Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 21 April 2020 (Issue 24)

21 April 2020
Attachments
Sent on behalf of the COVID-19 Primary Care Incident Management Team for Coventry and Rugby, South Warwickshire and Warwickshire North CCGs
 
Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 21 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
• Charts for Daily Comms.pdf (local update)
• shielded pts guide nhs e 20 april 20.pptx (item 2)
• Large cylinders user guide FEB20 v1 (1).pdf (item 5)
• 22 April Acute Illness flyer.doc (item 4)
• EMIS update 20 April 2020 (item 3)
 
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 21.04.2020
• 1,357 cases now confirmed in Coventry and Warwickshire (+59 / +4.5% from yesterday)
• 217 of these are currently admitted (-11 / -4.8% from yesterday)
• 744 beds still available (-65 / -8.0% from yesterday)
• 23 ITU beds occupied by Covid patients (+1 / +4.5% from yesterday)
• 274 reported deaths in a hospital setting (+2 / +0.7% from yesterday)

Care Home cumulative position up to 21.04.2020
• 524 Care Home residents affected (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday)
• 167 confirmed cases (+30 / +21.9% 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)
o Confirmed care home cases broken down by area (not CCG):
o Coventry: 34
o South Warwickshire: 70
o North Warwickshire and Rugby: 63
• 72 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)
• 132 Care Home deaths in total (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday)

Three charts have also been included which we will update on a weekly basis which show confirmed cases, acute beds occupied by COVID-19 patients and daily deaths in hospitals across the city and county. (Attachment: Charts for Daily Comms.pdf)

LATEST LOCAL UPDATE
1. Temporary removal of routine D4 medical for renewal of HGV licences

The government has announced a temporary relaxation of the requirement for bus and lorry drivers to provide a doctor’s medical report in order to renew their licence. Under the scheme, drivers will be able to receive a temporary 1-year licence, providing they do not have any medical conditions that affect their driving and their current licence expires in 2020. This will help to reduce workload for doctors whilst ensuring that drivers can still have licences renewed.

Drivers with health issues will still need to declare these, and those with health issues that prevent them from driving safely will not have their licence renewed. This temporary change will only apply to those drivers whose licences are due to expire or have expired since 1 January 2020 and not for those making their first application for a Group 2 bus or lorry licence.

2. Shielded patients guide 

We know that General Practice is dealing with queries from patients who require support over and above the care and treatment they are receiving for their medical condition.

Included in the attached slide deck is information, provided by the Government and the NHS, to support you in answering queries from patients in both the shielded and non-shielded groups who may require additional support during the COVID-19 outbreak. (Attachment: shielded pts guide nhs e 20 april 20.pptx)

3. COVID-19 Self-referring shielding patients for EMIS practices only

As you may be aware, as part of the ongoing efforts to identify patients who may be at highest clinical risk of severe illness from a coronavirus or COVID-19 infection, the government allowed patients who felt they may fall into this category to self-identify via a website.

EMIS has now received the details of those patients at your practice that have registered in this manner, and they will be importing that list into your EMIS Web system tonight, 20th April. Further detail are attached: (Attachment: EMIS update 20 April 2020.docx).

4. Acute Illness during Covid-19 Pandemic

During the session (Wednesday 22 April 2020, 13:00 – 14:00) Mr Rob Simpson, Clinical Director (UHCW), will update on the latest guidance and changes made by A+E during this pandemic. Dr Sarah Griffiths, consultant paediatrician, will give a paediatrician’s perspective and remind us of the latest guidance for children. The CCG is also invited to conclude the meeting. This meeting is brought to you by ZOOM. Please log in using the following link: https://zoom.us/j/95941418271 Meeting ID: 95941418271. If you have any queries, please contact via e mail: gpteachingadmin@uhcw.nhs.uk (Attachment: 22 April Acute Illness flyer.doc)

LATEST UPDATES FOR EACH PLACE
UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby and Warwickshire North – 20 April 2020 
5. Hot Hubs at WNCCG & CRCCG 
If hot hubs in CRCCG & WNCCG have ordered oxygen from Baywater attached is an easy to use guide for using the products. (Attachment: Large cylinders user guide FEB20 v1 (1).pdf)
UPDATES FOR South Warwickshire – 20 April 2020 
No updates this issue.
LATEST NATIONAL PICTURE 
 
• As of 9am on 20 April 2020, 501,379 people have been tested in the UK and 124,743 were confirmed as positive. As of 5pm on 19 April 2020, of those hospitalised in the UK, 16,509 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 latest government advice on coronavirus is available online.
• The Chancellor Rishi Sunak spoke at a press conference with Professor Angela McLean, Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser and Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director at Public Health England on 20 April. The transcript is available to view online and the briefing can viewed on YouTube.
• The press conference slides and datasets used by Professor Angela McLean, Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser on 20 April are available to read.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM NHS ENGLAND
6. NHS England Primary Care Bulletin – new edition – 20 April
COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin (20 April) and includes Shielding patients - guidance for GPs and temporary removal of routine D4 medical for renewal of HGV licences. 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/.

7. GP Preparedness webinar

The next primary care webinar, with Dr Nikki Kanani and Ed Waller, is on 23 April from 5pm and 6pm (via Microsoft Teams), the link to access is here.
 
8. 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
Review the updated guide around the shielding of patients.
Note details of this week’s webinar.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
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/