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COVID-19 Bulletin: Saturday 23 May

May 23, 2020

This is our seven days a week bulletin. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. Throughout May 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.

The heart of our response to COVID-19 is making sure Infection Control practices are our norm.  That includes cleaning – we have a Green touchpoint brigade in place, and many more WSOs.  Sandwell Hospital’s wards are currently undergoing their first comprehensive Deep Clean in a decade with wards being decanted into Newton 1 and out again while we clean each ward.  Get in touch with Chief Nurse, Paula Gardner if you wish to know more.  It is incredibly important that we all speak up if we see things that have been missed and it is ok to ask if someone forgets to clean their hands.

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

Number of our patients confirmed with COVID-19 during the pandemic Number of positive COVID-19 patients who have been discharged during the pandemic Number of patients who have died in our hospitals who tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic Number of patients entered by the Trust into a COVID-19 research trial to date Number of COVID-19 positive patients who are inpatients with us today Number of our staff absent due to ill-health or isolation today
1232

(1229)

 806

(796)

 345

(344)

 126

(124)

 81

(89)

 –

(611)

1. Preeti good!  Library team summarises COVID-19 knowledge

Learning and knowledge are at the heart of our work to tackle the virus.  So, very regularly, our expert librarians, led by Preeti Puligari, summarise the state of research in their daily COVID-19 evidence update which you can access via the Library Service pages on Connect https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/library-and-information-services/covid-19-2/

Contact SWB Library Services on swbh.library@nhs.net for more information.

Doctors working for the NHS have free access to a variety of medical content via NHS OpenAthens. To support the NHS in its COVID-19 response, Oxford University Press has worked with Health Education England and NICE to make the Oxford Medicine textbook and other books freely available until the end of COVID-19 pandemic.

Oxford Medicine Online portal is enabled on all SWB Athens User profiles and our staff/students can access all the Oxford Handbook series/Textbook and other e-book titles from different specialties.   All you need is SWB Athens login, if have do not have one, you can register at: https://openathens.nice.org.uk/

2. Have you started using Visionable in your outpatient clinics?

The Visionable system is in use across outpatients and is our default system to use for clinic appointments.  A handful of pre-agreed exceptions for certain circumstances will be in place where a face-to-face appointment is necessary. Visionable enables clinicians to see patients safely whilst practicing social distancing. It also supports the involvement of family members who do not live locally.  We are working on integrating translation material into the tool.


Consultant Paediatrician Nick Makwana demonstrates how you can conduct a typical outpatient consultation in the video above.  Further information is available in the attached Standard Operating Procedure.  If you would like more information or you would like to like to make use of Visionable in your clinic, contact Mark Whitehouse on markwhitehouse@nhs.net

If you are reading this and run a clinic, as a therapist, nurse or doctor, please get in touch with Mark as it is matter of when you start….

3. Let your mental health Thrive using our new wellbeing app

Sometimes we can all feel like things are getting on top of us. That’s why we have partnered with Thrive to give you exclusive access to an award winning mental health and wellbeing app that can help with managing depression, anxiety and stress.

The app tackles common stressors such as sleep, bereavements, work issues and more. It also signposts to external support services – with users able to seek immediate help directly from the app.

  1. Go to https://swb.thrive.uk.com/ to create an account and claim your free access to Thrive.
  2. visit the Google Play or App Store and search and download the Thrive: Mental Wellbeing app.
  3. Log in using the email and password you created your account with and enjoy using the app

To find out more about how Thrive can help you, and how to access it, click here.

You can also access the full range of health and wellbeing support on Connect.

4. Reflect, Relax and Recharge

The Recharge Booth is a ‘virtual’ space that allows you to come together with others and join a safe and confidential discussion. You can get involved with the booth by either listening in or by sharing your story. These stories are important learning for all of us.

Please consider if sharing your experience would help you or us. The Recharge Booth will be open every Thursday from 2pm for 20-30 minutes to hear a different story each time from a colleague who has put themselves forward to share an experience that they want to talk about – it can be anything but likely to be COVID-19 related to begin with.

For more information please contact Richard Burnell on 07747 144874 or Claire Hubbard on 07866 004575.  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.  You do not have to speak, you can just listen!