Thank You

The Chief Social Work Officer, Lillian Cringles extends a massive thank you to the incredible staff response from across Social Work. The hard work and dedication they are showing through these challenging and uncertain times is greatly appreciated and ensures that vulnerable people across the region continue to receive the care and support they need.

Remote Working

The significant increase in those working remotely is continuing to cause some issues with the network. Normally around 300 people work from home at any given time but with the current situation, this has risen to over 1000 each day. As a result of this, the system thinks it is under cyber-attack and responds by removing people from the system. BTS continue to work on this and a solution should be in place by the beginning of next week. Please do not log calls with the service desk in relation to this – they are aware of the situation and working hard to resolve it.

Easter Eggs Our local WH Smith very kindly donated Easter Eggs to our Children and Families service. One of our Youth Workers, Lyndsay Thomson is pictured with some of the generous delivery. She is currently working alongside Children and Families Social Work, providing support to vulnerable families during the Covid-19 outbreak. The chocolate treats will be delivered to children across the region and are sure to bring a smile to many young faces during this challenging time. Unpaid Work Supervisors and vehicles have also assisted with the delivery of the eggs. Social Work have thanked WH Smith and many members of the public have also praised this act of kindness.

Shielding

New government guidance and local support is being introduced to help shield around 200,000 people, across Scotland, who are most at risk during the coronavirus outbreak.

The new support being offered will help people to self-isolate making it less likely that they will contract the virus. It will also reduce the negative effects of self-isolation, including loneliness and the disruption of crucial health and social care.

Dumfries and Galloway Council now have a team set up, to offer support and guidance to those that are shielding throughout the region. Twenty members of staff from across the Council are involved in this and the team is being co-ordinated and led by Rosie Black who is supported by Viv Hunter.  All members of staff have received training and are working alongside experienced staff.  The team are doing an amazing job and have adjusted brilliantly to carrying out a very different role in the most unusual circumstances. The team are getting in contact with vulnerable people to make sure they have the support they need in place and that their food, supplies and medical requirements are met.  When specific needs are identified through these conversations, contact is made with hubs, situated across the region. Essential supplies are then delivered from there to the individuals that need them.

Corona Virus Bill

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill has been introduced to Parliament and it contains specific measures relating to the justice system. There are now powers to allow serious criminal trials to be carried out by a judge sitting alone without a jury. Powers have also been introduced to allow for the emergency release of prisoners and there are extensions of time limits for completion of unpaid work. Community orders which become impossible to fulfil under current parameters may be postponed or altered.

Out of Hours

Changes have been agreed to the times that the Out of Hours team need to be physically in the Irish Street Offices. This brings them into line with the rota system being used for all other social work staff. That means they will all work remotely Monday – Thursday nights and have a minimum presence in the building on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

From Monday to Thursday Irish Street will now need to be secured each evening. The cleaner will do this on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. On a Wednesday evening the building will be secured by a member of the Strategic Management Team and the building will be closing at 5.30pm.

Personal Protective Equipment

The Scottish Government are issuing revised guidance on the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This update will reflect the fact that Covid-19 is now widespread in communities, meaning health and social care workers are more likely to see patients with the virus, some of whom will not be displaying symptoms yet.

New measures are also being taken to improve the distribution of PPE to health and social care staff and work continues as a priority to ensure there is appropriate supplies.

This updated guidance will be circulated with staff as soon as it arrives.