DAILY COVID-19 BRIEFING DDLMC 27.03.2020
KEY MESSAGES FOR TODAY
JOINT DDLMC/ GPA / GPTF / DCHS COVID RESPONSE TEAM
The Home Visiting Service and Red/Green Hub plans are advancing well with input from the COVID Response Team and PCN CDs. It is hoped these will be rolled out next week and the communication to patients and staff is recognized as being critical and will be handled centrally.
Staff Wellbeing. Further to the details of the Employee Assistance Programme sent yesterday staff can also access this by emailing assist@cic-eap.co.uk and include the following information: -
- Name
- Organisation you work for
- Contact phone number
- The best time to receive a return a call (preferably with a 2-hour time window)
- A brief sentence on the reason for calling.
In addition, there are a serious of information leaflets about the services on offer which we have uploaded to our website.
NATIONAL UPDATES
- National Daily PM briefings. Today’s briefing was delivered by the Chancellor and focused on support for the self-employed.
- Coronavirus Act 2020. This has now been enacted and gives wide ranging powers to support the COVID-19 effort. A precis can be found here and a more detailed summary from the House of Commons Library .
- PPE. We are expecting an update on PPE from PHE/NHSE/BMA today.
OTHER UPDATES
- Financial Support. It has been agreed that additional locum costs due to COVID-19 will be met from day 1 (rather than after a 14-day qualifying period) and the CCG are confirming how the claims process will work.
- GP Support and Training. There have been a number of initiatives to help GPs locally and nationally:
- Remote Consultations. The BMJ have produced a useful one pager on Remote Consultations and we have also attached a more in depth paper from Dr Tricia Greenhalgh on the subject.
- COVID-19: FAQs about ethics. This pandemic is raising some ethical issues that are previously unheard of and BMA have produced a thought provoking but reassuring set of FAQs .
- Asthma UK. They have produced advice on shielding for asthma patients in high risk groups which GPs and staff might use to signpost patients to in order to reduce queries. We have asked them to amend the wording on their website about contacting your GP practice.
- Pharmacy Updates. The Medicines Order Line update will be published by the CCG tonight and the NOACs update is awaiting sign off by JAPC.
- Vitamin B12. This can now be administered orally ( see BMJ Article and Cochrane Review attached). We have asked Meds Management to provide a summary.
- IT. The CCG have now deployed 55 new laptops to facilitate remote working and will continue to deploy new stocks when they are received. “Away from my desk” has been escalated nationally as the pace of deployment is unacceptable. VDI (which is a similar, but arguably better product e.g. it allows prescribing which AFMD doesn’t) is being piloted at 3 EMIS sites in Derbyshire and is being looked at for further roll out next week.
- District Nursing Update. DCHS District Nursing is under major strain, especially in Derby City and they are concerned about imminent increases in EOL patients at home. Some practices have offered staff with spare sessions/capacity but it has been difficult to coordinate. DCHS have now developed a central process: Please email: dchst.peopleresourceteam@nhs.net to register your interest in being redeployed at DCHS to support the Covid-19 response in Derbyshire. Please include the following details, along with any queries:
- Name
- Contact telephone number and address
- Job title
- Registration no.
- Current Employer (to be temporarily seconded from)
- Location (North Derbyshire, South Derbyshire or more specific)
- Availability (Days, evenings, weekends, full time or part time)
- Confirmation you have a valid DBS.
LOCAL ACTIONS/GUIDANCE FOR THE NEXT 24 hours
Look after your wellbeing and get some downtime with your loved ones.
KEY MESSAGES FOR THE PUBLIC
In addition to the stay at home message (huge thank you to Derbyshire Police), the media campaign will now encourage people to start having difficult conversations with loved ones about the possible consequences of COVID-19, including putting their affairs into order.
AND FINALLY
I’ve updated the FAQs following the Webinar on Wednesday, see attached. Claire has already sent out the details for the next one on 1st April.
Quiz questions 1. Which organization was founded on 1st April? 2. How does the snow plough driver get to work?