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

Coventry and Warwickshire COVID position up to 16.06.2020 

• 2,379 cases now confirmed in Coventry and Warwickshire (+40 / +1.7% from Wednesday)

• 68 of these are currently admitted (-4 / -5.6% from Wednesday)

• 534 beds still available (+29 / +5.7% from Wednesday)

• 0 ITU beds occupied by Covid patients (+0 / from Wednesday)

• 492 reported deaths in a hospital setting (+4 / +0.8% from Wednesday)

CareHome current position as at 16.06.2020 

• 252 Covid related deaths in care homes (+1 / +0.4% from Wednesday, 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 Wednesday)

• 778 confirmed cases (+10 / +1.3% from Wednesday) 

o Confirmed care home cases broken down by CCG:

o Coventry & Rugby: 419

o South Warwickshire: 239

o Warwickshire North: 120

Download the weekly charts.

1. Use of PPE for Staff and Patients in Primary Care - PHE guidance

You will be aware from national coverage that Public Health England (PHE) has published the government policy recommendations, based on evidence presented to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, for hospital settings including use of face coverings for all those visiting hospitals and face masks for staff when in non-clinical areas.

Currently in primary care settings there are two relevant pieces of advice that should be followed. 

• The advice published by Public Health England on the use of Personal Protective Equipment in primary care for staff

• Further Government advice on working safely in non-hospital settings

Please be assured that, when there is specific guidance related to primary care, it will be cascaded in due course.

2. Guidance for general practice ordering personal protective equipment

All GP practices can now register on the new online personal protective equipment (PPE) portal for ordering emergency PPE from a central inventory. This is to supplement (not replace) the orders that you make directly from the suppliers. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) developed the portal in partnership with eBay UK, NHS Supply Chain, the Army, Clipper and Royal Mail. Throughout May and June 2020, DHSC has been emailing GP practices, inviting them to register with the PPE portal. The emails should be coming from PPE Dedicated Supply Channel - ppe.dedicated.supply.channel@notifications.service.gov.uk. Please ensure that you are regularly checking your email accounts registered with the CQC/MHRA in order to ensure that the invite is received and actioned.

The portal can be accessed via: https://www.nhs-ppe.co.uk/customer/authentication

The PPE Portal has been tested with the sector and is now being scaled up nationally over the coming weeks. During this phase of the roll-out, GPs and small residential and domiciliary social care services will be invited to register on the portal.  

Current order limits mean GP practices can order one combined pack, containing 50 IIR masks, 200 aprons and 400 gloves (200 pairs), per week or up to this amount of separate items. These limits may change over time. Orders through the portal should arrive within 48 hours if placed before 1pm. Orders placed after 1pm will be subject to an additional 24-hours.

If providers have any queries, please contact our customer services on 0800 876 6802.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-significantly-boosts-uk-ppe-supply-with-more-than-100-new-deals

3. Antibody testing for GP practice staff

We are currently finalising the local process so we are able to offer antibody testing to all GP practice staff and locums in the very near future.

 

In the interim can we ask you to start preparing for this as we anticipate there will high levels of interest by staff for this test.

 

Preparations could include :- 

1. Starting to plan a rota for staff testing - including the local capacity you have to complete the phlebotomy for these tests

2. Ensuring you have adequate supplies of yellow topped bottles for these additional staff tests

3. Ensuring staff are aware of what their NHS number is as this will be needed when requesting a test

We are not changing any local phlebotomy arrangements but are aware that some practices have kindly agreed to take the bloods of their staff for this purpose and have ordered adequate supplies in readiness – so please check what is happening in your practice.

 

Please note bloods MUST be sent to the lab on the same day.

 

NHS number can be found in the following places easily:  

1. On your NHS registration card (if you have one)

2. On a prescription form/repeat prescription request from if you have one (on the right hand side of the scripts)

3. On any hospital correspondence

4. On the NHS App – which can be found in your smartphone App store – it's easy to register and gives access to a whole range of services  

We would like to remind everyone that an antibody test needs to be taken ideally 40 days after a staff member has had or suspects they have had Covid 19. It is ineffective if taken less than 14 days after confirmed/suspected Covid.  

 

There is NO clinical benefit in having the antibody test, it does not confirm 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.

Further information will follow in the next few days.

4. Primary Care Covid-19 Response Financial Arrangements: Frequently Asked Questions

Available to download are a number of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the financial arrangements for the Primary Care Covid 19 response that have been raised through local Primary Care teams. If your question is not listed , please send it through to your local team who will get back to you as soon as possible.

The FAQ document will be regularly updated based upon your queries.

5. NHS Crisis Support for Children and Young people 

The Rise Crisis & Home Treatment team (Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust) provide multi-disciplinary support to children and young people (under 18s) who present in mental health crisis.

They assess those who are:

• an immediate and significant risk to others due to their mental health

• being considered for admission to a mental health inpatient unit

• at risk of immediate and significant self-harm

• in acute psychological or emotional distress that is causing

• them to not be able to go about their daily activities, such as going to school and looking after themselves

For urgent calls, for children and young people who are experiencing a mental health crisis contact the Rise Crisis team between 8am-8pm 02476 641799 or call 0300 200 0011 outside of these hours.

During the COVID-19 response, this is service is available 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, with an advice-only service outside the core hours of 8am-8pm. Download further information

6. New support package to help manage patients with long-term conditions

UCLPartners has launched a new package of digital resources and practical support to help primary care teams to continue providing proactive care to patients with long-term conditions during and post COVID-19. The support on offer can help stratify care for patients according to level of risk, using new models of care that are virtual by default, mobilise the wider workforce, draw on digital innovation and support patient self-management. The support package focuses on the management of asthma and COPD, with resources for the management of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease being added soon. Dr Matt Kearney, GP and Programme Director for Primary Care Innovation at UCLPartners, explains more about the support package in a new blog.

7. Cervical screening week 2020

This takes place this week, with increased public awareness you may find patients contact you about the screening programme.

8. Patient discharge leaflets

Two NHS patient discharge leaflets have been produced, specifically for those patients with COVID-19. The first focuses on discharge from A&E, the second on discharge from a hospital stay.

9. AccuRx User guides

Some great resources from AccuRx which include how to make video calls from a mobile, how to make a video call from a desktop, their support website. These are excellent resources for optimising use of Accurx. 

10. Talk Cancer live online workshop: Thursday 25th June 10:30am-12:30pm

This cancer awareness workshop is suitable for anyone wanting to improve their skills and confidence to have conversations about making healthy changes to reduce cancer risk, as well as helping people understand of the importance of early detection and screening. Full details are online.

11. GP Training

Please download the summer term programme schedule from UHCW.

UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby – 16 June 2020

12. 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 – 16 June 2020 

13. SWFT diabetes hotline

SWFT Diabetes Service hotline access for worried patients with diabetes is available on 07775 012696, 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm. Additionally Diabetes UK offer a helpline for adults on insulin requiring immediate advice on 0345 123 2399 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm.

UPDATES FOR Warwickshire North – 16 June 2020

No updates in this issue

• As of 9am on 15 June, there have been 6,866,481 tests, with 93,163 tests on 14 June.

• 296,857 people have tested positive.

• As of 5pm on 14 June, of those who tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, across all settings, 41,736 have died.

• Latest advice is here

• Coronavirus press conference: 15 June 2020

• Slides and datasets to accompany coronavirus press conference: 15 June 2020

• Coronavirus (COVID-19): getting tested

• Support for the bereaved

• PPE portal: how to order emergency personal protective equipment

• NHS test and trace: workplace guidance

• 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 Monday 15 June 2020 at 4:32pm, there are a total of 16,742 cases in the West Midlands

14. NHS England Primary Care Bulletin – 14 June

COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin (14 June) and in this shorter edition includes setting out the latest guidance on the use of face masks. In primary care settings there are two relevant pieces of advice that should be followed. 

• The advice published by Public Health England on the use of Personal Protective Equipment in primary care for staff

• Further Government advice on working safely in non-hospital settings

15. NHS England Primary Care Bulletin – new edition – 11 June

COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin (12 June) and in this edition includes details of supporting remote monitoring using pulse oximetry. 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/. 

16. COVID-19 General Practice Webinar Recordings and slides

An archive of the national primary care webinars and slides are available online from the NHS Future NHS site: https://future.nhs.uk/P_C_N/view?objectID=19549104 (a login is required).

17. 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.