Updates
Update, 27 March
Published: 27 March 2020
Annual leave
Today we have considered our position on annual leave. In order to support the enormous ongoing effort to treat our patients and to ensure we have enough frontline staff in the coming weeks, it would be appreciated if all clinical staff ie doctors, nurse and AHPs, would please cancel any leave and/or don’t book any leave until the end of April.
We will then review the "ask" for May in two weeks’ time in light of the operational imperatives at that time. Of course you will be able to carry over any outstanding leave, however many days, into next year’s allocation.
COVID-19 education package and refresher training
In the current situation many of you may be concerned about your knowledge and skills in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and a potential change from your normal role.
The Trust have been looking at what education is required to support refresher training and upskilling for all staff with patient facing responsibilities.
The training documents are available in the "Downloads" section.
Verification of death in patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection
At the time of verifying a patient’s death in their notes (or on PICS), please complete the additional checklist. This will reduce the number of times a body bag is opened after death and inform mortuary staff of possible/confirmed infection.
It will also alert them to the presence of devices that need removal prior to cremation and help flow through the mortuary.
This form should go into the outside pocket of the body bag with the body bag form and the notice of death should still be completed by the nursing staff.
The checklist is available in the "Downloads" section.
Clinical skills update education
The "Evidence of Clinical Skills Update" document will be utilised by any registered practitioners who access clinical skills update education in readiness to support clinical areas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Registered practitioners utilising this educational package are required to access learning resources and update sessions available to suit their individual learning needs. The document must then be completed and a copy kept on personal file.
The key change here is that registered staff, who have previously completed training and have been assessed as competent in the five skills listed will not be required to complete supervised practice and assessment in the clinical area. However, the document must be completed. This is applicable to the skills specified and during the COVID-19 pandemic only.
No changes have been made to standard skills training processes for non-registered staff or registered staff who are new to utilising these clinical skills. Please find details of update education here and share with your teams.
The document is available in the "Downloads" section.
Service changes
We are having to make some temporary changes to our services, to help us care for patients and maintain safe staffing levels.
The changes to services are as follows:
- Paediatric ED at Good Hope will close temporarily from today (27 March). If a child does arrive at Good Hope Hospital ED, they will of course be seen and treated then transferred or discharged appropriately. All ambulances that would have taken children to Good Hope ED and Heartlands ED will now go to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Children can still access the Paediatric Assessment Unit at Heartlands.
- The Hyper-Acute Stroke unit at Heartlands will become an acute stroke unit from midnight tonight (27 March) and all hyper acute stroke patients will initially come to the QEHB for treatment and then be repatriated back to their local unit.
- Some emergency trauma cases eg fractured neck of femur; some specialised spinal work and hand surgery will be transferred to the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital
Single clerking document
A new single clerking document has been produced to make the process of admitting patients more efficient.
Printed copies of the document will be available at Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull Hospitals and replicates the process that was implemented in the PICS system at QEHB as of 26 March.
Any feedback about the contents of the document can be feedback through the Medical Scientific Advisory Group:
Email: MedicalScientificAdvisoryGroup@uhb.nhs.uk
A PDF version of the document is available in the "Downloads" section.
Completing cremation paperwork
The Coronavirus Act 2020 came into law on Thursday 26 March 2020. Section 19 relates to the completion of Cremation paperwork.
There is no longer the requirement to have a Confirmatory Doctor to check and complete the second part of the form (part 5). This will put even more emphasis on the Consultants responsible informing their junior staff what should be recorded on the MCCD and the first part of the Cremation paper (part 4).
The onus will also be on prompt attendance to the Bereavement Offices to ensure this is completed as quickly as possible, to allow ongoing flow through the mortuaries.
The Bereavement Offices have been informed of this change.
Donations from the public for our staff
We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of businesses and individuals getting in touch with donations for our staff, to say thank you for all the incredible work you are doing.
This week, working with the Trust Charity, 6,500 toiletry bags gifted from British Airways, 100s of beauty products gifted from John Lewis and donations of food have been delivered to a number of departments across our four hospital sites and community services hub.
We will be continuing with weekly deliveries across our sites to get the donations out to colleagues as soon as possible. We are centrally coordinating the distribution of donations.
If anyone contacts you directly offering something, please forward onto the Communications team:
Email: Communications@uhb.nhs.uk
Ward and departmental ordering
In order to support the health and wellbeing of our staff, the following order codes will enable direct ordering from the supply chain: EOC027, EOC028, MRB418, ILA1083, ACC136, ADB290, ADC206, ADC023, ADT620, MRB218, ACT 217, ACD547, ACD430, ACD276, AAR467, AAR469, AAV007
These include tampons, sanitary towels, lip balm, moisturiser, drinking chocolate, biscuits, crisps/savoury snacks, tea, coffee and squash.
We would ask that you order responsibly but, at the same time, please ensure that these items are widely available for your staff at all times.