Heartbeat March 2020

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Face visor Disposable gloves FFP3 Long sleeved gown Scrubs Surgical face mask Disposable apron Disposable gloves This does not mean that in COVID ward areas this protection must be worn all the time or by all entrants Face visor Disposable gloves FFP3 Long sleeved gown Taking care to protect each other COVID-19 Know when to self-isolate For colleagues who have symptoms of either a persistent cough or a raised temperature the guidance is that you selfisolate for a minimum of 7 days from the date your symptoms started. When self-isolating, notify your line manager and confirm the date of your self-isolation and discuss whether you are able to undertake any work at home. On day 8, if your symptoms have improved, you feel better and you have no fever you are able to return to work. Isolation when living in a symptomatic household If you live in a household where one of your household develops symptoms, then all members of the household must selfisolate at home for a period of 14 days. This isolation period starts from the date that the first person in the household began showing symptoms. If you are a patientfacing colleague we would strongly recommend that you move into one of our hotel rooms. Staff who have had contact with patients who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 If you have been in contact with patients who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 you can remain at work if you do not have symptoms. If you become symptomatic at any point, you must self-isolate in line with the guidance. Hotel accommodation is on offer to you You may find you have to remove yourself from your normal home, either to protect your loved ones or ensure you are able to help the NHS by staying well. We would urge colleagues to consider this option, which all of the NHS is working through. Leaving loved ones and established households is not easy, but as travel gets tougher, shift patterns change, and it becomes ever more vital to be ready for an evolving patient care emergency. To book a room please contact the team on swbh.hotel-booking@nhs.net If your request is out of hours, you will get an out of office email with instructions of the number to call in order to book your room. In addition, we have got on-site accommodation available for up to seven days aimed primarily at people working exhausting shift patterns or live far away. You can connect with that offer through our accommodation service via IVOR. We have paused refurbishment work on some rooms while we face the first phase of COVID-19. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) What should I wear? Our guidance on the correct PPE to use has been in most cases ahead of the national guidance from Public Health England and is to ensure that we protect all colleagues caring for patients who may or may not have COVID-19. For all contacts with patients you should wear: • Fluid-resistant surgical mask • Disposable gloves • Disposable apron This now includes all visits to patients in their own homes and clinic appointments. Sandwell and West Birmingham LOW INFECTION AREA On entering this ward you MUST wear a surgical mask In blue areas you should wear: • Fluid-resistant surgical mask • Disposable gloves • Disposable apron NHS Trust Please ensure you wear the correct PPE in this area. In red areas you should wear: • Fluid-resistant surgical mask • Disposable gloves • Disposable apron If you are doing aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) or you are providing close care (within 1 metre) of a +COVID patient who is at risk of rapid deterioration you should wear: • FFP3 mask that you have been face fitted for • Face visor • Long-sleeved gown • Disposable gloves • Disposable apron Sandwell and West Birmingham HIGH INFECTION RISK AREA Aerosol Generating Procedure (AGP) Hand washing COVID-19 suspected or confirmed or not been screened for symptoms Hand washing NHS Trust Close care of +COVID-19 patients (less than 1 metre) where rapid deterioration is likely Hand washing Where should I get my PPE from? PPE stocks are available in all ward areas, clinical departments and community bases. There are stocks available from distribution hubs across the Trust including Rowley Regis Hospital, the Lyng, D18 at City Hospital and the Bryan Knight Suite at Sandwell Hospital. PPE stations are in place outside wards. These allow staff coming onto a ward to put on the correct PPE before entering. It is primarily intended for the use of porters, therapists, pharmacists, transport colleagues and ward service officers. Wards should not use the station to replenish their own stocks. This must be sought from their site distribution hub. How do I get FIT tested? More FIT testing sessions are in place and you can book your own appointment by calling 5050. You don’t need to take a mask with you. You will be supplied with the correct FFP3 mask as part of your FIT test. 6
It’s not all about hospitals: Read about our community response to COVID-19 Mel Roberts Group Director of Operations - Primary Care, Community and Therapies Most of the services in the community have had to think quickly about how they previously delivered care and what they need to do now. This has meant that some of the developments have needed to happen at pace. Community teams have been amazing in how quickly they have responded to these changes and developed their own ideas about how to provide care safely for our vulnerable patients. Services that were deemed more ‘routine’ or nonessential have either been scaled back or are being offered virtually via technology. Helen Hurst Director of Midwifery Babies will not stop arriving and unlike many other services, we cannot reschedule for a later date! Our service comes with a time specific package, an incubation period all of its own - 40 weeks approximately. So, how can we do things differently? Well, we have a developed a business continuity plan based on guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology that covers the impact on our available workforce. Our consultants in both obstetrics and neonates are undertaking clinics remotely where possible and we have aligned the pathways to reduce the need for multiple appointments. Our sonography team and obstetricians have developed a plan for screening of unborn babies, with reduced attendances. Our community Face to face activity has been reduced to minimise the infection control risk. Admission avoidance visits across the community continues to be a priority as does support to discharge patients from ward areas to ensure patient flow. There is no doubt that these are difficult times. Everyone is affected personally in a different way. There are anxieties, mostly around PPE and safety. Front line colleagues are worried because community work in patients’ own homes can be quite unknown until you get there. But there are also worries about family situations – elderly relatives, childcare and loved ones. Colleagues are coping remarkably well during what is a very uncertain time. There is a real sense that we are all in this together and a willingness to be flexible to do what needs to get us all through. teams are working from their bases on the whole, undertaking post-natal triaging and ensuring our most vulnerable families continue to have care in their homes, whilst we deliver other care via postnatal clinics. Inpatient (maternity and neonates) services have created hot zones and pathways to care for our women and babies with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. These areas are also used by our community staff, ensuring we are working together as one family. We are all anxious, worried and scared. But we are coming together united in one belief that we will persevere. We will ensure all our staff, women and families are supported during this unprecedented time and things that we put in place now will help to shape our service to come. As midwives our worry is that women will choose not to engage with us as they are scared and we see an increase in mortality and morbidity that we have worked so hard to reduce. Now, more than ever, we need to listen and advise. COVID-19 Dottie Tipton Primary Care Liaison Manager There have been several changes to GP practices and how they work. We now have two ‘hot’ sites set up to manage symptomatic patients from practices across Sandwell and West Birmingham - Parsonage Street that previously housed the Walk in Centre and our own Lyndon Health Centre, and Aston Pride Health, which was a branch practice of Newtown Health Centre. All patients will be booked into appointments at these sites by their own GP Practice or by colleagues in NHS 111. Walk-in appointments are not available. Practices across Ladywood, Perry Barr and Sandwell have swiftly moved all services to a telephone triage model, much like our hospital outpatient clinics. For a few patients that will mean they will be invited into practice to be seen, if the consultation by phone or video is not enough. A home visiting service went live on 30 <strong>March</strong> with an initial capacity of 10 slots per day and plans to expand. The service will take referrals from practices for patients who need a home visit but do not require district nurse input. Some practices have seen as much as 25 per cent reduction in available workforce and therefore practices are looking to reduce the number of sites that patients are seen face to face. It’s not all plain sailing, though and practices are worried about a number of things including whether they can have access to staff testing which we are looking to support. Cheryl Newton Group Director of Nursing - Women and Child Health Children and families in our communities still require support, even more so with the requirements of self-isolation and social distancing. The formal and informal support networks for families with newborn, toddlers or school age children are now significantly reduced which can mean people need more support from us, not less. We are using various technology to give them access to our community children’s nursing team when they need us. We recognise that some of our families with increased vulnerabilities may still need face to face contact and this is being maintained where possible. We have developed business continuity plans across all of the children’s community services. Our staff groups are adopting a flexible approach to providing on-going support to our children and families. We are utilising technology to provide virtual appointments where appropriate and offering face to face contacts for those children who require it. The impact of self- isolation and social distancing on the emotional health and well-being of our communities remains to be seen. Our main aim is to help families continue to reach out to our services for support during this time and we want to ensure that the child’s voice is still heard as families deal with the extraordinary circumstances we all find ourselves. 7
Page 1 and 2: March 2020 Sandwell and West Birmin
Page 3 and 4: Our Trust’s plan to manage the pa
Page 5: Managing your health and wellbeing
Page 9 and 10: Supporting colleagues - swabbing fo
Page 11 and 12: Celebrating our stars of the week S
Page 13 and 14: GEMS - our valuable pieces of learn
Page 15 and 16: Milestone merger becomes reality as
Page 17 and 18: Mental health act administrator joi
Page 19 and 20: Year of the Nurse and Midwife Each
Page 21 and 22: Conference shares methods to improv
Page 23 and 24: Poo is no longer a taboo thanks to
Page 25 and 26: Inside the mortuary - taking care o
Page 27 and 28: Safer Sleep Week to help prevent un
Page 29 and 30: This month we say hello to Liam Ken
Page 31 and 32: Toby writes about… management by

Heartbeat March 2020

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