COVID-19 Update 4Thank you all for your attention to the recent email updates and also your patience whilst we work to ensure business and service continuity during the present outbreak of coronavirus. I can confirm that the Trust’s Incident Management Room is now fully operational in Room 22, Management Corridor, Harplands Hospital. From this room, we are coordinating our Trust-wide response to the coronavirus outbreak and actions that will be taken to keep our services running and support our NHS and local authority partners over the coming weeks and months. We have had a number of queries through the COVID Questions email facility from staff (covid.questions@combined.nhs.uk) which we are doing our best to answer within 24 hours. There is lots of information in the update emails already sent out and the link available via the Trust’s coronavirus COVID-19 intranet page. Please ensure you have tried these sources prior to asking questions so that we can keep responses moving quickly. As you may have seen on the news, the government is now moving to daily meetings and briefings for the public and we expect new guidance for the public to be issued on an ongoing basis as the country steps up its response. We will be reviewing the guidance on a daily basis and will update our procedures as we need to in response to the changing situation. Today we need to brief you on the following issues:
Isolation ProceduresPlease ensure you are familiar with the current guidance for self-isolation. This is reiterated below. Symptoms The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:
For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild infection. Key Messages
The managers' guidance that we have previously issued and is available on the intranet is still valid and should be followed in relation to reporting and recording of absences Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)The first batches of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are now being made available across hospital sites and key community teams. We have so far distributed boxes containing face masks & visors, aprons and gloves to the areas listed below. This equipment should be reserved for situations in which it is recommended for use. There is guidance in each supply box on the procedure for putting on and taking off PPE. PPE Box Locations
PPE (face mask & visor, apron, gloves) is only needed for a patient in the following circumstances:
If you believe you require PPE for a particular patient contact, please contact your team leader in the first instance to discuss this or, if out of hours, the Site Manager at Harplands Hospital, prior to accessing the supplies. Further boxes are being arranged and will be distributed to additional locations in due course. Staff Support / HR MeasuresStaff will be aware that we have had to temporarily suspend training, education, conference attendance and other events. We will continue to review this on a weekly basis. We recognise that staff who have had annual leave booked during March 2020 may have had their travel plans disrupted and in some cases may not be able to go on their holidays. Equally, some staff who may have annual leave booked may wish to come into work to support their teams in the two remaining weeks of the month. The Trust is committed to supporting staff during these unprecedented times and, as a result, will be immediately relaxing the rules on carry over of annual leave. All staff will be entitled to carry over a maximum 10 days' annual leave from 2019/20 into 2020/21. This can be arranged and recorded via your line manager.
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