COVID-19 Update 14
Looking after staff health and wellbeing
Introduction
As I write my update this evening for these communications, I have just watched the announcement that existing social distancing and therefore working arrangements will be extended for three weeks, taking us to 7th May 2020 at the earliest before such restrictions may be lifted. This means that the current arrangements we have in place for operational service delivery will continue in full throughout this time. As soon as we have more information about the easing of restrictions, we will work with teams to look at how services will continue to operate in the longer
term.
That leads me to think about the future. In many cases, we know that teams will not want to let go of some of the fantastic innovations have seen across the Trust over the last two months. For example, the IT equipment we have deployed will still be available and the digital solutions (such as MS Teams) will remain a key tool for us in the future. The roll out of “Attend Anywhere” (see below) will see our ability to connect with our service users take a leap forward. I would encourage - or even make a plea - to all our staff to start thinking about what has worked well and what innovations you would want to keep and embed for the future. We will want to talk to teams about this in the near future as we start to plan for the recovery phase from the current crisis.
As I have previously said and would want to reiterate again now that the current lockdown has been extended, our only priority at the present time is the safety and wellbeing of our staff and service users. If there is something you feel you need, such as additional support, equipment, or PPE please raise this with your line manager, Service Manager or through covid.questions@combined.nhs.uk. There has been a lot in the media about shortages of PPE. As things stand, we have ample supplies in the Trust for some time, but please follow the guidance issued in earlier communications about when and how to use it. There is no need for any of our staff to feel at risk through lack of PPE – you will continue to have our full support and to have the
equipment you need for your role.
That also leads me to our wellbeing offer which has been launched this week. I’d like to note my sincere thanks to the staff that have worked on this, in particular Matt Johnson and Jan Summerfield, but also the wider team in HR and Organisational Development who I know have been working incredibly hard on delivering this. There is more on this from our Director of Workforce and OD, Shajeda Ahmed, below.
Today I have important updates on the following:
- New section on CAT to support health and wellbeing of our staff
- Launch of video consultations
- Recording and managing absence during COVID
- New Lorenzo updates for recording patient information
Jonathan O'Brien - Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive
Supporting health and wellbeing of our staff
We have produced a brand new dedicated section on our CAT Intranet containing new health and wellbeing resources to support our people through Covid-19.
The new section – created jointly by our OD Team, Matt Johnson, the Trust’s head of Psychology and Jan Summerfield, Staff support and counselling service Manager – can be accessed by any of our staff with access to our CAT Intranet by clicking here
Life has changed considerably for us all as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and this is likely to be the most difficult time of our working careers.
The new section has been designed to direct our staff quickly and easily to high quality resources and advice covering a range of topics that will help them to stay healthy (in body and mind).
Our aim is to support our people during these challenging times to stay healthy, but also to highlight what support is available if they feel they are struggling or recognise someone else may be.
Our message to all our people is “we need to look after ourselves, if we are to look after others!”
A video featuring our Executive Director of Workforce, OD and Inclusion, Shajeda Ahmed, is below:
Launch of video consultations
The Digital Team have been piloting a video consultation (VC) solution “Attend Anywhere” (AA) within a few teams over the past week. AA allows staff to undertake a virtual consultation with the patient, where all parties can see and hear each other. This pilot has been rapid, and very successful, with many virtual consultations being held between our clinicians and patients already. We are now in a position to roll this out Trust wide.
Service Managers have been contacted with lists of teams and asked to confirm where VC is suitable for use. We will be working with Service Managers to prioritise teams and send out invites to individual members of staff. We have restrictions on the number of people we can bring onboard the solution each day but we will get to everyone as soon as possible. Speak to your Service Manager about getting access if you’ve not heard anything in the next week.
The Digital Team will be providing demonstrations and Q&A sessions. These will be delivered via MS Teams and will be recorded as not everyone will be able to attend. Dates and times for these demonstrations will be published on CAT so check regularly for a time you can attend.
This page contains details of the service as well as handy video guides and demonstrations of what will be available in due course to all service users who qualify, including the film below.
Recording & managing absence during Covid-19
The latest guidance for recording and managing absence during Covid-19 is available on the CAT Coronavirus Workforce Hub page.
We need people to use the most up to date absence form. That way we can ensure timely and accurate reporting, supporting managers with managing Covid-19 absence and making the connections with staff testing and hotel accommodation as a way of facilitating a return to work.
Please help the workforce team by checking you have the most up to date guidance available.
Lorenzo Updates for recording patient information
We've made several updates to Lorenzo to enable you to record patient information relating to Coronavirus.
The main enhancements are:
Additional Clinical recording
1. Additional SNOMED codes so we can accurately record diagnosis, symptoms, findings, and presenting complaints, relating to the virus
2. Additional alert added in the ‘infection’ alert category
Additional Administrative recording
3. Outpatient Appointments - Additional cancellation reasons, when cancelling or rescheduling an Outpatient appointment for a patient, or when adding the patient to the pending list
4. Outpatient Clinic sessions - Additional withdrawal reasons, when cancelling (withdrawing) an outpatient clinic session
5. Single Contacts, Group Contacts, and Non-Patient Based Activity - Additional cancellation reasons, when cancelling, modifying, or recording a contact for both cancelled and DNA use
6. Single Contact – Additional DNA reasons
7. Contacts and Outpatient Appointments - Ensure you use the correct consultation medium, and change this if required
