COVID-19 Bulletin: Monday 21 December

December 21, 2020

If a message is in the bulletin, then it means all colleagues need to know about it. It is your responsibility to read the bulletin every day and if you think of a way to improve the bulletin, please let us know by emailing swbh.comms@nhs.net.

 All the messages that are published in the bulletin are signed off during our daily Trust tactical meeting, and you can find the latest information about our COVID response on Connect here. Please take the time to keep yourself updated and safe.

1. New: One sequel no one wanted to see this Christmas…

Colleagues will be aware of all the changes to Government policy over the weekend, affecting many areas but in particular the South of England, including London. Many of you will have been affected in one way or another by these changes already with regard to your plans for Christmas week and we as an organisation feel it too. Not only must we be wary of the reasons for these changes – namely the new mutation of COVID-19 – but the possibility of any knock-on effects on progress now we’ve past what we believe is the peak of Wave 2.

What is the new version of COVID-19?

The new virus variant (VUI-202012/01) has numerous genetic changes, including to the ‘spike protein’ – which control how it binds to human cells. This means that it is transmissible far more than the dominant strain that has been circulating for months, about 70%-75% more so, based on estimates.

Whilst we don’t know if the new variant will be easier for clinical services to deal with, it presently accounts for 60% of new cases in London and 10% in the East of England. The impact on the R rate from this strain alone is believed to be 0.4, which gives you an idea as to the seriousness.

What must we do?

The key thing we must all do is continue to observe the infection control guidelines we have laid out; in particular around Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (including the use of masks), being bare below the elbows and appropriate social distancing.

Along with the addition of the Very High infection risk area, which has its own PPE requirements beyond those of a regular Red ward, earlier this month we rolled additional updates to the PPE guidance which you can view in full here.

Here is a reminder of the key changes:

• Colleagues carrying out a single Aerosol Generated Procedure (AGP), for example intubation, extubation, tracheomtomy, suctioning or those having close contact with a patient, should wear a single use gown with full sleeves with a plastic apron over the gown. Please remove the gown after the task is completed.
• For sessional work within a VERY HIGH RISK area or an AGP area (for example D17), a sessional gown with rolled up sleeves (BARE BELOW THE ELBOWS) should be worn. Colleagues should wear a disposable plastic apron over the sessional use gown and change this in between patients. Please wash your hands and arms in between patients.
• Eye protection should be worn for sessional use in both Amber and High Risk areas.

This guidance is for ward areas only (not Critical Care) and for patient-facing clinical colleagues.

If you are visiting the ward from another area, a minimum requirement when entering the unit will be to wear a mask (please note: staff must follow their individual risk assessment for PPE).

Additionally it is vital that lifts identified as “red” are only used to transfer red stream patients. They should not be used for any other purpose and require the correct PPE being worn in all lifts to reduce risk of infection transmission.  You will see the signs on the floor directly in front of the door to the lift. There are also limits on the number of people able to use lifts at any one time. Please ensure you travel safely.

The guidance must be followed so as we maintain strong infection prevention and control measures across all our sites.

2. New: Opportunity to become a COVID-19 vaccination hospital hub

Some good news to share: Over the weekend we were informed we could be part of the second wave of vaccination hospital hubs to be announced in coming weeks. While we await details of when this will be, preparations are well underway to ensure we are ready when the announcement is made. More information will be shared when confirmation is received.

Further to our update last week a large number of colleagues who are very high and high risk and those who work in areas of high risk exposure have already taken advantage of the vaccine appointment slots provided by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. We will continue to offer appointments to colleagues in these categories as slots become available.

For more information about the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine please visit our connect page.

 3. Update: Christmas visiting arrangements for inpatients

A further update regarding the proposed changes to visiting arrangements over Christmas which we last spoke about on Friday.

Unfortunately due to the changing situation as mentioned above, there will now be no opening up of visiting over the Christmas period. Our current guidance will remain in place.

Groups are encouraged to check that the video call technology installed in wards earlier in Wave 1 is operating properly, that no one requires any further training for its use and to begin arrangements to ensure patients are able wherever possible to speak to their families on Christmas Day.