Coventry & Warwickshire COVID-19 Portal

Sent on behalf of the COVID-19 Primary Care Incident Management Team for Coventry and Rugby, South Warwickshire and Warwickshire North CCGs

**Please find below the latest primary care coronavirus briefing.**

Information provided by NHS Coventry and Rugby CCG, NHS South Warwickshire CCG and NHS Warwickshire North CCG in line with Public Health England guidance.

This information may change rapidly as the situation develops. For the latest information for primary care, visit:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care

 

In today's briefing we include the latest news stories falling into the following categories:

• Latest Local Picture

• Local Updates

• Latest National Picture

• Communications from NHS England

• Actions For Primary Care

Please click on the relevant section to view specific information

Please remember: we are issuing the briefing twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) communications via: warnoccg.covid19primarycarecommunications@nhs.net. We would also ask that if you have questions or concerns relating to the current situation around coronavirus and COVID-19 you use the same address: warnoccg.covid19primarycarecommunications@nhs.net. Please keep us updated with any issues that you may be having so we can try to address them.

Coventry and Warwickshire COVID position up to 10.06.2020

2,339 cases now confirmed in Coventry and Warwickshire (+10 / +0.4% from Monday)

72 of these are currently admitted (+10 / +16.1% from Monday)

505 beds still available (-87 / -14.7% from Monday)

0 ITU beds occupied by Covid patients (-1 / -100.0% from Monday)

488 reported deaths in a hospital setting (+3 / +0.6% from Monday)

CareHome current position as at 10.06.2020

251 Covid related deaths in care homes (+0 / +0.0% from Monday, note some of these deaths may have occurred outside of the home and so may be counted in the figure above)

610 Care home deaths in total (+0 / +0.0% from Monday)

768 confirmed cases (+0 / +0.0% from Monday)

Confirmed care home cases broken down by CCG:

Coventry & Rugby: 410

South Warwickshire: 239

Warwickshire North: 119

1. Minimising nosocomial infections in the NHS

A letter has been issued by NHS England and Improvement on this read it here

If a member of staff develops symptoms of COVID-19 they should follow the stay at home guidance, and get tested as soon as possible. Go to www.cwcovid.support to book your test. If the result is negative, the advice from Public Health England states that they “can return to work when they are medically fit to do so, following discussion with their line manager and appropriate local risk assessment. Interpret negative results with caution together with clinical assessment.”

If they test positive, they can return to work after seven days, unless they still have symptoms other than a cough or loss of sense of smell/taste, in which case they must continue to self-isolate until they feel better. Where a member of NHS staff tests positive for coronavirus, the starting point is that the Test and Trace self-isolation rules apply as anywhere else, and close contacts must self isolate if the NHS test and trace service advises them to do so.

Please note that close contact excludes circumstances where PPE is being worn in accordance with current guidance on infection, prevention and control. In other circumstances, i.e. where a member of staff has come into contact outside work with someone who has subsequently tested positive for coronavirus, NHS staff are subject to the same test and trace protocols as all other members of the public. If a healthcare professional or another member of your team is contacted by the Test and Trace service and advised to self-isolate for 14 days, they must do so.

We are awaiting up to the minute guidance on the issue of face masks/coverings for staff and patients in primary care and will update this information on the website immediately we have and share through the primary care bulletin too.

You can download the letter from NHS England and Improvement here. 

2. Updated guidance and standard operating procedures

This revised guidance applies to general practices operating under contract to the NHS in England, including those providers who operate outside core GP contract hours. Healthcare professionals are asked to use their clinical judgement when applying this guidance in what they appreciate is a highly challenging, rapidly changing environment.

You can download the guidance and standard operating procedure here.

 

3. Antibody testing for GP practice staff

Tests which determine if someone has had COVID-19 (coronavirus) are due to be rolled out across Coventry and Warwickshire imminently, for all practice clinical staff including locums.

 

We hope to have the booking process finalised in the next two days and will send a separate communication as soon as this is available. Once established you will need to ensure you have a copy of your consent form, your NHS number and your mobile number (so the results can be sent back to you by text) before ordering the test.

The antibody test tells the person if they have had the virus or not, but not about any level of protection or immunity from getting the virus again. It is important to remember that anyone having this test should still adhere to the infection control guidance as directed by public health experts including appropriate use of PPE, hand washing and social distancing.

4. Shielding patients

Since the start of the pandemic, you and your teams have devoted a great deal of time and effort identifying and advising patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID19, ensuring they are put on the Shielded Patient List (SPL), and most importantly of all, changing how the NHS provides care for this group of over 2 million people who were strongly advised to stay at home. The end date for shielding is currently 30 June 2020, however this is subject to change. We will keep you updated by way of this bulletin.

5. Post-CCT GP Fellowship Scheme

Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership are offering fellowships in their Visionary, Transformation & Trailblazer programmes. More information is available on the flyer - download here.

Please could all trainers pass details on to their ST3s and any other newly qualified GPs that you know.

6. Important update regarding the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (DPP)

Due to the impact of COVID-19, many individuals who have previously been categorised with Non-Diabetic Hyperglycaemia following a blood test and are therefore eligible for the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, may not have access to a repeat blood test maintaining their eligibility (i.e. their last recorded blood test may now be 12 months + ago); for example because they are shielding, or because primary care are currently focusing on COVID-19 response.

 

In addition, many individuals with an eligible blood-reading have had their referral into the programme delayed due to COVID-19, and now have a blood test result more than 12 months old. This makes them technically ineligible for the service.

 

To ensure that individuals in these circumstances are not disadvantaged due to the impact of COVID-19, the requirement for a confirmatory blood test indicating NDH to be within 12 months will be temporarily increased to 24 months. This change will apply until 1st April 2021, at which point we plan to revert to 12 month eligibility.

 

Please direct any queries to england.cvdnetwork1@nhs.net

7. NHS Diabetes Advice Helpline - FAQs

NHS Diabetes Advice is provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement in response to disruption to normal services due to the COVID-19 pandemic and response. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be found here.

 

8. Diabetes Week Quiz

To mark National Diabetes Week which runs from 14 June to 20 June, the Community Diabetes Team from South Warwickshire Foundation Trust have put together a fun quiz - download it here. 

9. Counter fraud newsletter

The latest counter fraud newsletter is now available for download, click here.

10. Changes to local NHS services due to COVID-19 in Birmingham

Download the briefing from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust & NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group.

UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby – 11 June 2020

11. Lunchtime webinar: Treatment and support for non-dependent and dependent drinkers in Coventry on 3 July 2020 from 1pm to 1.30pm

The session will aid front line staff supporting adults in Coventry. It will be in the form of a 30 minute lunchtime webinar briefing to outline treatment options and harm reduction advice covering the spectrum of alcohol misuse. The webinar will be presented by Karen Wagstaff from HLS Coventry and Steve Bliss from CGL Coventry and will be followed by a Q&A session. The briefing will include an overview of the spectrum of alcohol use and assessing the level of alcohol use. Access is via Microsoft Teams.

Please note that the education sessions taking place in the other localities are open to all.

UPDATES FOR South Warwickshire – 11 June 2020

Please note that the education sessions taking place in the other localities are open to all.

UPDATES FOR Warwickshire North – 11 June 2020

12. COVID-19 Updates and Hot Topics

Date: Tuesday 16th June 2020

Time: 1.00 -2.00pm

Location: Microsoft Teams- joining details below:

 Join Microsoft Teams Meeting 

 

The session is open to all Clinicians as well as Practice Managers and any other staff, the agenda is to follow.

The programme is still being developed and we will advise you of future plans as soon as they are confirmed, the following session being planned is for Tuesday 23rd June 2020 , 1:00 – 2:00– Using Technology during the COVID-19 pandemic

If you are unable to join the session at the scheduled time , it will be recorded and available to view on the Care for Your Career website- https://careforyourcareer.co.uk/organisations/warwickshire-north-ccg/ . We are also planning on posting future programming on this website for reference purposes

Please note that the education sessions taking place in the other localities are open to all.

As of 9am on 10 June, there have been 6,042,622 tests, with 170,379 tests on 9 June.

290,143 people have tested positive.

As of 5pm on 9 June, of those tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, across all settings, 41,128 have died.

Latest advice is here.

Coronavirus press conference 10 June  

Slides and datasets to accompany coronavirus press conference 10 June

Coronavirus (COVID-19): getting tested.

Number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and risk in the UK.

Regional breakdown of R number now published.

Latest local figures published by GOV.uk and PHE are as of Wednesday 10 June 2020 at 4:40pm, there are a total of 16,557 cases in the West Midlands.

13. COVID-19 General Practice Webinar Recordings and slides

An archive of the national primary care webinars and slides are available online from the Future NHS site:

https://future.nhs.uk/P_C_N/view?objectID=19549104 (a login is required)

14. Media enquiries

Our communications team is here to support you if needed. If you are approached by the media, please forward on to your local communications team: agem.communications@nhs.net. Outside of working hours the communications team can be reached via 01522 537887.   

15. Please review the changes in the minimising nosocomial infections in the NHS letter.

 

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