COVID-19 bulletin: Monday 30 March
March 30, 2020
This is our once a day bulletin. This will take all national and professional guidance and information and tell you which changes we are implementing when and how. Please use this bulletin and daily cascade arrangements within clinical groups to guide local action. Remember KINDNESS is our watchword in implementing our plans.
You may have seen some publicity about large super-centres to manage the COVID-19 surge, including one at the NEC. The Trust is working with partners on these plans but please continue to focus your energy on implementing the local SWB plan announced last Friday!
1. It is Go, Go, Go now with our staff deployment and training packages
About 160 colleagues are moving to support our Critical Care expansion, and well over 100 are being trained to move and support A&E and our ward base. The aim is to have everyone trained not later than Monday April 6th. Your line manager will talk to you if you are affected by this, and you will be provided with details of both where, with who, how to get trained and how you can raise any queries or requests for adjustment. Medical and therapy models are also being rolled out alongside HCA and registering nursing changes. The leaders involved were named in Toby’s COVID Update 7 on Friday 26th.
We know that this is a daunting request and one made against the background of the Pandemic and the expectation of a surge soon across the region. If you have a pre-existing condition which gives you cause for concern about your ability to work in a COVID+ area, please talk to your line manager, or contact HR on ext. 3116 if you would prefer not to discuss it locally. We will work to support you.
If you are working in one of our red areas, or are asked to move there, please consider our hotel and free taxi offer. It is incredibly important that we try and maintain your ability to work safely, alongside your friends and families’ wellbeing.
Tomorrow’s bulletin will be a ‘Special’ devoted wholly to messages on this topic.
2. Home working, shielding and isolating
There are lots of reasons that over 1,000 colleagues right now are not in work. It is important we maintain clear records of who and why. This is not because you are not trusted! It is because for each ‘category’ there are forward plans of when you might need to be recalled to site and we do not want to find out then that our records are wrong.
- If you are working from home you must have the written agreement of your line manager, work in a non-clinical function, have emailed wfh@nhs.net and downloaded our myConnect App onto your mobile. If you have not emailed yet, please do so before Tuesday’s bulletin.
- If you are self-isolating because of your own symptoms or those of your loved ones, you must contact your line manager who will register your absence on ESR. If you have not done that, or are not sure that your line manager has, please contact your line manager or log into ESR before Wednesday’s bulletin.
- If you are shielding because of a notified condition having received a letter from your GP or NHS England last week, please make sure your line manager has updated your record on ESR. Please do this before Wednesday’s bulletin.
If you are not sure which of the above is you, please ring HR on extension 3116. Do not ignore this message!
3. Testing staff with symptoms of COVID-19
You can contact 0121 507 2664 and choose option 5 if you meet the clinical criteria for testing. If we have availability before Wednesday 1st we will work to get you tested.
We are working with partners nationally, regionally and locally to confirm testing arrangements from April 2nd. We know that there will be testing and are working hard to remove confusion about how it will be delivered, where and to whom. All testing run through the Trust will support the work of partners in Care Homes, General Practice and neighbouring organisations: We are in this fight together.
4. FIT tests! & new PPE stations going into operation
Listening to your feedback it is clear that our policies on PPE are ones you support. The difficulty is making sure that the PPE is where you are when you need it. Deliveries take place to every department, and we have central stores on each hospital site, including Rowley Regis. But ward stores are often hard for porters, pharmacists, WSOs, PTS crews and others to access. So outside every ward we are putting a basic mask/apron/glove store in place. Please do NOT use this to top up your ward stock or you will be responsible for putting colleagues at risk.
Yesterday we asked you to make sure you are using the right FFP3. We have now made new arrangements for on-site FIT testing. You can book your slot by calling 0121 507 5050 and it should take place over the next 3-4 days or nights. Please be flexible about your slot as we have lots of people wanting a first or especially a new test.
5. Hot GP centres part of the Covid-19 response
On Wednesday a large GP grouping joins the Trust, and 10% of all local residents will then get their primary care through our organisation. We already operate three practices and have re-located one of those to support the Parsonage Street “Hot” COVID-19 Centre. The other local centre is based at Aston Pride.
The Trust’s community teams, for children and families, in midwifery and throughout adult healthcare are working hard alongside practices to try and maintain services. A few branch surgeries have closed but the local plan is to retain primary care and pharmacy capacity. COVID-19 queries will be diverted after remote triage to the centres named.
Please make certain that even if a service you run, provide or administer is changing its criteria for care that every referral is logged and the process of assessing urgency is followed. COVID-19 does not permit Trust services to ’close’ to referrals.