Last updated on June 18th, 2021 at 01:15 pm
Today’s update is below:
– Repeat testing of patients who have a negative admission screen
– In-house testing for staff returning from overseas travel
– Self-isolation guidance
– Survey to capture frontline insight, to help reduce healthcare acquired infections
Repeat testing of patients who have a negative admission screen
Any inpatients who test negative on their admission screen should be retested on day 3 of admission (day of admission is taken as day 1). Then, unless the patient is found to be positive, repeat screening should be undertaken on day 5 of admission and continued every 5 days thereafter until discharge. Use the appropriate drop down selection on Medway (see below). Patients who are awaiting this repeat test result but who do not have clinical features of COVID-19 do NOT need isolation in side rooms (unless they also have another reason to require this e.g. another infectious disease requiring isolation precautions or infection alert such as MRSA/VRE/CPE).
In-house testing for staff returning from overseas travel
Any staff knowingly travelling to countries on the quarantine list, will have to take additional annual leave or unpaid leave for the duration of the required 10 day quarantine period. If they want to resume sooner, they will need to pay for a private PCR test after day 5 as per https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/ending-self-isolation-early-through-test-to-release Please note that the earliest the test can be done is 5 full days after you left the non-exempt country, territory or region. Evidence of the result must be provided before returning to work.
Self-isolation guidance
As per changes to government guidance, self-isolation period have changed as below.
People who test positive for COVID-19 by the swab test (not antibody) but not admitted to hospital with COVID-19: are required to self-isolate for 10 days from the date of symptoms (if symptomatic) or 10 days from the positive swab (if asymptomatic).
People (including staff) who are contacts of a known COVID-19 case: are required to self-isolate for 10 days from the date of the last contact with the positive person.
Patients exposed to COVID-19 in hospital require isolation for 14 days from the last exposure. If the patient is discharged home during this 14 day period, they should be advised to self-isolate at home until the 14 days are complete.
Survey to capture frontline insight, to help reduce healthcare acquired infections
NHS England and NHS Improvement are seeking to understand how to better protect frontline staff from COVID-19 infection within all healthcare settings. We recognise the huge effort staff have made to uphold COVID-19 control measures and we want to explore how we can better support these efforts. We would be grateful if frontline nurses, doctors, midwifes, allied health professionals, non-clinical patient-facing staff and others, could help us by completing a quick, anonymous survey about your experience, of how COVID-19 control measures are practiced in formal and informal settings in and around your workplace. We estimate the survey will take 10-15 minutes of your time.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY which closes Monday 30th December
If you have any questions please contact nhseandnhsi.ipc-cell@nhs.net