COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 16 December

December 16, 2020

Urgent appeal – Have you taken Sundstrom filters from City Hospital by mistake?

Does your filter look like this?

If so, DO NOT use it in your Sundstrom mask.

Infection control colleagues have discovered that some Sundstrom filters have been taken from the City Hospital fit testing hub. These filters are not P3 filters but are vapour/gas filters for the Sundstrom masks and will offer no protection when dealing with COVID-19 positive patients especially AGPs.

If you have the Sundstrom filters pictured above you must not use them as you are putting yourself at risk.

If your filter looks like the one above please contact infection control who will be able to provide you with the correct filter. You can contact the team on 07970023316.

Please share this message with your colleagues.

1. New message: Don’t forget your ID – COVID-19 vaccine

As you know our very high risk and high risk colleagues can now book to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

When you attend your vaccine appointment you will be asked for proof of where you work, so please ensure you take your work ID with you. The badge must be in date and clearly show your picture.

If you believe you are very high or high risk and have not been contacted by occupational health, you can contact the team on swbh.occyhealthcovidvaccine@nhs.net.

We are also starting to contact staff whose risk assessments are lower but who work in areas with high risk of exposure.

If you have not completed your COVID risk assessment you can still do so via this link http://sw-web04/CovidRiskAssessment/CovidRA.aspx

For more information about the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine please visit our connect page.

IMPORTANT – If you have received the link to book for the vaccine you MUST NOT share it. Remember, at this first stage, we need to keep allocations for our very high risk and high risk staff only. If you book to have a vaccine and you are not in this category then you are depriving a colleague who needs the vaccine.

2. New message: GP surgery starts delivering vaccine to patients

Your Health Partnership Primary Care Network (YHP PCN) have now started to vaccinate their patients against COVID-19.

YHP PCN has led the work, with support from the Trust’s pharmacy and estates teams to deliver the vaccination from Whiteheath Medical Centre in Oldbury.

Patients from the over-80s group have been contacted and pre-booked an appointment. YHP will aim to deliver the service seven days a week, between 8am-8pm as more vaccine supplies become available.

3. New message: Resource Pack for Managers

If you are a manager, you must familiarise yourself with the new COVID-19 Resource Pack for Managers. This resource pack contains all of the information you need to support your colleagues during COVID-19 and includes topics such as recording absence, isolation and shielding guidance.

As you know, our focus remains on kindness during difficult times with worried colleagues, visitors and patients anxious for information and advice. Things move very quickly with COVID-19 – it is therefore essential that managers keep up to date with key messages and guidance and read the COVID-19 bulletin.

The resource pack will be reviewed on a regular basis. You can access it on Connect.

4. New message: COVID-19 swabbing changes in line with national guidance

All acute admissions must be swabbed in ED even if they are readmissions.

Amber wards – All patients on an Amber ward must be swabbed on the day of admission and again on day 3 and day 6. This change means repeat swabbing every 5 days is no longer required.

Colleagues are advised to have a lower threshold to swab symptomatic patients and also consider patients with mild and atypical symptoms.

Red wards – Patients on Red wards don’t require any further swabbing unless the patient needs to be transferred to an Amber ward for a longer stay in hospital due to rehab (stroke and neuro pathways). This would normally be after 14 days following a positive COVID-19 test, with complete resolution of symptoms. The patient would need two negative swab results 24 hours apart or one negative lower respiratory sample e.g. sputum, to be considered an acceptable risk to stepdown to an Amber ward.

COVID-19 outbreaks – In cases where there is an outbreak in a clinical area, surveillance screening should take place for patients as well as for staff on the advice of the infection control team.

Exposed/contacts of positive patients – Contacts of positive patients will need to be swabbed every 3 days until they have completed 14 days of monitoring.

Nursing discharges – Nursing home/care home residents must be swabbed 48 hours prior to discharge from hospital. The discharge summary must state the swab result.

Please note – If clinical suspicion is high, continue to treat as suspected COVID-19 even with a negative COVID-19 swab result and consider repeat COVID-19 testing. A sputum sample is preferred for repeat testing. If you are unable to obtain sputum send combined throat/nose swab 72 hours after initial negative result.

5. Updated message: Are you currently wearing an Alpha mask?

We expect to run out of Alpha masks very soon but there are alternatives available.

Colleagues are therefore advised to get fit tested for a half face silicone or Handanhy mask as a replacement. To book yourself in for fit testing please call ext. 5050 and the team will book you into a slot at a site, date and time to suit you.

Plan ahead as there is limited availability for fit testing over the holiday period

Fit testing is available as normal until 23 December, at Sandwell (Meeting room Hallam Restaurant) and at City (upstairs old Physio OPD).