COVID-19 Bulletin: Tueday 7 April
April 7, 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.
Our Equipment Libraries on both sites have been stood down from routine hours, as the infusion equipment has been very largely deployed to support our 400% expansion of Critical Care. The daily collection of equipment from wards has been suspended. Medical Engineering will continue to provide T34 syringe drivers, epidural and PCA pumps as usual. The on-call ME service can be contacted for urgent needs. Our brigades will be deployed to help with some equipment cleaning….
1. Thank you, thank you, thank you….
Across the NHS there is a massive collective effort to be ready for the Surge. The lower and slower, the better. Everyone in our Trust is playing their part. This weekend lots of people have changed their plans to be on site working. People have volunteered for brigades and for nightingale, even more people have volunteered or agreed to change role. Yesterday’s bulletin outlined what to do if you feel aggrieved by the request. We will listen and consider your concerns fairly. We will make reasonable adjustments.
We now have more than 175 colleagues in hotels. Others have agreed to work more night shifts to help us cope. The Trust is supporting individuals with travel, laundry, frozen meals for night workers, and free car parking. Most importantly, we have widely advertised and are continuing to expand our wellbeing and psychological support offer. Do let us know via your group team or direct to the Chief Executive if there are gaps in how we are supporting you to support one another and our patients.
2. Swabbing continues, be ready…
Across the West Midlands, some antigen staff testing centres are gearing up. This includes provision for us, although we have tested more staff than anywhere else locally we do need to be collegiate. About 110 slots will typically be available to us daily, although we continue to work with GPs, care home workers, social workers and others to maximise long term staffing capacity for our place. Crucially slots can now be used for household cases who are keeping you off work. The ask of you is to come forward for testing, with your best contact number, and your car license plate number.
To book your testing slot:
- Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm, call 0121 507 2664 option 5
- Weekends 9am – 4pm, call 07970428995 or 07816992873
3. Opening CCS-Newton 1 and CCS-D16 this week!
Nightingale NEC will not, in the first instance, have Intensive Care provision (this differs from the London model).
That is why our top priority is to make sure we expand our currently 100% full ITU and introduce a much largely NIV (Non Invasive Ventilation) unit (x10 bigger than base). Almost all of our 180 staff have now been trained/updated to support these rosters. That allows us to move to 52 intensive care beds, with two new units opening.
It will be really important to have step-down capacity available for both blue and red streams from CCS. Over the longer term we are aiming to retain five blue wards. The biggest single thing that we could do to maintain flow is to make absolutely best use of our community beds at Rowley and Sheldon, and especially to fully utilise our single room End of Life Care unit at Leasowes. This Bank Holiday we want to make sure anyone who could use that unit is transferred there.
4. Revised working from home guidance
350 colleagues are currently formally working at home. About half of those staff are in three corporate functions. The balance are individuals across a number of departments, some with underlying health conditions. Our attached guidance will allow some more staff to work at home. However, it also requires some line managers to consider with directors and myself which functions could be paused allowing staff to be deployed into our volunteer brigades: As porters, cleaners, transport, ward assistants, and admin teams.
Please consider the guidance and talk to your line manager. This guidance will remain in place until May 7th. If you are shielding or consider you have an underlying health condition you must make sure your ESR record reflects that by talking to ext. 3116.
5. Nightingale volunteers – next steps
In the next week the NEC will be converted to adult general medical wards for COVID+ patients as step down from acute hospitals. Initially around 125 beds will open, used by 14 Trusts across the region. Understandably clinical leaders want more detail of the model and this is not yet available. Frequently Asked Questions for transferees are awaited, but the sense is that transport and some accommodation will be available.
Today we are contacting everyone who is being asked to deploy to Nightingale and also reverting to all other volunteers to explain what happens next. Some staff are undertaking roles here at the Trust which preclude you being released. Thank you for accepting that.
Laundry and clinical waste are really important, now as ever. The video below gives you information to consider. Take a look. It’s not PPE, but it is vital.