COVID-19 - News updates for all West Sussex Care and Support Providers
30 June 2020
Welcome to today's newsletter, which includes the following:
Visit our dedicated COVID-19 provider zone website for easy access to national and local guidance, resources on essential topics including PPE, infection control, testing and workforce and recruitment. We would encourage providers to visit the site before emailing or calling to see if their query can be easily answered.
Let us know if there is anything else you would find helpful to include in the newsletters or on the website and we'll do our best to add them. Contact us at contracts@westsussex.gov.uk.
- The following training is for any team or individual that are providing care and support across Sussex, for example care homes, domiciliary, supported living etc.
- This training session is aimed at giving you an overview of how to prepare, prevent and manage your client's health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic
- The training covers best practice tips and information to support you to continue to deliver safe, quality care at this time.
Included in the training :
PREPARE:
- Learn about the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 - best practice guide to prepare your team and environment
PREVENT :
- Best practice tips to preventing an outbreak in your home
- Preventing an outbreak: Good infection prevention and best practice principles
- Soft signs of deterioration : How you can spot the soft signs of deterioration
- Delirium : Signs, symptoms and causes of delirium
- COVID-19 and dementia in care homes Practical Steps
MANAGE :
- Best practice tips to manage an outbreak in your home
- Restore 2: Signposting to nationally recognised documentation when taking a full set of vital signs
- How to take a saturation level using a pulse oximeter
- How to take a temperature
- Restore Mini : How to escalate effectively with softer signs and some vital signs
The information in this training package is not intended to substitute or replace any national guidance or local policy directives that are currently in place.
We have taken every care to create content for this training and ensure it is accurate, however the material is intended to provide general information only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. If you are concerned about a person’s health please contact 111 or the relevant medical professional.
The Eventbrite link is for the full training. To join the training please click on the link below, this will send you a link to join the training session. Training runs every Friday at 2pm: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prepare-prevent-manage-covid-19-in-care-homes-tickets-109955806778
COVID-19 has a disproportionate effect on people with certain characteristics, including people who:
- are over the age of 70;
- are male;
- are from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background; and
- have certain underlying health conditions.
These findings have been documented by the Office of National Statistics and reported by Public Health England (June 2020) Disparities in the Risk and Outcome of COVID-19.
Employers have a responsibility to undertake risk assessments in relation to the workplace. The Health and Safety Executive produces a guide to workplace risk assessments which you may find helpful, more recently the Department of Health and Social Care has produced: COVID-19 Adult Social Care risk reduction framework: Assessing and reducing the risk to your workforce. This guidance confirms that risks in the workplace should be reduced for all workers, however employers should undertake additional mitigation measures for those workers identified at higher risks.
The guidance supports employers with their approach to risk assessments, with a particular focus on groups at higher risk of infection and/or adverse outcomes from infection, to:
- manage the risk assessment process to identify those workers more vulnerable to infection or to the effects of infection;
- have sensitive conversations with employees, acknowledge concerns, review options and identify next steps; and
- identify and implement ways of mitigating risk.
We would strongly encourage all providers to review the guidance included within the above links, and use these to build on your existing risk assessment processes.
The Sussex CCG are continuing to offer sessions on COVID-19 ‘Train the Trainer’ virtual training programme, this programme is aimed at the people with ‘responsibility’ for the infection control standards within a care home or domiciliary care providers. The aim of this training is to support homes and domiciliary care providers to continue delivery of best practice standards around infection prevention and control, with a focus on the current measures in place to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically:
- Donning and doffing of personal protective equipment
- How to undertake a COVID-19 swab effectively
- Infection prevention and control
Dates available for training:
Wednesday 1st ,8th, 22th and 29th July - 14:30
Tuesday 14th July - 14:30
Thursday 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th July - 14:30
To book a place please visit- https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/x/infection-prevention-and-control-train-the-trainer-tickets-111298185870
With thanks again,
Contracts and Performance Team
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