Dear BAHT Members,
 
Please find below some more useful resources for our members in these ongoing difficult times: 

• The Reconstructive Surgery Trials Network (RSTN) has launched #RSTNCOVID to investigate how COVID-19 is affecting the management of hand and wrist trauma patients. If you are a Hand Therapist providing definitive care (i.e. acute assessment and stabilisation) they would love for you to be involved.  Please follow this link for more information and to sign up: https://t.co/yt6pgtVi3N

• EU Regulations for MDR postponed by 1 year due to COVID pandemic.        -     What this means for members: 

The deadline for ensuring compliance with the European Union’s Medical Device Regulations (EU MDR) was due in May 2020. These new regulations are aimed at improving the traceability features and safety management of medical devices for sale within the EU. The New MDR will have greater significance to ALL BAHT members.  

The EU MDR was due to come into force on 26 May 2020, replacing the EU’s current Medical Device Directive (93/42/EEC) and Directive on Active Implantable Medical Devices (90/385/EEC). On 3 April 2020 the European Commission adopted a proposal to postpone by one year the date of application of the MDR to allow Member States, health institutions & economic operators to prioritise the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This decision takes into account the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic & the need for an increased availability of vitally important medical devices across the EU whilst continuing to ensure patient health & safety until the new legislation becomes applicable. Manufacturers of medical devices for sale within the EU must adhere to strict guidelines to ensure their products are safe to use.

BAHT has been working hard with the several agencies & the UK’s leading therapy product distributors to pull together guidance for BAT members. Once this has been finalised further communications will follow.

• SAGE/Journal Information: 

1. All original research articles that are focused on COVID-19 are being made open access via a Creative Commons license on publication. SAGE is waiving the article processing charge (APC) on research articles throughout the outbreak as announced in SAGE’s press release. In order to expedite this, we do not intend to seek input from authors, and anticipate the rapid and open availability of such content will be welcomed.  The production on these papers is being fast tracked into PubMed Central (PMC) for indexing.
2. The Wellcome Trust’s statement encourages authors of COVID-19 research and findings to share their findings with the WHO as early as possible. SAGE’s author reuse policies allow authors to share both the Original Submission and Accepted Manuscript at any time, and anywhere.
3. There may be a delay in receiving the posted copy of Hand Therapy Journal this month due to mail disruption. Members can always access their journal online at any time through the website members page.
4. SAGE have also have launched an online nursing hub which can be found here to support nursing students and lecturers, which includes free digital access to resources for many of their leading textbooks. Our members may want to take a look or pass on the link/information to their nursing colleagues or students. 

Kind Regards,
The BAHT Committee