Living with COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 7 July

July 7, 2022

1. Rise of COVID-19 cases sees masks returning to all clinical areas from Friday 8 July

Due to a rise in cases of COVID-19 within the community, in our hospitals and among our workforce, we must now move to reintroduce fluid resistant surgical masks (FRSMs) as a minimum level of PPE in all clinical areas from Friday 8 July.

This applies to all staff, visitors and patients who are able to tolerate mask wearing across our clinical buildings and has been put in place to keep our patients, visitors and colleagues safe and to reduce the risk of transmission.

FRSMs must be worn in all clinical areas including:

• All inpatient wards – acute and community.
• All outpatient areas
• Emergency Department
• Theatre
• Imaging departments
• Maternity
• Home visits
• All clinical buildings including at main entrances and public areas

Masks and hand sanitiser will be available once more on main entrances to hospital buildings.

Colleagues are welcome to wear masks in all areas, including non-clinical buildings if they choose to.

2. COVID-19 testing of inpatients scaled up

Our wards and emergency department are at present under extreme pressure. In order to maintain flow within the hospitals and keep patients safe we are moving to the next stage of our IPC risk assessment for testing and streaming patients.

For all colleagues caring for inpatients in acute and community beds, please ensure that you:

• Test all COVID-19 patients and contacts using lateral flow device (LFD) tests on day 4 and day 5.
• Patients can be moved to a non-COVID-19 area after two consecutive negative test results 24 hours apart. If still positive, continue to test until two consecutive negative test results 24 hours apart. The patient can then be moved. At day 10, if still testing positive, please discuss with the IPC team so that a risk assessment can be carried out to ascertain whether to move the patient or not.
• Patients who are symptomatic should be kept in isolation or cohorted until two consecutive negative tests and the symptoms have stopped.

3. Need expert advice on infection control or microbiology?

Colleagues are reminded that if they need advice on managing an infection control risk to contact the Infection Prevention and Control team who are always on hand to support.

The team can be contacted either on ext 5900 or directly on the following numbers:

Clinical advice and support is available from our microbiology team who can be contacted at any time through the main switchboard on 0121 553 1831. Simply ask for the ‘duty microbiologist’ and they will be happy to support. Alternatively if your enquiry is more routine it is possible to ask for less urgent advice via e-mail to swb-tr.SWBH-GM-micromedics@nhs.net.

4. Being cautious keeps us safe

With rising cases of COVID-19, it is clear that we must remain cautious to avoid transmission of COVID-19, in particular to protect vulnerable colleagues and patients. Please ensure that you adopt safe practices and follow our IPC guidance including hand hygiene, PPE and be mindful of social distancing.

Our IPC arrangements continue to be reviewed weekly based on community case rates, hospital outbreaks, inpatient numbers and staff absence due to COVID-19.

Social distancing:

Please consider, where possible, social distancing measures to keep a minimum of 1 metre between you and those around you.

Face masks:

Colleagues and patients are also required to ensure they wear masks in clinical areas and communal areas in our hospital buildings. Colleagues are reminded to ensure they follow the correct PPE guidance when in direct contact with patients. You must also follow your individual risk assessment for PPE. Occasionally this will recommend a higher level of protection depending on your individual assessment.

If you see someone not wearing a mask where they should be, please respectfully challenge them.

Hand washing:

This is an essential part of infection, prevention and control. All colleagues must wash their hands and or use hand sanitiser frequently and always on entering and exiting clinical areas.

Bare below the elbow:

Please ensure that you are bare below the elbow whilst in clinical areas. This means your sleeves must be rolled up and any wrist jewellery should be removed, prior to entering the area.

Coats and bags:

Outdoor coats should be removed prior to entering a clinical area and should be placed, along with bags in lockers. They should not be taken into the main ward area. Handbags should not to be taken on ward rounds.