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COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 4 June

June 4, 2020

This is our last but two daily bulletin. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. Throughout June 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.

This is no time to relax our approach to COVID-19. The Trust, you, all of us, have worked so hard to offer our patients the best we can under trying circumstances. Now is the time to try again to keep up our social distancing, handwashing, good use of PPE, immediate action on positive diagnoses, and the good practice this bulletin has highlighted. In the end policies and encouragement are no substitute for behaviours. Thank you for considering how you sustain your best days in the weeks ahead!

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
1287

(1285)

 843

(839)

 367

(363)

 140

(138)

 77

(83)

 548

(554)
  1. Security keeping our sites safe and secure

As you will have no doubt seen our security teams have been on the ground at each of our hospital sites supporting the Trust to manage access in light of the current restrictions, supported by some of our fantastic volunteers.

In order to enter Trust buildings, everyone must demonstrate they have a reason to be there, including checking staff ID.

When you are entering site buildings please ensure your ID badge is clearly visible. The security team are working hard to keep you safe. Whether you are wearing a uniform, scrubs or a suit, the security team will still check your ID so please treat them with respect and courtesy.

2. Two additional trials have been added to the COVID-19 research portfolio

ATOMIC2 is now open to recruitment in our emergency departments. The study is a randomised clinical trial of azithromycin versus usual care in ambulatory patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. Prof Dan Lasserson is the principal investigator. Recruitment to ATOMIC2 has started at City Hospital and is planned to open shortly at Sandwell.

Also poised to open is the ILIAD7 study. This study is recruiting patients in critical care with severe COVID-19 infection and in particular lymphopaenia. The study is looking at whether Recombinant Human Interleukin-7 can improve clinical outcomes. Dr Jon Hulme and Dr Farooq Wandroo are leading on this study. Critical care are also recruiting to REMAP-CAP, a complex platform study which is looking at a range of treatment options for the most ill patients.

As new studies open their details are being added to the R&D COVID research Connect page.

3. Unity: Flagging suspected and screened COVID-19 patients

Did you know that COVID-19 results are flagged in Unity? When patients are screened and a test is carried out, you’ll see a ‘COVID-19 Screened’ flag in Unity and when a result returns from the lab, you’ll see clearly in Unity whether the patient is ‘COVID-19 Confirmed’. Below is the screenshot demonstrating a positive test result.

4. Improvements to remote working technology: Pulse time-out resolved

Colleagues working from home and in the community will be pleased to hear that the timeout on the Pulse Secure remote access system has now been resolved. This will now allow colleagues to login to the system and remain logged in for as long as they wish without the risk of being disconnected by the system, which is particularly beneficial when running remote clinics.

If you are having technology problems please contact our IT Helpdesk on extension 4050. The Helpdesk is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

5. 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