Last updated on April 2nd, 2020 at 04:18 pm
Thank you so much for your continued hard work, the health and safety of our staff and patients is a priority and we appreciate all you are doing.
As outlined in today’s Chief Executive message we will keep you updated on the arrangements already in place and those planned via this daily bulletin which is also available on the dedicated coronavirus page on the staff intranet.
For the latest national guidance please use the following websites
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance
Today’s COVID cabinet meeting update
National guidance
No new national guidance
Advice for pregnant staff
The trust continues to follow the advice given by NHSE/I, PHE that pregnant staff with no symptoms of Coronavirus – which is that they should be risk assessed and re-deployed to low risk area, they do not automatically need to self-isolate for 12 weeks. Further information on how to do this for managers can be found information for managers page
Advice for managers
There will be a series of regular managers briefing to support a consistent approach to recording and managing staff absence, the first will be tomorrow Friday 20th March at 14.00 with others to follow next week. Time and venue to follow, this will be listed on the information for managers page on the staff intranet
School Closures
We have had no official guidance about the arrangements for children of key workers. We understand this is being managed by Head Teachers and schools will communicate with you directly if you have school aged children.
PPE
Checks have been undertaken and there are sufficient stocks of PPE on each ward. It is the responsibility of the ward /department to replenish these stocks as they are used.
PPE in grab bags for the MET team is the responsibility of the wards to top up, not the MET. Each grab bag should contain 5 sets of full PPE and is to be used for Cardiac Arrest patients
Testing staff for coronavirus
Arrangements for testing staff and index case family members are being developed and will be communicated once in place.
Medway update
COVID 19 is being reported separately from other lab tests on Medway
There is now an outcome code of COVID19 related to DNAs and cancellation. All staff are reminded that it remains essential to record detail on Medway
Non-elective surgery/outpatients clinics
As outlined in the CEO’s message this morning and in line with national guidance the Trust is now in the preparation phase to scale back all non-urgent elective surgery and outpatient appointments. This does not include emergency operations, cancer treatment or other clinically urgent care.
Each specialty has been asked to prepare their own specific plans which will then be coordinated via the Care Group Medical Directors and ADOs to be signed off by the Executive team. If you have any issues that need to be considered urgently please liaise with your CD and DM.
IT
IT continue to work to roll out Telehealth for outpatients and non-face to face consultations and skype for business to support staff who are working from home.
Supporting staff
To support our staff during this time all staff have access to 24/7 online or telephone confidential counselling from INSIGHT https://www.insighthealthcare.org/ or telephone 0300 131 2067
What else can I do?
The most important thing we can all do is continue to work together to care for our patients and each other. We are working at an extremely fast pace at the moment to ensure that all of our plans are in place for the forthcoming weeks. We expect this situation to continue for some weeks and so it is important that we all take care of ourselves and each other during this very challenging time.
Thank you
Rob Cooper
Director of Operations and Performance