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COVID-19 Bulletin: Tuesday 9 March

March 9, 2021

1. New: Protecting patients – making sure we remember to offer patients a face mask

As well as face masks being mandatory amongst colleagues within our Trust we have a duty of care to ensure that patients are given the same opportunity to protect themselves and others.

Several times a day nursing colleagues must complete the ‘Nurse Rounding’ checklist in Unity to record that they have ensured that amongst other checks, patients have been offered a face mask, and where the patient is wearing a face mask, mouth care support is offered.

These checks are critical in ensuring that patients are able to protect themselves, those around them and colleagues working on the ward.

Please ensure you take the time to work through the checklist and ensure it is completed in its entirety.

2. Updated: Keeping you safe – shielding, isolating and working from home

Keeping colleagues safe throughout the pandemic has been a key Trust priority over the past 12 months. We continue to review guidance around those who are shielding and we have now updated our policy for these colleagues.

Shielding staff are defined as people who are clinically extremely vulnerable and at very high risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

There are three ways colleagues may be identified as clinically extremely vulnerable:

  • You have one or more of the conditions listed here
  • Your hospital clinician or GP has added you to the Shielded Patients List because based on their clinical judgement they deem you to be at higher risk of serious illness if you catch the virus
  • You have been identified through the COVID-19 population risk assessment as potentially being at high risk of serious illness if they catch the virus.

Colleagues in these categories will have received a shielding letter, from your GP, hospital clinician or from the NHS nationally. Those with a shielding letter are strongly advised to work from home because the risk of exposure to the virus in their area may currently be higher.

If you cannot work from home, then you should still not attend work.  The Trust will support you to stay well and continue to contribute to work, where adjustments can be made to enable you to work from home.  If it is not possible to work remotely then the absence will need to be recorded as shielding and not working in any capacity in accordance with guidance from E-Rostering  and ESR.

These new formal shielding measures will apply until at least 31 March 2021.

We recognise that there may be some cases where an employee believes that they have been issued a shielding letter on the basis of a previous condition that is no longer relevant or you do not want to shield.  If this is the case your manager must:

  • Make arrangements for you to work remotely until advice is received from Occupational Health  (OH) – If not possible to work remotely then your absence will need to be recorded as shielding and not working in any capacity.
  • Email occyhealthcovid19@nhs.net explaining that a shielding letter has been received and to request advice on working arrangements/adjustments required. This will require you to complete a further risk assessment.
  • Make the arrangements for taking appropriate action on receipt of the OH advice and ensure this is documented in your personal file. If it has been agreed that you can return to work your manager must review this on a regular basis to ensure that you are continuing to work in a safe way and adhering to all infection control rules.

As lockdown restrictions change in coming weeks it is likely that the shielding guidance will also change. If you are informed that you no longer need to shield you must complete the Trust’s risk assessment before returning to work so that we can be sure that the appropriate precautions are put in place for you. These arrangements must be documented in your personal file.

The guidance can be read here.

3. Updated: LAMP testing rolled out to all colleagues

The ongoing success of LAMP (Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification) testing means that it is now available to all colleagues from across the Trust.

You can book a kit collection slot for the weekly test, which requires you to collect a saliva sample in the morning before you brush your teeth or have your breakfast.

When you arrive at work, you can deposit your sample into a collection box in phlebotomy on our acute and community sites which are then sent off to the lab to be tested.

Results are processed quicker than the usual PCR swab tests and notifications of both positive and negative results sent back to you via text message.

Please ensure:

  1. You put a label on your specimen tube and place inside the small bag.
  2. You place this inside a larger second bag with your request form, stating the date and time of collection.
  3. The request form faces outward to enable colleagues within the lab to read the information on the form without having to open the packaging.

Instructions on how to perform the test can be accessed by clicking here.

Please ring 0121 507 2664 option 6 to register and book a kit collection slot  Mon – Fri 8am – 6pm

If the result comes back positive you and your household will need to immediately isolate for 10 days and you will not require a PCR swab test to confirm the result.

We are in the process of adding more specimen collection boxes across the Trust sites. For a full list of the areas where the test has already been introduced, click here.

You should continue with the lateral flow testing until you move to the LAMP testing programme. If you have kit left over from your lateral flow tests please return these to your service area and we will arrange for left over testing kit to be collected. If you are at the end of your lateral flow test kit and not due to transition over before you run out of kit, please contact the community contact centre on 0121 507 2664 option 6.

Testing times with schools returning this week

As children across the country return to school this week and the government’s 4 step plan to ease lockdown gets underway, there are a range of measures that schools are putting in place to keep everyone safe – the most notable being COVID-19 testing.

New government guidance now means that adults in households with children can test themselves every three or four days using a rapid home testing kit.

However if you are already undertaking regular lateral flow tests or LAMP testing, there is no need to register for local authority testing.

Further details about rapid home testing in Sandwell is available at: www.sandwell.gov.uk/rapidhometests

Note: These rapid home tests are only for adults with school age children in their household and their bubbles.

4. Reminder: Confidently showing everything is clean

COVID-19 has once again proven to us that spotlessly clean wards and attention to detail isn’t just something that we aim for but something that we must see as our standard. Every clinical area should be spotlessly clean, every colleague should be seen to carefully wash their hands and every piece of equipment should be clearly identifiable as being clean.

When it comes to equipment in clinical areas, there has always been a standing rule that everything must be sanitised after use, but how do you know when it is clean? Many of the germs, bacteria and virus are incredible small and can be spread without knowing. This is where our latest change in practice comes in to play with the roll out of our ‘I am clean’ stickers.

Colleagues no longer need to assume that equipment has been cleaned when they can now look to see if it carries a fresh ‘I am clean’ sign, showing not only that it has been sanitised but also when it was last sanitised.

As well as being helpful sign, the new stickers help build confidence in our practices and processes. When patients see a blood pressure monitor or even a commode being brought to them, they will be able to clearly see that it carries a sticker that shows it has been cleaned.

The stickers are also a very welcome sign to patients. A lot of work goes in to cleaning, sanitising and preparing every bed, bay, surface and piece of equipment in a ward, but the patients often have to assume this has all been done. The new stickers clearly show that someone has taken the time to clean and sanitise the equipment.

To find out more about the Infection Prevention and Control practices and programmes, contact the team on ext. 5900.