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COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 4 November

November 4, 2020

To keep up to date with the pace of change we will be sharing a bulletin on a daily basis. There’s a lot of change taking place at the moment so please make sure you catch up with the latest bulletins throughout the week, as even if some points seem familiar you may very well find the details have been updated a great deal.

Summary of key points

1. Have you been fit tested for our current supply of face masks?

Our stock of PPE is ever changing as in-use options are replenished and new masks become available. It’s critical that colleagues stay up to date with the availability of masks that they have been fit tested for.

If you have been fit tested for a mask that is now discontinued or is short on supply (currently the Alpha Solway, or 3M 1863 mask), please ensure you book into a face mask fit testing clinic as soon as possible.

If you need a fit test, for a silicone or disposable FFP3 mask in stock (3m 1863+ or 9330+ mask), these are your options.

  • Non-urgent – please call ext.5050. There is currently a wait time of approximately one week, you will be asked when your next shift is and your appointment will be offered to you on that basis. Please ensure you book in good time, and please attend your appointment – we have too many DNAs!

Clinics are being held in the 1st floor corridor between ED and BTC at City, and from Monday 9th November, in the staff gym at Sandwell (in the Physio department until Friday 6th)

  • If you need urgent on the day testing, contact the IPC team on 5195 and they will facilitate the earliest possible test for you or your staff member.
  • There are two machines in the bungalow behind City ED. If you have a fit tester in your team, you can book out the machines via the IPC team on 5195 to fit test your teams.

Please help us to ensure that a lack of planning does not become someone else’s emergency, by planning ahead as much as possible and ensuring you attend all booked appointments.

If you cannot attend the appointment you have been given for your fit testing, please ensure you cancel your appointment in good time.

2. You go home, scrubs do not

Further to previous messages in the bulletin regarding the laundering of scrubs, we must once again remind colleagues to not take scrubs home. People not laundering scrubs and removing them from site or even throwing the scrubs away reduces the amount of stock available for designated areas. These include theatres, red wards or areas that require scrubs as identified by infection control or senior management.

Support Services undertake the laundering of Trust owned scrubs from Sandwell Hospital in our onsite laundry. All used scrubs must be placed in the blue trollies situated on the links and in departmental areas as indicated below.

  • Scrubs should not be stockpiled in lockers
  • Do not wear scrubs in undesignated areas.
  • Under no circumstances can scrubs be worn outside the hospital or taken home for laundering. The public are aware this should not be done, and the Trust has received a number of complaints on the matter which are being taken seriously. If you turn up to work already in scrubs in the future you may be asked why this is the case.

Maintaining the supply of scrubs to essential areas is dependent on everyone following the same process when it comes to laundering scrubs. Managers and colleagues alike should challenge staff who they see arriving to or leaving work in scrubs.

3. Work from home survey – your feedback is important to us

We want find out how you have found working from home over the last few months since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

We want to hear from you so that we can shape our future home working guidelines around the things which work best for you.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a couple of minutes to complete our short work from home survey by clicking the link here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/wfh-colleague-survey

You are able to read the working from home policy in full by clicking here

4. Sticking to the right restrictions

You may have noticed an array of floor stickers inside and outside our sites, which will aid queueing, correct social distancing and prompt people to wear their masks and use hand sanitiser.

We hope that these reminders will prompt patients and colleagues to adhere to the restrictions currently in place following a sharp increase in COVID-19 infection rates across Sandwell and Birmingham.

Correct use of PPE is essential. Please ensure you follow these guidelines and challenge others to do the same. Failure to follow our PPE protocols will be taken extremely seriously and could lead to disciplinary action.

  • Trust clinical buildings – colleagues must wear a Fluid Resistant Surgical Mask (FRSM) on entrance to the building and in all communal areas. This includes all corridors.
  • Non-clinical office buildings – colleagues should maintain social distancing and handwashing and ensure they wear face masks unless they are in a room on their own.
  • Clinical areas including wards, clinic rooms and imaging  – wear PPE as currently advised (Fluid-resistant surgical mask (FRSM), disposable gloves and apron in all clinical areas with visor/FFP3 for close clinical care/AGP).

 5. Supporting our colleagues

A range of guides have been developed by the NHS Leadership Academy to help support colleagues with skills and new ways to improve their experience of work. The guides cover topics such as personal resilience and support for line managers.

Topics available include:

  • Managing with kindness civility and respect
  • Personal resilience
  • Making decisions under pressure
  • Maintaining routine
  • Leadership and wellbeing

You can access the guides on the following link: https://people.nhs.uk/