Care Provider Covid-19 Newsletter

December 2022

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas 

Goodbye

My time with the IP&C team is nearly at an end and I will shortly be moving on to pastures new. Just thought I would take this opportunity to say a sad goodbye and a big thank you to everyone I have been in contact with, it has been a pleasure working with all of you. I will be remaining with Bath & North East Somerset Local Authority working with their new United Care Bath agency so am really pleased to be able to remain working within the care sector. Wishing you all the best and keep up the good work everyone.

Hazel Baber

Adult Social Care

Updated Guidance

Updated 15^th December 2022 and effective immediately and to be implemented by 22^nd December 2022.

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care services – link
• COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care link

Please find attached a copy of the letter sent to: Adult social care service providers, Directors of Adult Social Care Services and Directors of Public Health and wider stakeholders, about the changes to the universal use of face masks in adult social care for COVID-19 and COVID-19 outbreak management in care homes.
 

Please see below for a summary of changes:

Face masks

Now risk based wearing of face masks instead of mandatory wearing at all times
Wear if – caring for COVID case

• Staff member is household or overnight contact of a case
• Care setting is in outbreak

• An event or gathering is at particularly high risk of transmission

Recognition that mask wearing may be distressing for some – risk assess their use and mitigate risks
 

More autonomy for all care settings in assessing and managing their own outbreaks

Guidance wording has changed so that care settings are able to risk assess whether they have unlinked cases or an outbreak, including a short guide to whether cases are likely to be linked to transmission in the setting or not. The guidance now explicitly says that they should not wait for HPT input to begin basic outbreak control measures and the wording for outbreak measures is much more risk-centred e.g. recommending proportionate reductions in communal activities, visiting, new admissions. 
It still says though, that all outbreaks should be reported to the HPT.
 

Clusters

The word “cluster” has been taken out of the national guidance altogether. 
However, the SW HPT care programme team’s view is that there is still a place for declaring a likely cluster as opposed to an outbreak i.e. in the grey area between definitely unlinked cases and where transmission in the setting is highly likely.  Then we advise two rounds of outbreak testing (all staff and resident LFD and PCR) plus rapid response LFD testing for staff and if all negative, lift outbreak restrictions.
 

Small care homes

For care homes with 10 or fewer residents there is a change in the Testing guidance.  Evidence shows that spread amongst residents in small household type environments is likely to be swift and also that these settings tend to house less vulnerable, younger people. Therefore, the new recommendation is to assess the appropriateness of rapid response outbreak testing and NOT to do recovery testing at all. Outbreak measures can be lifted once all those affected are out of their isolation periods.

Current guidance

Please refer to the link below for full details.

Managing healthcare staff with symptoms of a respiratory infection or a positive COVID-19 test result link

Guidance for seasonal decorations

During winter, there is an increase in cases of Norovirus, Flu and COVID-19. Seasonal decorations can prevent effective cleaning of the environment and harbour bacteria and viruses. Cleaning during the festive season remains extremely important.

We have attached the poster from the December IPC Bulletin for Care Homes which has some practical suggestions which will allow residents and staff to enjoy a festive atmosphere over the season without having an adverse impact on infection prevention and control.

Cold weather toolkit and plan add attachments

Are you weather ready?

Please see attachments for helping you prepare and cope with severe weather.

Or visit www.metoffice.gov.uk/WeatherReady

There is still time to get vaccinated and boost your winter protection

This winter, both COVID-19 and flu may circulate at high levels, potentially at the same time.

It has been officially announced we are now in ‘flu season’ and millions of people are being offered vaccination to help protect them over the coming months.

There is evidence to show that if you get flu and COVID-19 at the same time you are at higher risk of becoming seriously unwell. As this is the first winter since COVID-19 emerged without restrictions in place, the best way to protect yourself from getting unwell from either is to get vaccinated.

To read the full article please click here

How to get your vaccinations

Flu

All frontline care colleagues are urged to book their appointments and keep themselves, their colleagues and those they care, for safe, well and protected as winter approaches.

Claire Armstrong, Director of Adult Social Care Delivery and Covid-19 Response, Department of Health and Social Care, wrote to care providers in August, explaining the importance of vaccine uptake for both COVID-19 and flu jabs.

To help promote the benefits of vaccination to colleagues, visit the Campaign Resource Centre,  where you’ll find Q&A leaflets, posters, social media content and stickers, all free to download and share.

Flu vaccination is important because:

• while flu is unpleasant for most people, it can be dangerous and even life threatening for some people, particularly those with certain health conditions
• more people are likely to get flu this winter as fewer people will have built up natural immunity to it during the COVID-19 pandemic
• if you get flu and COVID-19 at the same time, research shows you're more likely to be seriously ill

Who can have the flu vaccine?

Check eligibility here

Where to get the flu vaccine

You can have the NHS flu vaccine at:

• your GP surgery
• a pharmacy offering the service – if you're aged 18 or over
• some maternity services if you're pregnant

Sometimes, you might be offered the flu vaccine at a hospital appointment.

Covid

There's still time to grab your first, second or booster doses. Anyone who is eligible can book their vaccination appointment online (new appointments are added frequently) or find a walk-in clinic on the NHS website. You need to be registered with a GP (or call 119) to book online. You do not need to book or be registered with a GP to use a walk-in clinic.

Check your eligibility here for 1^st and 2^nd Covid-19 vaccination and here for the Covid 19 booster vaccination.

Upcoming Walk in Covid-19 vaccination clinics:

Both the clinics are open 11-5pm and will offer 1^st, 2^nd and booster Covid-19 doses, plus flu vaccination.

‘Grab a Cab’

‘Grab a Cab’ is open to anyone living in Bath and North East Somerset who is having difficulties getting to a COVID-19 vaccination site. The ‘Grab a Cab’ initiative means residents can now hire a free taxi to get to their vaccination appointment.

To use the service, the COVID-19 vaccination must be pre-booked and the service user will need to show evidence of the appointment to the taxi driver. Evidence can include a screenshot on a mobile phone or tablet, or a printout.

To book the taxi, the person will need to call V-Cars on 01225 46 46 46 and say they would like to book a taxi to a vaccination site on account quoting:

• Account number: BA-TTV 01
• Account name: Grab a Cab
• Password: Vaccination site

Once the taxi is booked, the taxi driver will pick the person up and take them to their appointment. Please be aware that the return journey must be within an hour of the appointment time.

Infection Prevention & Control and Winter Readiness Toolkit

As part of the process of helping you prepare for winter UKHSA has updated their Infection Prevention & Control and Winter Readiness Toolkit, (please find the link below).

Please take the time to visit the website as the tool kit focuses on seasonal respiratory and gastrointestinal infections and does cover the whole remit of infections seen in these settings.  It is designed to help managers and staff in care homes and other residential care settings with the planning and preparation for winter infections and outbreaks, and in outbreak recognition and management.

The resources are quick-reference documents, designed to be used as needed for your setting, by staff, residents and visitors.

The toolkit complements the national guidance documents on the following websites:

• Covid-19
• other respiratory infections (due to be updated October 2022)
• viral gastroenteritis
  • Epidemiology and surveillance
    
  • Diagnosis and management

In addition, there are a wealth of other resources and web links on the web sites of the various professional health and social care organisations.

UKHSA Infection Prevention and Control and Winter Readiness - South West Councils (swcouncils.gov.uk)

As part of being ready for winter you need to ensure you have enough tests, so please ensure you always have the following available:

• C-19 PCR  kits  at least enough for one complete round of whole home testing
• C-19 LFD kits – at least enough for one complete round of whole home testing (in response to OB) and enough for a few days of serial staff testing (in response to OB and/ or single case) and enough LFD kits for testing any symptomatic residents.

Test kits can be pre-ordered via the online portal.

Safeguarding training

Safeguarding Training is also available and details of how to join can be found on the link Bath & North East Somerset Community Safety and Safeguarding Partnership website.

Managers will need to create an account as detailed in the attached booking guide which can be found on the safeguarding training section.

Lost property following discharge

We have listened to the Care Home managers concerns about the discharge’s from the RUH and issues around missing items; We have worked with the RUH and have organised a plan for RUH to support care homes following discharge. To be used  for those discharged within the last 48 hours.

The plan will be two numbers, unfortunately it isn’t possible to cover with one number. They are:

In hours - 9-4 Mon-Friday will be the discharge team admin – 01225 825698. The admin team will take the calls and allocate the task to a DLN on duty who will then follow up, action and liaise with the home.

Out of Hours - Clinical Site team 07766 498314. If the issue isn’t immediately urgent and the task can wait until the morning, this will be handed over to the DLN team. If urgent the CSM team will action.

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.

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