Today’s update is below
- Updated uniforms and changing facilities
- Asymptomatic staff testing
- Free Financial Wellbeing Support for NHS Staff
UPDATE UNIFORMS AND CHANGING FACILITIES
Maintaining our professionalism and ensuring our patients and community feel confident when accessing our services is of paramount importance during this time. Please follow the rules and help us as we continue to maintain the highest standards of safety.
Uniforms
- ALL staff that are patient facing, who would ordinarily wear a uniform or scrubs, MUST travel to and from work in their own clothes, only changing into their uniform / scrubs once inside the hospital.
- As per current guidance, staff in high risk areas must wear scrubs.
- Please continue to follow laundry guidance as below.
Uniforms must be removed before leaving the hospital and transported in a separate disposable plastic bag and laundered at home as per the Trust laundry policy:
o Launder daily on a separate wash at the highest temperature available on a domestic washing machine (minimum 60˚C). DO NOT add other clothing items to the load
For staff working in a high risk area, you must ONLY wear scrubs. Please wear one set of scrubs per shift, change if they become soiled.
Scrubs are to be left at the hospitals and cleaned by our laundry service The process is as follows:
o Place used scrubs in white linen bag
o Put this in disposal hold
o The scrubs are then collected, cleaned and put back into circulation
o Do not leave scrubs on the floor or anywhere else
Patient facing community staff
- All staff undertaking work in community settings must wear hospital uniform when on duty (unless otherwise agreed for safety reasons)
- This includes in patients’ homes, when travelling between patients’ homes and when in a clinical setting
- Uniforms must be removed and laundered as soon as you arrive home after work
- Staff are only allowed to wear uniform when on Trust business and not in any other areas e.g. local shops or school grounds etc.
Changing facilities
To enable staff to change before and after their shift, changing room facilities are available for staff to use in a number of locations embedded within wards and departments at Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals.
- As much as possible, staff should use their own ward/department areas to change from their own clothes into their uniform/scrubs.
- If you work in a high risk area, please DO NOT use a changing facility in any other area.
- Unless you work in theatres/ICU, please do not try to access these areas.
For those unable to change in their own ward/department, from Friday 23rd October, a new changing facility will open at 6am outside Ward 1D.
This facility can only accommodate 5 members of staff at any one time, so please make sure you leave plenty of time and be patient if you need to wait.
Please follow the signs to Ward 1D and the central changing area is located immediately on the left hand side of the entrance within the lobby area as you go through the doors.
This area will be staffed between the hours of 6am – 6pm and the door access code will be issued at the time of signing for locker keys/ scrubs.
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ASYMPTOMATIC STAFF TESTING
This week the Trust began testing some asymptomatic staff. If you are asked to take a test, more information can be found on the staff covid website:
Password: STHKcovid19
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FREE FINANCIAL WELLBEING SUPPORT FOR NHS STAFF
from NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Money Advice Service
Open to all NHS employees are a variety of offers that provide free and independent financial support.
1. Support Line: Free and impartial money advice:
2. Online Support: Hub of Resources: via the people.nhs.uk website.
3. Virtual Interactive Events: Managing Your Money: To run Thursdays from 4pm – 5pm:
Follow the link for more information and details of how you can access this free advice and support: https://covid.sthk.nhs.uk/financial-wellbeing-support/
Password: STHKcovid19
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