COVID-19 Update 1Welcome to our new COVID-19 Update newsletter We have created this weekly newsletter to keep everyone up to date with the latest situation and advice, which we review every Monday morning at the regular meeting of the COVID-19 Incident Management Group, which I chair, in my role as designated Accountable Officer for Emergency Planning on the Trust Board. This newsletter will not replace specialist advice or instructions that may come down the line management chain to individual teams. Nor will it replace any urgent communications we may need to issue from time to time if particular circumstances arise. Instead, it is designed to provide you with general advice, updates and guidance, so we can all support each other and our local health and care colleagues through this challenging time. As part of incident management response, we will have senior representation based in room 22 at Harplands between 10am – 4pm, Monday to Friday. Please call in with any queries or questions during these hours. Jonathan O'Brien Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations What are the key messages for the public in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent The NHS in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and Public Health England (PHE) are well prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of all patients and NHS staff while also ensuring services are available to the public as normal. The risk to the general public is moderate. If you have arrived back to the UK from an affected country, please follow the specific advice for returning travellers. NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do. Click here to use the 111 coronavirus service Use this service if:
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Call 111 if you need to speak to someone. What are the key messages from the Government? For the latest health advice visit: www.gov.uk/coronavirus The UK Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations, World Health Organisation, and our international partners to keep the whole of the UK safe. Our approach is clinically led, based on the expert advice of the UK’s Chief Medical Officer for England, the NHS and Public Health England. Coronavirus presents with symptoms including a cough, a high temperature, and shortness of breath. The symptoms are similar to other illnesses that are much more common, such as cold and flu. These symptoms do not necessarily mean you have the illness. The current evidence is that the vast majority of cases appear to be mild and those affected make a speedy recovery. The Government is taking a four-phased approach to tackling the virus: to ‘contain, delay, mitigate, and research’. This approach is the result of direct and continuous consultation with the Chief Medical Officer for England. We will continue to try to contain this virus, however the more we can delay the peak of the spread to the summer, the better the NHS will be able to manage. We are doing everything we can to combat this outbreak based on the very latest and best scientific and medical advice. Further steps will be set out in the days and weeks ahead to help people protect themselves, their family and in particular the elderly and vulnerable. We must take the right decisions at the right time based on the latest and best evidence. We have a truly brilliant NHS where staff have responded with all the determination, compassion and skill that makes their service revered across the world. They will continue to have the Government’s full support in tackling this virus. The public has a crucial role to play in containing the spread of the virus. Washing your hands more often. For 20 seconds. Use soap and water or a hand sanitiser when you: get home of into work, blow your nose, sneeze or cough, eat or handle food. Protect yourself and others. The Government has always been clear that its priority is to put people first. This is why if you need to stop working because you have become sick, measures are being brough forward to allow the payment of statutory sick pay from the first day you take off, rather than the fourth. The Government has put a range of support in place for those who do not receive Statutory Sick Pay, including Universal Credit and contributory Employment and Support Allowance. COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Managers Briefing Paper - latest edition updated on 9th March The latest edition of our Managers Briefing Paper is available to download. It contains the latest guidance on:
Inpatient guidance and flowcharts We have produced an Interim NSCHT Coivd-19 Flowchart Plan, which aims to describe the Trust's high-level approach to managing the process and escalation of dealing with a suspected symptomatic patient within Harplands in-patient facilities. Further guidance and detailed instructions can will be provided as required and cascaded through normal trust channels. This plan will be updated or superseded as national guidance for mental health settings is provided and/or amended. Recording Absence due to Covid-19 on Healthroster We have produced a walkthrough description of the process for Recording Absence due to Covid-19 (Coronavirus) 0n Healthroster Coronavirus categorisation on EASY / ESR We have also produced guidance for Coronavirus categorisation on EASY / ESR Spread the message, not the virus! Our Infection Prevention and Control team are asking everyone to help spread the core IPC message by adding the image below to the bottom of all our e-mail signatures. Simply right-click to save the picture below to your hard drive, then edit your e-mail signature and add the picture at the end. Key contacts if you have a question or urgent information about Coronavirus If you have an urgent question about Coronavirus or need to alert the Infection Prevention and Control Team, here are the key contacts
We have also created a dedicated e-mail address where you can ask any question you may have about Coronavirus and it will be seen and addressed by my Deputy, Liz Mellor. This is covid.questions@combined.nhs.uk If there is a question asked at this e-mail address that we feel others may benefit from seeing answered, we will include it in future editions of this Newsletter. |