COVID-19 Bulletin: Tuesday 14 April
April 14, 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.
Thank you to everyone redeploying into D16 and Newton 1. You are amazing. We are working to expand your staff rooms and space to support social distancing. Meanwhile, please make sure you complete the forms we need to confirm your training status and competency declarations!
- Not just for Baby Baggies: Maternity clinic to open at the Hawthorns
Next week a temporary location for postnatal and antenatal clinics will open at the football ground in West Bromwich as an alternative location for families, instead of coming to hospital. The clinics are staffed by midwives and support workers and are for women from 24 weeks onwards. We cannot promise to open similar facilities for other sports fans, but are grateful to the club for making this offer to us!
Get in touch with Helen Hurst, our director of midwifery if you want more information.
2. Temporary move for haematology services, safety first!
From Thursday April 16th our haematology inpatient service (based now at Sandwell) will be providing treatment from the West Midlands Hospital in Halesowen. This follows the move of the day case chemotherapy service last week. This new site is to protect the patients who are immunocompromised but need to receive treatment for blood cancers and blood disorders. Our thanks go to The West Midlands Hospital for housing our service. This allows continuity of access even during the Pandemic.
Contact Beth Hughes, Group Director of Operations for Medicine and Emergency Care if you need more details.
3. Donations to the NHS and to our Trust – one approach reaching all staff groups
We are grateful for the many donations that individuals and groups continue to supply, whilst recognising the people in real need in our community who are struggling without paid work or because of isolation. We are actively working to divert some donations to those most in need.
We have a single route in for donations to ensure we manage these safely and can distribute them either across the Trust or out into the community. This is particularly important for donations of hot food as we need to ensure that food has been correctly refrigerated and heated to be safe to pass on.
All offers for donations should be sent to Amanda.winwood@nhs.net for co-ordination. The suppliers of food donations are all checked with our catering teams before we can accept them. We have to emphasise that this is a legal requirement.
4. Our special clap for businesses: 5pm Wednesday 15 April
Many companies in our local areas are feeling the strain of the lockdown and yet have still come to our aid to help us with supplies of consumables, equipment and food. These are companies whose jobs pay the wages of public sector workers and our friends and family.
To recognise those who stand with us we are putting up signs outside City Hospital on the corner of Dudley Road and Western Road that name the range of business suppliers who have been supporting us. We will continue to add to these signs with other companies who help us. This includes firms building special equipment on our behalf.
You are welcome to come to City Hospital at 5pm tomorrow for a suitably socially-distant photograph with the new signs that we will share to convey our thanks. The now usual NHS-wide Thursday Clap will still take place at 8pm!
5. Our rainbow brigades get moving this week
Thank you to those of you who have volunteered to join one of our brigades to support our COVID-19 response plan either on a full-time or part-time basis. You should have had an initial response and will get information tomorrow.
Many of you will begin your induction and training this week into the roles with further opportunities over the next few days. Here’s a taster:
Blue Brigade: Portering and transport – induction begins on Thursday 16 April between 9am – 1pm Clinical Skills Room 1 at Education Centre. To find out more contact Zaheer Iqbal –zaheer.iqbal@nhs.net or on his mobile via IVOR or book your place email audrey.hender@nhs.net
Green Brigade: Cleaning support, mainly non-clinical areas. To find out more about this role which will be mainly in non-clinical areas you can join a session on Friday 17th at 2pm led by Paula Gardner, Chief Nurse and Toby Lewis, our Chief Executive. No need to book just send an email to ruby.stone2@nhs.net and we will get you joined in remotely or face to face.
Yellow Brigade: PPE wardens and runners to distribute PPE supplies to areas. Dinah Mclannahan, Director of Finance, and Julie Booth, Lead Nurse Infection Prevention and Control will be holding a virtual session with more information and training and about the role on Friday 17th at 11am. Email Dinah direct to book your place – Dinah.mclannahan@nhs.net.
Red and purple details will follow later this week. Take a look at the bulletin from Friday 10th to find out more.
Richard Burnell’s one minute videos are the heartbeat of our resilience effort. Here’s his latest.