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COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 20 November

November 20, 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 find the details have been updated a great deal.

During this second lockdown period, we must ensure we look after ourselves and others within our community. Make sure you keep in touch with those you love and your neighbours. People may well be feeling anxious, lonely and scared at this time.

Thank you for looking out for one another.

1. New: Staff self-testing rolled out

COVID-19 self-testing kits for patient-facing colleagues will be introduced from next week, with a phased approach.

Those included in the first cohort will receive a box of 25 lateral flow antigen tests with an instruction leaflet from their manager.

Those carrying out the procedure should do so at home, before their shift begins. Colleagues should test twice weekly every three to four days to fit with shift patterns and leave requirements; for example, Wednesday and Sunday, or Monday and Thursday.

In the event of a positive test result, you should inform your manager and call 0121 507 2664, (for your call to be pushed into the swab queue and prioritised press 6) Monday – Friday, 8am – 6pm and 07816 992873 during weekends to arrange a PCR test to confirm the result.

In the event of a positive test, you and your household should isolate as set out in government guidance.

Carrying out this test will help to identify any asymptomatic COVID-19 positive cases and helps ensure we are playing our part in keeping patients, fellow NHS workers and our families safe.

To support colleagues using the test for the first time, there is a video guide, whilst further information and FAQs can be found by clicking here.

1. New: Staff self-testing rolled out

COVID-19 self-testing kits for patient-facing colleagues will be introduced from next week, with a phased approach.

Those included in the first cohort will receive a box of 25 lateral flow antigen tests with an instruction leaflet from their manager.

Those carrying out the procedure should do so at home, before their shift begins. Colleagues should test twice weekly every three to four days to fit with shift patterns and leave requirements; for example, Wednesday and Sunday, or Monday and Thursday.

In the event of a positive test result, you should inform your manager and call 0121 507 2664, (for your call to be pushed into the swab queue and prioritised press 6) Monday – Friday, 8am – 6pm and 07816 992873 during weekends to arrange a PCR test to confirm the result.

In the event of a positive test, you and your household should isolate as set out in government guidance.

Carrying out this test will help to identify any asymptomatic COVID-19 positive cases and helps ensure we are playing our part in keeping patients, fellow NHS workers and our families safe.

To support colleagues using the test for the first time, there is a video guide, whilst further information and FAQs can be found by clicking here.

 

2. New: COVID-19 research still going strong

We’d like to thank colleagues who have joined the SIREN study which focuses on healthcare workers who have overcome COVID-19 or those who are in a patient-facing role. There is still an opportunity to join this study, which undertakes regular swabbing and antibody blood tests. For more information click here or to arrange an appointment please register here.

We look forward to vaccines being available and are planning for this, but there will also be opportunities for colleagues to join trials for additional vaccines. As you will be aware there has been a lot of news around how these are under development and we are seeing very promising results. You can register an interest to take part here and if a suitable study comes along you will be contacted.

Yesterday another study that the Trust is taking part in issued results. REMAP-CAP which is a complex platform study is being run in our ITUs recruiting our most sickest of patients. The trial is evaluating the effect of treatments on a combination of survival and length of time patients need support in an intensive care unit (ICU). The results show that patients treated with tocilizumab, an immunosuppressive drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, were more likely to improve (measured by a combination of organ support, such as a ventilator in the ICU and surviving the hospital admission) compared to patients who received no immune modulator.

This study demonstrates well that research and development is not just about the R&D department but a broad multidisciplinary team. This study is for patients in ITU and requires the support of the clinical teams caring for the patients plus pharmacy, medical infusion suite, blood bank, pathology to name a few.

The Trust is contributing data and recruiting patients to a wide array of COVID studies, more information can be found on this Connect page. As a Trust we are always research active with usually around 90 studies open. This work is often low profile with many staff unaware of the importance of research. The COVID pandemic has brought research much more into public view and we are keen to keep it this way!

3. New: Movement of medical equipment

Please help us to help you. We appreciate that at times it is necessary to move services at short notice.

However it is essential to keep track of any medical equipment which is being transferred from one location to another. This ensures that the Trust inventory is accurate and equipment can be found for service and maintenance.

It is often extremely difficult to track down items that have moved without this information, leading to items missing routine service and electrical safety testing.

Please email garyhowse@nhs.net or lawrence.barker@nhs.net or call the department on 0121 507 4040 to let us know any changes.

 4. Reminder: Trust’s COVID-19 response plan Q&A sessions

For colleagues who wish to find out more about the Trust’s COVID-19 response plan as we face a second surge, the Executive team are holding WebEx sessions where you can ask questions about the plan.  Our next two briefings are planned for 23 and 25 November and will last one hour.

5. Reminder: Purple bags = rapid labs

If speed is of the essence with your sample, the recent introduction of purple bags make identification and prioritisation easier for the lab. These are replacing the “being phased out” urgent two hours priority stickers, which can still be used as necessary.

Wards must regularly check to ensure  that they have adequate stock of COVID-19 swabs and purple bags for the weekends and out of hours.

Please note that rapid swabs are not processed overnight but will be done the following working day.

We also currently have temporarily increased availability of urgent and rapid PCR sampling to 158 tests per day for two weeks only until 29 November. Urgent respiratory PCR including COVID-19 is also now increased to 30 tests per day, if you need to take advantage of this please do so while you can, being sure to secure your sample correctly.

If you have an urgent sample:

  • Place the correctly labelled specimen into a clear specimen bag and sealed fully
  • Repeat this process, using the second larger clear zip locked specimen bag
  • Add this doubled bagged specimen to a purple urgent COVID sample bag
  • The purple urgent bag can now also be posted into the COVID drop off box

Further information on processing samples can be found on Connect by clicking here.

 6. Reminder: Secure the swabs, don’t double the jobs!

The pressure of wave two is building and we must do everything we can to reduce delays on diagnosis, treatment and discharge where possible. While some processes simply take the time they do and that cannot be changed, one thing that we can do is reduce any possibility of delays that would impact the patient and the workloads we all face.

Much like incorrect labelling, samples not correctly secured for transport to the labs can result in loss or contamination, meaning the patient ends up having to be re-swabbed and additional work for everyone down the line.

There’s three things that you can do to help:

  • Print two extra labels and a request form for all COVID PCR requests
  • Ensure that you have checked a duplicate COVID-19 sample was not ordered or sent on the same day
  • Make sure you fully secure all three bags – not doing so is only making more work for yourself.