Care Provider Covid-19 Newsletter

8 April 2022

Adult Social Care

Guidance changes

• You are currently under outbreak restrictions
• The admission/discharge is Covid positive
• The admission/discharge is a known Covid contact

Vaccination update

Upcoming vaccination clinics

There's still time to grab your first, second or booster doses at the following upcoming clinics:
Bath City Football Club, Twerton

• Wednesday 13 April, 11am-6pm
• Wednesday 4 May, 11am-6pm
• Wednesday 18 May, 11am-6pm

• 14 April and 21 April, 10am-6pm

• Friday 8 April, 9.30am-5.30pm

• 1st and 2nd doses for people aged 12 years old and over
• boosters for people aged 16 years old and over, plus at-risk children aged 12 to 15 years old
• spring boosters for people aged 75 years old and over, plus people aged 12 years old and over with a weakened immune system
• additional primary doses for people with a severely weakened immune system aged 12 years old and over 

• 4 weeks/28 days: aged 18+ and at risk 12-17 year olds
• 12 weeks/84 days: aged 12-17

This starts from the date you had symptoms, or the date of the positive test if you did not have any symptoms.

COVID-19 Vaccinations

The National Booking System can be used to book in a vaccination appointment online.

If you have any residents or staff that need help accessing their 1st, 2nd, or booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine then please inform your allocated IP&C officer or email IPC@BATHNES.GOV.UK

Walk-in COVID-19 vaccination sites

To find local COVID-19 vaccination sites, to get your 1^st, 2^nd, or booster dose, please visit the NHS website to search for a walk-in site near you.

COVID-19 booster

For Covid-19 booster vaccinations, if it's been two months since your second COVID-19 vaccination, you can access the National Booking System to book your booster appointment. You can book or manage your appointment via the NHS website, or by calling the 119 number (lines open every day 7am to 11pm).

All unpaid carers, care home and home care workers are urged to get boosted now to protect the most vulnerable this winter. Vaccination sites are offering priority access for frontline staff, including unpaid carers and social care staff, which includes access to queue management and priority lines. This makes it as easy as possible for anyone who is receiving or giving care, whether paid or unpaid, to get their booster this winter. Staff may be asked to show a valid ID for priority access.

If you’re 18+ or under 18 and at higher risk from COVID-19 and have tested positive for Covid-19, you need to wait 4 weeks (28 days) before getting any Covid-19 vaccination.

If you’re under 18, not at higher risk from COVID-19 and have tested positive for Covid-19, you need to wait 12 weeks before getting a 1^st or 2^nd dose.

The 4 or 12 week period starts from the date you had symptoms, or the date of the positive test if you did not have any symptoms. Please cancel and rebook your appointment for a later date if needed.

Spring COVID-19 vaccine for the most vulnerable

The government has published a press release regarding a spring COVID-19 dose in order to maintain levels of immunity for the most vulnerable populations.

Immunity derived from vaccination declines over time and many of the oldest adults received their most recent vaccine dose in September or October 2021.

These individuals are at much higher risk of severe coronavirus (COVID-19). Therefore, as a precautionary strategy to maintain high levels of immunity, an extra spring dose is advised around 6 months after the last vaccine dose for:

• adults aged 75 years and over, residents in a care home for older adults
• individuals aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in in the COVID 19 healthcare guidance Green Book

It remains too early to set out precise details of what that programme may look like, but more definitive advice will be provided in due course.
Please read the press release here.

Flu

Frontline Health and Social Care workers are eligible for a free flu vaccine. The flu vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine. It's offered every year on the NHS to help protect people at risk of getting seriously ill from flu. Flu vaccinations can be booked at your local GP surgery or at a pharmacy that offers it on the NHS. More information on flu vaccinations and where to get them can be found here.

For any further support in vaccination encouragement or education, please contact your allocated IP&C officer or email ASC_commissioning@bathnes.gov.uk or Public_Health@bathnes.gov.uk.
 
Please take a look at this toolkit to find printable resources that you can display to help encourage your care colleagues to get their vaccine. Digital versions of these assets can also be found here.

REMINDER: Please ensure to fill out the capacity tracker with COVID-19 booster, and flu vaccination information.

Norovirus

Norovirus, sometimes known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’, is the most common stomach bug in the UK, affecting people of all ages. It is highly contagious and is transmitted by contact with contaminated surfaces, an infected person, or consumption of contaminated food or water. The symptoms of norovirus are very distinctive – people often report a sudden onset of nausea followed by projectile vomiting and watery diarrhoea

Good hand hygiene is important to stop the spread of the virus.

You are advised to:

• Wash hands thoroughly using soap and water and drying them after using the toilet, before preparing food and eating
• Do not rely on alcohol gels as these do not kill the virus

An infection with norovirus is self-limiting and most people will make a full recovery in 1-2 days. It is important to keep hydrated – especially children and the elderly. Do not visit either A&E or GPs with symptoms as this may spread the virus. Further information and advice is available from NHS 111, including an online symptom checker at nhs.uk.

Please see the two documents attached to this newsletter for further information on how to deal with Norovirus in your care setting.

SWHPT CARE SETTINGS Q&A SESSIONS EVERY FRIDAY, 3PM

SWHPT are still holding weekly question and answer sessions for all care providers. This is a great chance for you to ask any questions directly to the Public Health team, as well as listen in to other care providers queries and speak to like-minded colleagues. If you would like to be invited to this weekly Q&A session, please email IPC@BATHNES.GOV.UK and we will forward the invitation to you. If you cannot make the session and would like us to ask a question on your behalf, please send your query to us via email and we can do that for you.

Staff Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health Campaign – Lift someone out of loneliness

Feeling lonely is something that all of us can experience at any point and it can have a huge impact on our wellbeing. It’s important to remember that these feelings can pass and that there are lots of ways we can help each other too.
 
Fancy a cuppa? Fancy a walk? Sometimes reaching out to each other with as little as three words can make a big difference.
 
As part of the Better Health: Every Mind Matters campaign, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are encouraging people to ‘Lift Someone Out of Loneliness’ by taking a simple action to help someone who may be feeling lonely. If we do this regularly, we can all help to lift each other up.

Find out how you can help to lift someone out of loneliness.

Looking after your wellbeing

With the ongoing pressures we are facing to deliver critical services, we would like to remind you that help and support is available for health and social care staff in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW).

The BSW Wellbeing Matters team can provide direct access to psychologists and registered mental health clinicians who will use their expertise to help you access support. The BSW Wellbeing Matters Team provides consultation, advice and support to individuals and teams and can help services think about the wellbeing of their staff and offer advice and support as appropriate.

Please take a look at the document attached to see a variety of webinars that will be delivered over the upcoming months. These webinars include grief and loss, coping with low mood, worries and stress and making sense of trauma at work.

Booking for the January webinars is now open. To find out more about the webinars and how to request a place, please email: awp.wellbeingmatterstraining@nhs.net 

To contact the team to request support, please call 0800 953 9003 and leave a message on the answer phone or alternatively by email - awp.bswwellbeinghub@nhs.net

To find out more about the BSW Wellbeing Matters service visit: http://www.awp.nhs.uk/advice-support/bsw-wellbeing-matters/

Wellbeing Resources

• BSW Wellbeing Matters Service

• Live Well B&NES

• Samaritans

• Hospice UK bereavement and trauma line

• Our Frontline

• Bath and North East Somerset Community Wellbeing Hub