Coventry & Warwickshire COVID-19 Portal

Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 24 March 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 guid- ance.

This information may change rapidly as the situation develops. For the latest infor- mation for primary care, visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care (the page was last updated on: 20 March, 2020 10:55 am)

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, War- wickshire North)**

Latest national picture

Communications from NHS England – including PPE update

Actions for Primary Care

LATEST LOCAL PICTURE

Remember COVID-19 communications in Coventry and Warwickshire is being is- sued from a single email address: warnoccg.covid19primarycarecommunica- tions@nhs.net. By doing so we will help you to get the right information in a con- sistent way. Please add the email address to your safe list.

Local cases (as of 23 March)

• In the Local Authority of Coventry, there are a total of 19 confirmed cases.

• In the Local Authority of Warwickshire, there are a total of 35 confirmed cases.

LATEST LOCAL UPDATE

Vulnerable Patients – The Role of General Practice during COVID19

The Government and NHS are writing to ask for your help with the management and shielding of patients who are at the highest risk of severe morbidity and mortality from coronavirus (COVID-19). This group have clinical conditions which are likely to put people at the highest risk of mortality and severe morbidity from COVID-19. The attached information includes a joint letter from Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director NHS England and NHS Improvement and Professor Chris Whitty

 

Chief Medical Officer for England, an annex on caring for people at the highest risk, a patient letter, and guidance from the BMA.

UHCW Imaging Department

With immediate effect direct access will stop at UHCW for the walk-in GP Service for general X-rays for Chest, abdomen and bony extremities etc. We would appreciate if you could support us by communicating this to patients of your practice.

All referrals must be sent to the department via our NHS.net account: uhc-tr.Radiol- ogy.Referrals@nhs.net. Further information is attached.

Pathology and Phlebotomy Services - impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

As with all services – please advise patients not to attend clinics if they have symp- toms of Coronavirus or are self-isolating due to someone in their household having symptoms.

The service is anticipating significant reductions in staff over the coming weeks due to sickness and self-isolation for vulnerable groups, in addition the service is looking at how best to minimise contact in clinics. For these reasons the service is planning some changes which are outlined in the Pathology Phlebotomy attachment.

Palliative care booklets and ebooks available to download

The West Midlands Palliative Care Physicians have issued FREE copies of the West Midlands Palliative Care Physicians Guidelines during COVID-19. There are e- books available and the link on the website can also be accessed by smartphone http://www.wmcares.org.uk/wmpcp/guide/

Victim Support Warwickshire

Victim Support service in Warwickshire continues to remain open and delivering ser- vices across the county. Given the current circumstances and national guidance from the Government, the type of service being provided has needed to be amended; they are currently unable to offer any face to face support to our service users, as we would usually.

The local team continue to be available on warwickshire.vs@victimsupport.org.uk and you can contact Deborah Miller (Senior Operations Manager) on 07951 194779 or Ben Donagh (CYP Team Manager) on 07931 864113. The national SupportLine (08 08 16 89 111) also remains open 24/7 and they continue to welcome referrals for any CYP affected by crime or trauma who requires support.

LATEST UPDATES FOR EACH PLACE

UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby – 24 March 2020

No place specific update

UPDATES FOR South Warwickshire – 24 March 2020

 

eConsult Total Triage Model for GP Practices

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, eConsult has put together a step by step guide for introducing total triage which is attached for you to share with those in your practices.

Also attached is NHSE guidance for the rapid implementation of ‘total triage’ models along with a blueprint for this from Devon Digital Accelerator (DDA). The DDA pack is included in NHSE document with a link but they wanted to provide recipients with an easy access document to help with dissemination.

eConsult has seen a large increase in some CCGs with the volume of eConsults go- ing up in response to dealing with Covid-19. In other CCGs they have seen little or no change in volume of eConsults. At this time they are keen to get all GP practices using eConsult as the default option for patients to access help and advice.

Attachments

1. eConsult Total Triage Model

2. NHS Remote Total Triage Blueprint

UPDATES FOR Warwickshire North – 23 March 2020

No place specific update

LATEST NATIONAL PICTURE

• As of 9am on 23 March 2020, 83,945 people have been tested in the UK, of which 77,295 were confirmed negative and 6,650 were confirmed as posi- tive. As of 9am on 23 March 2020, 335 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. (Numbers are updated around 2.30pm each day by Public Health).

• The latest government advise on coronavirus has been updated on 23 March 2020.

• The Prime Minister’s speech from 23 March is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coro- navirus-23-march-2020.

• The public are being advised to stay home and only go outside for food, health reasons or essential work

COMMUNICATIONS FROM NHS ENGLAND

PPE availability and delivery

You will have seen the letter and guidance that has been sent out on PPE availabil- ity.

 

• Over the last three days alone more than 200 organisations, including all NHS hospitals, received fresh supplies of facemasks and other PPE as did ambu- lance trusts and other NHS organisations.

• From this week the army will offer personnel to help manage and offload sup- plies in busy NHS settings, helping to distribute and deliver urgent PPE sup- plies to the frontline during the epidemic.

• NHS Supply Chain has created a page which tells people what is being deliv- ered each day, its daily manifests will tell you when vitally important PPE stock and non-PPE products you have ordered will be arriving.

• The delivery schedule will be uploaded by 11 pm for the following three days and will be added today.

• To ensure the security of this vital stock NHS Supply Chain has put the mani- fests behind a website log in.

• The supply distribution helpline can answer PPE calls and emails 24/7 on 0800 915 9964 / 0191 283 6543 or email: supplydisruption- service@nhsbsa.nhs.uk.

NHS England Primary Care Bulletin

COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin.

PHE campaign resources

Please be advised that Public Health England’s Campaign Resources Centre has Coronavirus material in alternatives formats including:

• Easy read poster/flyer of the standard poster (print ready/web accessible)

• Large print poster/flyer of the standard poster (print ready/web accessible)

• British sign language versions of the social media animations

• Audio versions

All are available to download using the following link: https://campaignre- sources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101/resources/5080 Campaign resources now available on hand washing and home isolation.

ACTIONS FOR PRIMARY CARE

Review the information relating to Vulnerable Patients – The Role of General Prac- tice during COVID19 in this briefing.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

If you are approached by the media and do not want to handle it yourself, please for- ward on to your local communications team: agem.communications@nhs.net. Out- side of working hours the communications team can be reached via 01522 537887.

 

ACTIONS TO TAKE

• Monitoring the latest updates from Public Health England and GOV.UK

• Ensure your practice websites are updated with the latest advice

• Ensure you promote the key public messages

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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 up- dates. 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.eng- land.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care/