Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 16 April 2020 (Issue 21)
16 April 2020
Attachments
Sent on behalf of the COVID-19 Incident Management Team for Coventry and Rugby, South Warwickshire and Warwickshire North CCGs
Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 16 April 2020
**Please find below the latest daily 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
Today’s topics – use the links to jump to each section
**Latest local picture**
**Local updates**
**Latest updates for each PLACE (Coventry and Rugby, South Warwickshire, Warwickshire North)**
Latest national picture
Communications from NHS England
Actions for Primary Care
Today’s attachments
• Brief COVID 19 and DV West Midlands Final.docx (item 2)
• covid19_advice_for_parents_when_child_unwell_or_injured_poster.pdf (item 5)
• Eye Emergencies Poster GP.pdf (item 6)
• Eye Emergencies Poster Internal.pdf (item 6)
• Coventry and Warwickshire changes to local hospital services due to Covid-19 v04 16th April 2020.pdf (item 7)
LATEST LOCAL PICTURE
Please remember: we are issuing daily (Monday to Friday) 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 16.04.2020
• 1,081 cases now confirmed in Coventry and Warwickshire (+33 / +3.1% from yesterday)
• 281 of these are currently admitted (-7 / -2.4% from yesterday)
• 781 beds still available (+40 / +5.4% from yesterday)
• 30 ITU beds occupied by Covid patients (+1 / +3.4% from yesterday)
• 207 reported deaths in a hospital setting (+10 / +5.1% from yesterday)
CareHome cumulative position up to 16.04.2020
• 415 Care Home residents affected (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday)
• 93 confirmed cases (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday, note this number will always be lower than residents affected as once a care home has 2 cases confirmed testing stops and residents with symptoms are assumed positive and reported in the number of residents affected)
• 32 Covid related deaths (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday, note some of these deaths may have occurred outside of the home and so may be counted in the figure above)
• 52 Care Home deaths in total (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday)
LATEST LOCAL UPDATE
1. Staff Testing for Primary Care
To avoid cluttering up your in boxes we have now developed a simple online process to apply for staff testing.
Please go to the following website www.cwcovid.support where you will find a Staff Testing section.
Please read the eligibility criteria and instructions carefully and then complete the questions as instructed.
Please note this DOES not automatically mean you will get an appointment. You will receive an email/text later in the afternoon if your application has been accepted.
Please note if you do get tested your results will be sent by text to you within four working days.
If you have any questions please contact sowaccg.cwcovidstaffreq@nhs.net.
The following criteria must be applied before returning to work
We are still awaiting confirmation of testing for under 18s and the opening of the Ricoh site. This will be communicated as soon as confirmation is received.
2. Domestic Violence and Abuse Professional Briefing in Response to COVID-19
The attached briefing has been prepared in response to the potential increase in domestic abuse incidents as a result of the lockdown caused by COVID19. It is aimed at professionals working to prevent and support people experiencing domestic abuse. (Attachment: Brief COVID 19 and DV West Midlands Final.docx)
3. Care Companion resources to support individuals with a caring role during the COVID-19 pandemic
As someone involved in providing support to informal carers, you will understand the pressures on those who are looking after loved ones, neighbours or friends, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, these are being heightened by a reduction in support services available in the community, together with greater feelings of isolation and loneliness due to social distancing and self-isolation.
Many people are finding themselves with new caring responsibilities for vulnerable friends and family, and are in need of information and support that is relevant and tailored to their needs.
Care Companion’s resources are designed to help carers cope with these pressures, tailored to the individual needs of the person they are caring for.
4. Reminder of current services within Imaging Dept at UHCW
Please only refer into the UHCW Imaging Department urgent and emergency cases via:
uhc-tr.radiology.referrals@nhs.net
There is no direct access/walk in X-ray Service, all patients must be referred via email.
All imaging referrals are being triaged by the Consultant radiologists, and if urgent are being booked into the next available appointment.
5. Advice for parents when a child is unwell
Whilst coronavirus is infectious to children it is rarely serious. If your child is unwell it is likely to be a non-coronavirus illness, rather than coronavirus itself. The attached document is a patient poster which summarises the advice for parents.
Patients should always be advised to go to A&E in an emergency. (Attachment: covid19_advice_for_parents_when_child_unwell_or_injured_poster.pdf)
6. Eye Casualty UHCW
The PDF Eye Emergencies Poster GP attached gives guidance for referring clinicians, and highlights that in addition to telephone triage, the department are now utilising consultant connect for photo advice and guidance for eye conditions. (Attachment: Eye Emergencies Poster GP.pdf)
The PDF Eye Emergencies Poster internal can be printed and given to patients with eye emergencies to contact the triage team at UHCW. (Attachment: Eye Emergencies Poster Internal.pdf)
Please do not advise patients to attend eye casualty without having spoken to, and accepted by, our clinical triage team.
7. Changes to local hospital services due to Covid-19 *updated*
Current version: v04, Correct as of 16th April 2020. Please disregard previous versions.
Your local NHS is working hard to tackle the ongoing COVID-19 situation. However, in order to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our population, our staff and our NHS, and ensure we have enough staff where they’re needed most, we have had to make some difficult decisions about our non-urgent services, including cancelling appointments or temporarily closing services.
Please note: all providers are committed to contacting patients affected by these temporary service changes and you do not need to contact the hospital booking officers unless it is urgent.
8. Safety netting templates – reissued with blocked zip file
The COVID-19 pandemic means that GPs and patients may decide that a test or referral is not warranted at this time and would benefit from a delay until the worst of the pandemic has passed. This safety netting template is an excellent way to keep track of those patients. It is accompanied by an easy search which can be run at intervals to find those patients who can then be reviewed and a decision made about when to refer/investigate at a date chosen by the clinician and the patient together.
If you do decide to still make a test request or referral, please put as much clinical detail as possible in each referral to enable clinicians at the acute trusts to triage these if required. As you know the 2ww pathway is still very much active and should be used when required. However, if a patient cannot be referred on this or another pathway for any reason such as patient choice, this template can be used to keep track of them.
Download documents (via WeTransfer) which are useful templates to manage these delayed treatments safely in EMIS (the link will be removed on 23 April 2020).
LATEST UPDATES FOR EACH PLACE
UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby and Warwickshire North – 16 April 2020
No updates this issue.
UPDATES FOR South Warwickshire – 16 April 2020
No updates this issue.
UPDATES FOR Warwickshire North – 16 April 2020
9. Mary Ann Evans Hospice
Services provided on site at Mary Ann continue to be paused to comply with social distancing, shielding cohorts and enhancing our home services offer. However, we are maintaining telephone contacts with existing patients across all services including our Family Support and Bereavement clients. We also continue to accept new bereavement referrals via our nhs.net email for telephone assessment and support – geh.maryannclinical@nhs.net
• Rapid Response at night service – for the coming weeks in conjunction with our partners SWFT we have been able to ensure there are two teams of staff available for most nights each week – this is of course staff health dependent. We continue to cover Rugby at night too whilst SWFT assemble a substantive team for this area.
• Rapid Response – day service – continues to be available now for all of Warwickshire North CCG GP’s – the team can verify expected deaths, provide EOLC symptom control interventions, and has access to a INP to change directives or write new prescriptions where necessary.
• Hospice at Home services hours are extended to work flexibly up to 8pm in the evening where necessary and with our increased team has capacity to care for many more people at home with EOLC needs including those being discharged from acute settings whom are either imminently dying or meet the CHC Fast track 6 week criteria.
LATEST NATIONAL PICTURE
• As of 9am on 15 April 2020, 398,916 people have been tested in the UK and 98,476 were confirmed as positive. As of 5pm on 14 April 2020, of those hospitalised in the UK, 12,868 have died. (Please note: the figures for test results and for deaths are compiled from different sources. This is why the figures for deaths are reported from an earlier point in time than the figures for test results.)
• The most up to date government advice on coronavirus is available online.
• The Health Secretary spoke at a press conference on 15 April 2020 and included a coronavirus action plan for adult social care. The briefing is available to view online.
• The press conference slides and datasets used by Professor Angela McLean, Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser, in the daily coronavirus press conference on 15 April 2020 can be accessed online.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM NHS ENGLAND
10. NHS England Primary Care Bulletin – new edition – 15 April
COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin (15 April) and includes total triage and remote consultation and the dedicated page set up on their website on how health and social care services can access PPE. This regular COVID-19 Primary Care Bulletin is from Dr Nikki Kanani and Ed Waller and you are encouraged to sign up here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/email-bulletins/general-practice-bulletin/.
11. Primary care webinar
The next primary care webinar, with Dr Nikki Kanani and Ed Waller, is tonight, between 5pm and 6pm (via Microsoft Teams), the link to access is here. Do note that webinars will now take place weekly. The session will be an opportunity for you to ask your questions. Tonight, Nikki and Ed will be joined by Professor Mike Holmes, Vice Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and Heather Simpson, Primary Care Networks Programme Lead who will share the work they are doing on the wellbeing support offer for staff across Primary Care.
12. 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.
ACTIONS FOR PRIMARY CARE
Join tonight’s primary care webinar starting at 5pm, details above.
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Please note: This is the designated inbox for all Primary Care enquiries for practices across Coventry and Warwickshire, set up to help support practices and provide a single point of contact to send and receive information about the rapidly developing COVID-19 situation. Please be aware that guidance is changing regularly and we are endeavouring to keep you as up to date as possible.
Please note: the CCG has made the decision to use every email distribution list at its disposal in order to ensure as many people as possible receive these important updates. If you no longer wish to receive these updates, please reply to this email and we will remove you from the distribution list.
The inbox is monitored regularly, and we will respond to you as soon as we can.
In the meantime, the latest guidance for primary care can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care/
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