COVID-19 Update 8

Looking after ourselves

This week we will start to see how the delivery of our services will be different for the foreseeable future. Our new default position for providing our services will be that where possible and appropriate to do so, staff should work remotely. Naturally, as we work in health care, face to face patient contact is still required, but this will now be significantly reduced as we start to use remote means to deliver care.

To assist with this, the Trust has today taken delivery of 150 new laptops and has 60 mobile phones on order. Should you wish to discuss the equipment you need to be able to work from home, please do this through your line manager and up to the Service Managers and Associate Directors in the Trust. A large number of our staff are already able to work remotely, but we will be increasing this ability over the next week in terms of the equipment available and training in the use of software such as Microsoft Teams.

Today I need to update you on the following information:

Uniforms and Workwear
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Consultant On-Call
Working From Home and Out of Hours
Staff Counselling Service

Jonathan O'Brien - Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive

Uniforms/Workwear and Covid-19

Please see below for important actions to take.

If you have a Trust name badge, lanyards should not be worn. ID badges must be carried in pockets and shown upon request. If it is essential that a lanyard is worn, no other badges should be attached to it.
Other badges such as Union, hospital or other professional badges should not be worn on uniforms / work wear.
It is acceptable to wear a fob watch.
All staff in healthcare environments or entering a clinical area should be bare below the elbows. It is acceptable for long sleeves to be rolled up on visiting healthcare environments.
A plain wedding band may be worn. No other jewellery, bracelets, charity bands etc. are allowed.
Nail extensions, nail polish, nail jewellery and nail art must not be worn.
Nails should be no longer than the end of the finger for staff delivering direct patient care.
Staff should have a change of clothes available to enable them to change into and out of, uniform / work wear at the beginning and end of each shift.
Uniforms / work wear once removed at the end of the shift must be placed in a plastic bag and laundered at home as soon as possible.
Uniforms / work wear should be washed at the hottest temperature the fabric will allow.

Personal Protective Equipment

The Trust has taken delivery of significant amounts of PPE over the weekend and I can confirm that there is no shortage of PPE for our services. Our stocks include aprons, face masks, visors, gloves and hand sanitising liquid. We have distributed boxes to a host of satellite sites for all teams to access should they need to see patients face-to-face who show symptoms of the virus. The intranet site continues to contain guidance on when to use PPE and the Infection Prevention and Control Team remains available for advice if staff are unsure.

The locations of PPE have been circulated on a number of occasions. We will be ensuring these boxes remain fully stocked. To reiterate, there is no shortage of PPE in the Trust and there will not be but we will ask staff to only use PPE where evidence indicates it is necessary and we are following government and PHE guidance on this. The locations are:

Sutherland Centre
Greenfields Centre
Ashcombe Centre
Lymebrook Centre
Older People CMHT (Marrow House)
Older People’s Outreach (Therapies Corridor)
Intensive Support Team (Therapies Corridor)
Access / Home Treatment (Crisis Centre)
Community Drug & Alcohol Services (Hope Street)

PPE is available as required at the Royal Stoke Hospital should it be required at that location.

Consultants on call

Dr’s Okolo and Adeyemo have provided an update for me on medical staffing rotas.

On calls are classed as a critical service
On calls will continue as usual based on existing rota
Where a doctor has underlying health problems and thus limiting contact with patients and staff, Doctors are expected to have completed the Coronavirus Covid – 19 – Manager Risk Assessment tool – from the Trust intranet, and discuss mitigations with their respective manager for usual work.
Calls received during on-calls should be attended to remotely by video or by telephone where possible
We recognise and understand the challenge this would pose but these are unprecedented times which require that we all work together in different ways to provide care to patients requiring urgent intervention during these times.
Doctors without underlying health conditions will continue on-call as usual and also where possible should undertake assessments remotely by video or telephone

Working from home and working out of hours

We continue to do all we can to support staff working from home. New guidance is available on CAT, covering such topics as

What Display Screen Equipment (DSE) do I need to work from home?
How do I set up my Display Screen Equipment (DSE) safely at home?
What are my lone working arrangements at home?

Lone working arrangements should be confirmed within teams. The Trust Lone Working SOP has information which can be used to develop such arrangements. During periods of home working, line managers will maintain contact with staff to ensure their wellbeing and provide an opportunity to discuss any concerns / questions.

At the current time we are expected to report on all sickness as well as Covid-19 related absence centrally on a daily basis. Whilst we are receiving a large number of reporting forms for Covid-19 related absence, it appears from queries that some longer term sickness absence or none Covid-19 related sickness have not been centrally reported. Please could you use the reporting form here and ensure ALL current absence is reported centrally to workforceinformationesr@combined.nhs.uk regardless of when the sickness absence started and the reasons for this.

If you have any queries regarding absence at all, please contact one of the HR Team:

Arrangements for staff counselling service

As you will know, we are proud to have one of the best staff counselling services anywhere in the NHS. Obviously, the current situation will require changes to how they deliver support, particularly not offering at present face to face counselling.

We also want to be able to provide Psychological First Aid And CISM support to our staff in these challenging times.

The Staff Support & Counselling Service is therefore moving to provide these services via a telephone service for the coming period. They can be contacted on the number below for confidential counselling support:

0300 124 0104

The service will also be offering a support line between 10.00 am – 1.00 pm if you wanted to speak direct to a counsellor as follows.

23rd March 2020 - Monday
24th March 2020 - Tuesday
25th March 2020 - Wednesday
26th March 2020 - Thursday
30th March 2020 - Monday
31st March 2020 - Tuesday
1st April 2020 - Wednesday
2nd April 2020 - Thursday
6th April 2020 - Monday
7th April 2020 - Tuesday
8th April 2020 - Wednesday
9th April 2020 - Thursday
14th April 2020 - Tuesday
15th April 2020 - Wednesday
16th April 2020 - Thursday
20th April 2020 - Monday
21st April 2020 - Tuesday
22nd April 2020 - Wednesday
23rd April 2020 - Thursday
28th April 2020 - Tuesday
29th April 2020 - Wednesday
30th April 2020 - Thursday

The service have also produced a really helpful summary of some coping and fostering resources to cope with Coronavirus. You can download this from CAT or by clicking here