will be focusing on the following story:

“I always dreamed of being a health care professional, I came in to it perhaps a bit naively five years ago thinking it was going to be non-stop emergency procedures and saving lives every minute of the day! However, I matured and came to an understanding across the course of my training that this wasn’t going to be the case and that the ‘ordinary’ things are the majority of the role. I understand that ordinary for me isn’t ‘ordinary’ for the patient. Until Covid came along I felt that the health service could slowly and steadily cope with demand and make a difference but now having seen how susceptible society is to mass illness and how easily we could be overwhelmed I worry that we can’t do enough and that if we get a second wave we won’t have the resilience to cope. I am sure that I am perhaps seeing things a bit negatively but it is in the back of mind all the time.”

For more information please contact Richard Burnell on 07747 144874 or Claire Hubbard on 07866 004575.  Alternatively if you would like to be part of the Recharge Booth, drop an email to  swbh.rechargebooth@nhs.net.  A WebEx invite will be sent to your outlook diary, and you will simply need to click on the ‘join’ button to enter.

4. Patient Pathway – When to test, transfer and treat in red, blue and lilac

It is vital that our inpatients are placed in the right care environments (Red, Blue or Lilac wards/bays) and swabbed appropriately, with the results of the swabs informing the next stages in their care. Please ensure you read the linked Patient Swabbing Pathway which illustrates the points at which patients must be swabbed and how they will be supported through our services.

Patient Swabbing Pathway

Remember:

• Any negative patient from a Red area MUST be moved to Lilac unless there is strong clinical presentation of COVID-19
• Patients on Lilac wards MUST be swabbed every 3 days
• Patients on Blue wards MUST be swabbed every 5 days

It is important the policy is applied as outlined in the pathway. That may vary from historic practice but it must be our standard approach.

5. Yellow card – Reporting adverse drug and treatment reactions

The Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency (MHRA) have launched a new portal for reporting problems with anything to do with treating COVID-19: trial drugs, ventilators, CPAP machines and other devices  such as syringes and pumps, PPE, diagnostic tests, and eventually vaccines. Anyone can report to this scheme.

Please report suspected side effects to medicines or medical device and diagnostic adverse incidents used in coronavirus treatment to ensure safe and effective use: https://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

Tomorrow’s bulletin includes next steps on Brigading and Guidance on the freedom to take on secondary employment…