The most up-to-date information from these bulletins can be found on our website.

For general advice about COVID-19 please go to: nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

This bulletin covers:

COVID-19 guidance and updates: lateral flow tests; PPE guidance; respiratory infection guidance - new language formats

Recruitment: Made with Care campaign

Wellbeing and health:  wellbeing leadership; deaf awareness week; health in a heatwave

Health and social care reform: Health and Care Bill granted Royal Assent

Have your say: care home vaccination survey; mental health and wellbeing consultation; digital mental health

COVID-19 guidance and updates

Rapid lateral flow tests

This guidance explains how to do a lateral flow test and report the results. It was updated on 29 April, adding information about checking test expiry dates.

PPE guidance

A gentle reminder that there is still a requirement for health and social care staff to follow the government guidance about PPE: COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care.

This guidance says that: “Face masks should be worn by all care workers and visitors in care settings and when providing care in people’s own homes, irrespective of whether the person being cared for is known or suspected to have COVID-19 or not.”

People with symptoms of a respiratory infection

Guidance for people with symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19 was updated on 27 April to include translations of the infographic: reducing household transmission into a range of different languages.

Recruitment

Made with Care campaign

‘Made with Care’, the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) recruitment campaign, ran across national broadcast, digital and social media from November 2021 until March 2022. 

Now, the DHSC wants to know whether the campaign was effective in supporting you to find new staff.  The department has created a survey to find out. It should take around 10-15 minutes to complete and the closing date is 13 May.

Wellbeing and health

Wellbeing leadership webinar

This Skills for Care webinar will focus on wellbeing leadership and what ‘good’ looks like. It will include practical tips, tools and ideas and how to create a wellbeing culture.

It’s tomorrow, 04 May and runs from 10:30am to 11:00am.

Register your place

Deaf awareness week

It’s deaf awareness week (02 to 08 May), organised by the UK Council On Deafness. This year’s theme is inclusion.  The RNID offers a range of deaf awareness advice and support.

You can get involved with deaf awareness week on social media using the hashtags #DAW2022, #lnclusionDeafness or #MyDeafStory.

Protecting health in a heatwave

Preparing and alerting people about preventable health and wellbeing impacts from severe heat is the goal the government’s heatwave plan for England.

It was updated on 26 April with a report and slideset on the health impacts of hot weather.

Health and social care reform

Health and Care Bill granted Royal Assent

The Health and Care Bill received Royal Assent on 28 April.  The government says this marks a ‘milestone’ in the recovery and reform of how health and care services work together.

Sajid Javid, Health and Social Care Secretary, said:

“The Health and Care Act is the most significant change to the healthcare system in a decade and will put it in the strongest possible position to rebuild from the pandemic.”

Have your say

COVID-19 vaccination survey: East Sussex care home staff

A big thank you to everyone who has taken part in our survey about COVID-19 vaccination for East Sussex care home staff.

There has been a great number of responses already… but we’d really like to hear from staff in every care home.

The results are going to help us understand the motivations and barriers for care home staff around the COVID-19 vaccines.

One care home will be picked at random to win £150 if a member of their staff completes the survey.

Full prize draw terms and conditions are on the first page of the survey.

The closing date is 12 May.

Mental health and wellbeing plan consultation: deadline extended

The deadline to respond to the government’s discussion paper seeking views on how to improve mental health and wellbeing, has been extended. It is now 07 July.

There is also an easy read version of the paper. The deadline to respond to this has also been extended to 07 July.

Digital mental health

Meanwhile, the digital mental health team at NHS England and Improvement is asking people about their experience of using and providing mental health services, focusing on how digital tools could be effectively used in delivering and accessing mental health care. 

They want to hear from service users, clinicians and anyone who supports transformation in their organisations.

The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.

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