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Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 7 May 2020
May 07, 2020
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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 – 7 May 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
1. COVID-19 – UPDATED WORKFORCE TESTING GUIDANCE FOR PRIMARY CARE AND CCG STAFF
Dear colleagues,
You may have become aware that COVID-19 testing for NHS and care workers is now more widely available.
There are now two options:
1. Booked locally via www.cwcovid.support – this is locally administered system that provides next day appointments at the Ricoh Arena ONLY.
2. Via the national site https://self-referral.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/ - whereby you are able to book an appointments slot at any drive through or ‘pop up’ centre in England or apply for a home testing kit.
For each the above, please be prepared to provide the following information (you may not be required to supply all of these):
1. Your full name – and those of your household if you wish them to be tested too
2. Your mobile number
3. Your car registration
4. Your email address
5. Your employers name
6. Your national insurance number
It is most important to note that all testing is strictly by appointment only.
Which members of the workforce can get a test?
All primary care and CCG staff who are symptomatic* (please note we are waiting for an announcement this week about testing being expanded to those who are asymptomatic).
*symptomatic is having developed a fever and/or a new and persistent cough in the last 3 to 5 days
What about family members?
Anyone symptomatic and over the age of 5 who is living in a family with primary care and /or CCG staff.
What process do I follow?
For a guaranteed local test (RICOH ONLY) – booked via your employer:
1. If booking a local test please go to www.cwcovid.support and then to the Staff Testing page. If you meet the criteria please complete and submit the form by 1pm each day. (If you find the above link does not work, as we appear to have a couple of teething problems, please try this link.
2. You will then receive a text message to your mobile which gives you a link to then book your appointment time for the next working day. You will then receive a text message to your mobile which gives you a link to then book your appointment time for the next working day. It is advisable to book your slot the same evening you receive your text
3. Your results will be sent to you by text within 72 hours.
Please note you should be fever free for at least 48 hours before returning to work
Using the national self-referral process:
1. Book a test online by visiting https://self-referral.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/
2. You will be asked to choose between being sent a home test kit OR attending a drive through test centre.
3. The drive through option is ‘first-come-first-served’ and you may be required to attend a testing centre outside your area.
4. If you opt for a home testing kit this will be supplied by Amazon. You must register for collection by the Royal Mail BEFORE undertaking the your own swab testing.
Please note availability for both home testing kits and drive through appointments are limited and whilst capacity is increasing so too is the amount of people eligible for self-testing.
How is the test carried out
The test takes just a few seconds and involves taking a swab of the nose and the back of the throat. For children aged between 5 and 12 years old swabbing will need to be undertaken by a family member.
Results
You will be automatically notified of your test result within 72 hours.
Help
For the local booking service at the Ricoh, please raise any questions/queries via sowaccg.cwcovvidstaffreq@nhs.net.
For technical support in accessing the national self-referral online booking service call 0300 303 2713. Please note you CANNOT book an appointment via this number.
2. Information for GP practices on antibody tests
Antibody tests are not yet validated or approved for use and GP practices are advised against purchasing tests that are not PE validated.
Antibody tests offer the hope that people who think they have had the disease will know they are immune. So far, the antibody tests that have gone through the validation process have not proven accurate enough to be rolled out for public use, which is why the government is backing efforts to develop a homegrown test. These antibody tests are brand new. They are still being developed and there is not yet one that has been proven to work as we would require. No government in the world has yet rolled out a full COVID-19 antibody testing programme.
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
• Item 3: Updated NHSD guidance: NHS 111 CCAS-GP: Direct_booking_in_primary_care_using_NHS_111_or_CCAS_via_GP_connect.pdf
• Item 5: Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week updates from Dr Lucy Blunt: Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week - Dr Lucy Blunt.docx; Pregnancy and breastfeeding advice- Antidepressant medication.pdf
• Item 8: Caring for your dying relative at home with COVID-19 guidance: COVID19 Practical tips for care at home for Carers -short guide SWCCG v1.2.docx
• Item 9: Documents relating to the Warwickshire North Hot Hub Referral Process Reminder: Hot hub 1 referral and consulting report.xlsx; Pathway for WN Practices 7.4.2020.pdf; FAQ Working Doc 23 04 20.xlsx
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 07.05.2020
• 1,975 cases now confirmed in Coventry and Warwickshire (+25 / +1.3% from yesterday)
• 138 of these are currently admitted (-4 / -2.8% from yesterday)
• 662 beds still available (+6 / +0.9% from yesterday)
• 8 ITU beds occupied by Covid patients (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday)
• 408 reported deaths in a hospital setting (+2 / +0.5% from yesterday)
Care Home position as at 07.05.2020
This information is based on data recorded since Mid-March 2020
• 169 Covid related deaths in care homes (+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)
454 Care home deaths in total (+3 / +0.7% from yesterday)
465 confirmed cases (+0 / +0.0% from yesterday)
Confirmed care home cases broken down by CCG:
o Coventry & Rugby: 203
o South Warwickshire: 170
o Warwickshire North: 92
LATEST LOCAL UPDATE
3. Updated NHSD guidance: NHS 111 CCAS-GP bookings
The recommendation is now to have a single, national prioritisation list for NHS 111 and CCAS to book patients.
GP Practices are asked to configure their system as per the guidance attached to allow NHS 111 and CCAS to transfer patients into their care either through:
• A single NHS 111 CCAS prioritisation list - preferred solution
• Additional slots in routine appointment lists
To note the guidance includes commentary for VISION practices unable to link to GP Connect.
As before NHS 111/CCAS referrals need to be regularly reviewed by the GP Practice and appropriate action taken.
This guidance supersedes the previous EMIS v8 guidance. Relevant updates will be made to the next version of the General Practice SOP.
(Attachment: Direct_booking_in_primary_care_using_NHS_111_or_CCAS_via_GP_connect.pdf)
4. EMIS update: Guidance on shielding and protecting patients defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable from COVID-19 (Update Wednesday 6th May)
The NHS program to identify and flag patients most at-risk of complications from COVID-19 (those who should be shielding) is continuing, and EMIS has received an additional list of patients identified centrally by the NHS using national algorithms and hospital data.
Yesterday, (6th May) they performed a background process to add the approved code to these patient’s records, flagging them as within the high-risk category:
High risk category for developing complication from COVID-19 infection
Concept ID: 1300561000000107
Description ID: 2601331000000112
Further information and full text update is available on the EMIS now website.
5. Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week – an update from Dr Lucy Blunt
Dr Blunt discusses the week and an FAQ leaflet for patients that she has created for those who are concerned about taking medication for mental illness during the perinatal period. The update and the leaflet are attached.
(Attachment: Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week - Dr Lucy Blunt.docx; Pregnancy and breastfeeding advice- Antidepressant medication.pdf)
6. Primary care wellbeing survey
NHS England is looking to understand the current wellbeing of the primary care workforce, and invites you to take part in a short survey undertaken by the Institute for Employment Studies to support this and to support the wider evaluation of the #lookingafteryoutoo primary care coaching offer. The survey will take no longer that five minutes to complete and will contribute to their ongoing response to support your wellbeing.
7. Equality and Diversity Network
We’d like to invite you to a national webinar taking place on Tuesday 12th May 2pm-4pm on Teams entitled COVID-19 & BME: A conversation with the experts.
The webinar will focus on the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 outbreak continues to have amongst BME staff, patients and communities. Join the webinar here.
LATEST UPDATES FOR EACH PLACE
UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby – 7 May 2020
No updates this issue.
UPDATES FOR South Warwickshire – 7 May 2020
8. Caring for your dying relative at home with COVID-19
Guidance has been produced by South Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group, designed to support those relatives or carers, when they are looking after their loved one at home. The information has been adapted from an original by Hospice UK and is attached.
(Attached: COVID19 Practical tips for care at home for Carers -short guide SWCCG v1.2.docx)
UPDATES FOR Warwickshire North – 7 May 2020
9. Warwickshire North Hot Hub – revised opening times
Please note the revised opening time for the Warwickshire North Hot Hub currently operating at Galley Common. The Hot hub booking telephone number is: 07585927901, please use this as the only method for referring.
Opening Times:
Monday to Friday (GP Surgery staff)
Hub open from 12:30
Session:
13:00- 17:00 – 25mins appointments (14 appointments, 7 per clinician staggered)
17.45 -18.30 - Cleaning
18.30 – 21.30 - Monday to Friday (extended hours)
• Please do not send referral etc. until an appointment has been allocated
• Please send referral excel (attached) not PDF – the GP needs to be able to write into the original referral
• Please ensure patient is given the correct instructions for arrival at the hub, i.e. wait in the car and ring
• Please ensure patient is given the phone number to ring on arrival
• Please make sure the person making the appointment has all the relevant information, ringing without clinical information is not acceptable
(Attachments: Hot hub 1 referral and consulting report.xlsx; Pathway for WN Practices 7.4.2020.pdf; FAQ Working Doc 23 04 20.xlsx)
LATEST NATIONAL PICTURE
• As reported at 5.30pm on 6 May 2020, 1,448,010 people have been tested in the UK and 201,101 were confirmed as positive. The number of COVID-19 associated deaths in the UK is 30,076. (Please note: there is now an improved daily reporting system for deaths, so that deaths in all settings are included, wherever the individual has tested positive for COVID-19, rather than just those in hospitals. On the old measure there would have been 25,148.)
• The transcript for the coronavirus press conference on 6 May 2020 delivered by Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary on the government’s response to COVID-19 and the work being done locally. is available to read online. The press conference can also be viewed on YouTube.
• The press conference slides and datasets used by Professor Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director for Public Health England are available to read.
• A dedicated app for social care has been launched, details are here.
• The latest government advice on coronavirus is available online.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM NHS ENGLAND
10. NHS England Primary Care Bulletin – new edition – 7 May
COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin (7 May) and in this issue there an update on shielding patients for primary care and direct booking into primary care from NHS 111 and CCAS via GP Connect. 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 is on tonight, 7 May between 5pm and 6.30pm with a focus on an extended question and answer session. Please do send in any questions you have in advance using this online form. You can also use this form to submit examples of good practice so that they can share learning with others The link to join, via Microsoft Teams, is here.
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
Review the revised staff testing information which is the main topic of this briefing.
Do join tonight’s primary care webinar, 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/
