A message from Dr Kathy Ryan
BrisDoc Medical Director
Friday 13th, March 2020
Dear Colleagues,
This is a strange time. We are all, across the nation, and especially the NHS, preoccupied with coronavirus (Covid 19). Very many thanks to all our staff for continuing your work, providing good patient care and generally keeping the show on the road as this unfolds. As Medical Director, I am deeply appreciative of your commitment, when I know we all have personal lives and concerns too.
To ensure that we provide consistent and reliable advice to our staff, we are monitoring and following the national guidance at: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
The government has published specific guidance for health professionals at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance
For IUC clinicians, we are regularly updating our clinical toolkit at: www.clinicaltoolkit.co.uk/knowledgebase/public-health-alert-wuhan-novel-coronavirus-wn-cov-infection/. The latest update for this weekend and onwards will be loaded this afternoon.
The information on Covid indicates that, as with seasonal flu, some people are at higher risk if they get it, ie. the elderly and those with underlying health conditions and/or immunosuppression. In order that we can best support all our staff, if you believe that you are at higher risk, please inform your line manager. I appreciate that there may be some sensitive information here; all information will be treated in strict confidence. I am keen that we understand the patterns of risk across our staff, so we can work out the best ways to protect all concerned through the weeks ahead. Can line managers please feed this information to the workforce team via workforcesupport@brisdoc.org?
It would also be helpful, for business continuity purposes, to understand who has caring responsibilities. This may in future be related to changes with schools or to a need to increase care for someone who becomes unwell. Again, please inform your line manager. As above, line managers please feed in to Workforce Support Team.
We will update information for staff as the guidance changes here on the Covid-19: Staff Information Hub.
This will be our key information hub and we will text staff when there are changes. We have a small number of individuals who have opted out of text messages. In view of the gravity of this situation, I have decided to remove all opt-outs. Once this situation is behind us, opt-outs can resume.
Meanwhile please continue with the standard measures of hand-washing and keeping tissues to hand. Updated guidance from 13.3.20 requires self-isolation for seven days for everyone who develops mild illness with cough and/ or temperature, but testing is not required. It is important that all of our colleagues follow this guidance. Recognising that many of those who are self-isolating will be well in themselves, we will be able to mobilise remote working for IUC clinicians in a timely way promptly and the shift managers/ rota team can discuss this with you.
One of the sources of anxiety in these unsettling times is that many of us worry about ‘getting it wrong’, whatever ‘it’ may be. Inevitably, some of what we do in these strange weeks might look less than ideal when the light of hindsight shines. Please know that everyone has my staunch support and that of all the senior leadership team. We are all doing our best to keep the show on the road and to continue to deliver good patient care.
Once again, my thanks and good wishes,
Dr Kathy Ryan – Medical Director