COVID Cases rise – Precautions temporarily reinstated

Following the last bulletin regarding Christmas parties, unfortunately there has been a continued rise in staff sickness due to COVID and other infection related illnesses. Active COVID cases alone have more than doubled over the last 2 weeks and several new outbreaks have been recorded and being managed by the COVID Leads. This has not only had an impact on individuals but also on Trust functions in some of our teams.

This time of year invites us to be more social, such as gatherings and food sharing, which have the ability to increase the spread of infections more easily amongst our teams and families.  Furthermore, there is a regional expectation that COVID cases will rise through the coming weeks into January. With this intelligence and the impact we have already seen, due to the rise in cases, a decision has been made to temporarily tighten precautions to protect ourselves.  This is a decision not taken lightly and will be reviewed again in 4 weeks, by which time cases hopefully take a downward trend and the precautions will be reassessed and adjusted accordingly, as they have before.

With immediate effect the following will be required to be implemented on all Trust sites

• Mask wearing
• When entering any Trust premises
• When moving around stations
• When working within 2m of others if not behind screens
• In vehicle cabs
• Distancing
• Aim to be spaced greater than 1m apart, (2m preferably). If this is not achievable screens should be in place and/or masks worn
• Space out appropriately during other activities such as meal breaks
• Avoid unnecessary gatherings of people
• Stagger meal breaks and limit contact between different teams/groups where possible
• Food sharing
• Communal ‘buffet’ style food that is open for multiple people to be near of touch must be avoided
• A sensible approach to food on stations must be adopted over this period. It is not prohibited to have food available but local management should ensure that this is done appropriately and with precautions applied as well as possible. Hand hygiene, individually wrapped items, reducing quantity of people handling food, not preparing food for others and disinfecting the environment are some of the key factors to apply a sensible approach.

All of the standard business as usual factors remain in place including good ventilation, hand hygiene, temperature checking and wiping down workstations.

Symptomatic staff must continue to test and be referred to the COVID team.

Hopefully the above can be reviewed soon and this will help towards limiting transmission, whilst still allowing some normal activity.  Our previous approach has helped us manage the spread of infection beforehand and we are confident the professional response by you will help manage further spreading of infection during this short time.  We continue to learn to live with COVID and we accept that COVID, as well as other infections, will rise and fall. Taking this action now will help protect ourselves and our patients.

Both I and the Trust senior leaders thank you for your continued support around managing infection.

- Shaun Watkins (Head of Infection Prevention and Control)

Published 21st December 2022