COVID-19 UPDATE BRIEFING DDLMC – 12.06.2020
NATIONAL UPDATES
Minimising nosocomial infections in the NHS/Face Masks. In yesterday’s update we referred to the NHSE Letter and promised a consolidated Derbyshire update position. The letter covers 3 broad areas:
- Business Continuity Planning. We know practices did a lot of work updating their BCPs at the start of the pandemic and now might be a good time to review and update these in light of the roll out of Test and Trace.
- Outbreak Reporting. If you do experience an outbreak of COVID-19 in the practice the guidance (Attachment A) instructs you what to do and the return (Attachment B) needs to be completed and returned. N.B despite the title it is for general practice use as well.
- PPE/Face Masks. The National Guidance that was promised earlier in the week still hasn’t materialised and rather than confusing the picture it was decided at lunchtime to wait before publishing a Derbyshire view. As we stated yesterday, we would recommend sticking with extant practice policies and more to follow next week.
LOCAL UPDATES
Clinical Updates.
- Long Term Conditions Update. This (Attachment C) covers General, Shielded Patients, Respiratory, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Gastroenterology and Stroke.
- Type 1 Diabetes in Children/Young People. DigiBete is a free online service (App also available) to support children and young people to manage their Type 1 diabetes and includes essential help and resources (Attachment D and E). It allows diabetes teams to send relevant information and resources to patients and also allows patients to store insulin ratios, care plans, future appointments and notes.
Consultant Connect Update. Paediatrics and Gynaecology have now been added and the complete list is as follows:
| UHDB Facing Practices | CRH Facing Practices |
|
Cardiology Via App/Desktop Computer: |
Acute Medical Admissions* Via App/Desktop Computer:
|
*All specialties in bold with an asterisk are provided locally with national support when local support not available.
Those just in bold are purely a locally provided service.
Areas not in bold will have calls answered by out of area NHS consultants.
Practice service directories have been updated and any queries email Grace Housden from Consultant Connect.
Patient discharge leaflets. These (Attachments F and G) have been produced for cascade within your practices.
Optometrists confirmed for CUES. Following our update on 22 May 2020, an updated list of Optometrists has been confirmed for CUES (Attachment H).
Antibody Testing for staff. Judy Derricott at the CCG continues to do a fantastic job of pulling together all the strands for the antibody testing programme. She has now had verbal confirmation from NHSE that this can be done by practices registering their staff as temporary residents. However, the LMC continue to raise concerns that this clearly contravenes GMS/PMS Regulations and are pressing for written clarification/confirmation before being able to support this course of action. We are also still awaiting confirmation that such work would be covered for indemnity purposes under CNSGP and the additional COVID-19 NHS indemnity provisions. The BMA is also seeking urgent clarification from the Association of British Insurers as there have been reports of positive antibody tests having an impact of Life Assurance/mortgage applications. The LMC completely understand and share your frustration that this should be a straightforward process, but we feel we owe you a duty of care to advise you of these potential difficulties.
OTHER UPDATES
Health at Home campaign. We shared details of this on Tuesday and further resources covering things such as general health concerns, ordering a repeat prescription, accessing a GP, asthma, diabetes, new parents and pregnancy are available here .
Caring Safely at Home - Unpaid Carers
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIC) has created a video-based resource designed to help people look after someone safely at home which practices are requested to share with carers.
Newborn screening programme restore documents. The latest updates on new-born screening programme restoration may be useful for practices who receive queries. These cover Blood Spot Screening (Attachment I), New-born and Infant Physical Examination (Attachment J) and New-born Hearing (Attachment K).
AND FINALLY…
Anyone wanting to help retired GP Dr Brendan Ryan of the Chesterfield Cycle Campaign in establishing a school cycle network should contact him on 01246 569736 or 07803246797.
I had something in my eye this morning as I drove into the office listening to 500 words on Radio 2. This was in the age 5-9 category
“The Old Rabbit by Lenny T”
Patrick (Pat) the rabbit was very sad. He was very old, his fur was grey on his paws and around his mouth and his bones were aching. His baby rabbits had all grown up and moved away and had bunnies of their own, his mum and his dad had died many years ago and he missed talking to them but most of all he missed his lovely wife Pearl, all the time. Pat was also fed up of running from the mean farmer who was always chasing him with his gun, he never dug any holes anymore and he only ate the carrots easy to dig up these days.
Today it was raining and grey, the sky was black, and the grass was muddy and wet, and it was really windy and cold so Pat decided to hide in the barn until the rain stopped before he went looking for carrots. As Pat dried off from the rain he drifted to sleep.
Pat woke up feeling very warm, he could see the bright sunshine coming through the walls of the barn and he could hear rabbit's chilli chilli chat chatting coming from outside.
Pat started to creep outside, his bones felt light and he noticed the fur on his paws was a lovely brown colour like they used to be. Pats bones didn't ache, and he didn't feel sad, but he didn't know why. Outside he noticed the grass was so green it didn't look real - it almost sparkled. It was so soft it felt like he was walking on green clouds! And there were piles of carrots everywhere - with no mud on them - he wouldn't even have to dig them up or wash them!
Then he saw a little way away under a tree, there was a group of about fifty rabbits all whispering and smiling and watching him. Suddenly he saw a beautiful lady rabbit step forward and walk towards him with her arms open and crying. Pat gasped and nearly swallowed his little rabbit tongue! It was Pearl! He ran to her and he kissed her all over her face and he cried, and he said to Pearl 'I have missed you so much my love' and she cuddled him so tight and whispered in his ear.
'I have been waiting a long time for you Pat'.
He then realised he recognised the shapes and voices of the rabbits standing nearby all watching him and smiling - it was his mum and dad. His aunties and his uncles and even his Nan and Grandad! He looked at Pearl dazed, and she smiled, and she said, 'they have been waiting too'. Pat was so happy but so confused as he cried with happiness into Pearls fur he whispered, 'Pearl I am so happy I feel like I am in Heaven'.
To which Pearl replied with a smile 'my wonderful, beautiful Pat, you are.'