Please follow the national guidance from Public Health England on self-isolation. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are recent onset of a new continuous cough and/or high temperature. A sudden loss of taste or smell (anosmia) has now been identified as a further symptom. The period of self isolation following symptoms or a positive test has been increased from seven to 10 days.
If you need to self-isolate, please call First Care on 0333 3218052 or 0345 4565773. Please be clear with First Care that you are going to be absent because you have one or more of the Coronavirus symptoms. This period of self-isolation will be recorded separately from any usual period of sickness absence. It will not trigger our usual sickness absence monitoring. First Care is experiencing high call volumes so please expect a delay of up to 30 minutes when you call.
Please also call your line manager. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, you may feel able to work from home – though obviously the priority will be for you to rest and recover. Please discuss this with your line manager. If you inform First Care that you will continue to work from home, this will not be recorded as absent through sickness from work. Please be aware that this means you will not be automatically put forward for a COVID-19 test.
The booking process for testing for Trust colleagues or members of their household (or support bubble) who have COVID-19 symptoms changed on 22 June. This includes symptomatic children aged five and above.
Given the falling demand for COVID-19 tests, Derbyshire NHS trusts, including our own, will now use the national booking system. However, we will be given priority booking, along with members of our households or support bubbles, through a special website link. Ideally testing should take place in the first three days that people’s symptoms present; it is unlikely we will be able to offer a test after five days of symptoms.
The testing sites remain the same:
- Chesterfield – Proact Stadium (home of Chesterfield FC), 1866 Sheffield Road, Whittington Moor, Chesterfield S41 8NZ
- Derby – Toyota Factory, Burnaston, Derbyshire DE1 9TA (if using a satnav, use the postcode DE65 6DX and follow the signs for Toyota).
You must travel to the testing centre by car and, if you are unable to do this, you can order a home-testing kit.
After the test, you will need to register through an online portal to find out your test result. The DHU Healthcare staff at the testing centre will advise you on how to do this.
The booking process if you experience COVID-19 symptoms is now as follows:
- If you experience symptoms, please self-isolate and notify your line manager and First Care
- Book your test online at https://www.gov.uk/apply-coronavirus-test-essential-workers
- After you’ve had the test, please continue to self-isolate
- Follow the instructions given to you at the testing centre about registering online so that you can find out your test result
- Once you have had the result, please inform your line manager and First Care of the outcome (whether you have tested positive or negative), so they can discuss the next steps with you.
If you have any questions or feedback about this process, please email dhcft.stafftestcovid@nhs.net.
Please remember that the test is not a substitute for medical help, and it is important that if people have any concerns about their health while waiting for the results, they seek appropriate medical advice, starting by using the online 111 service.
If you are contacted by the national Test and Trace service because you have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, it is important that you self-isolate straight away for 14 days. The only exception is if the person who has tested positive for COVID-19 was a patient you were caring for, or a work colleague you were in close contact with, but you wore appropriate PPE at all times.
Close contacts are defined on the gov.uk website as:
- People you spend 15 minutes or more with at a distance of less than 2m – unless you are wearing correct PPE (see below)
- People you have direct contact or face-to-face conversations with at a distance of less than 1m – unless you are wearing correct PPE
- People with whom you have travelled in a car or other small vehicle.
You will be offered a test during the 14 days if you display symptoms of COVID-19. If the result is positive, the Test and Trace team will contact you – via text, email or phone call – to find out who you have come into close contact with and the places you have visited, so the tracing can continue.
FirstCare should be informed when a colleague is self-isolating due to a Test and Trace request, as it has developed a process to record this information. Please see the updated the FirstCare infographic which explains when you need to notify FirstCare and now makes reference to Test and Trace.
If a patient on one of our wards tests positive for COVID-19, colleagues on the ward will then need to support that patient to work with the Test and Trace service or the local public health team.
Please follow the guidance from Public Health England about social distancing as needed. Please also speak to your line manager.
The Trust has now launched a health risk assessment process, aimed primarily at colleagues who are clinically vulnerable, including those aged 70 or over, those who are pregnant and those who have a health condition such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease.
The health risk assessment form (only available when logged on to the Trust network or the remote access service) will be completed as part of a conversation between the individual and their line manager, with support then being available from Occupational Health to determine the next steps in terms of working arrangements.
A short guide has been produced which describes the process, including the role of your line manager.
The NHS in England is advising people who are considered to be ‘extremely clinically vulnerable’ to shield until 1 August. View the gov.uk website for more information.
If you are classed as at very high risk from (extremely vulnerable to) COVID-19, you will have been advised to to take extra steps to protect yourself. These extra steps were called shielding. If this applies to you, the Trust position was that colleagues in these groups were not expected to be in their usual workplace and were advised to work from home where possible.
Details of those in the shielding group and further guidance are available on the gov.uk website.
From 31 July, the government is advising that this group of people no longer need to shield, due to the falling rates of transmission of coronavirus in the community. All on the shielding list are now able and expected to return to work and school, where COVID-secure environments are available and in place.
If you are currently shielding, please continue to discuss with your line manager what your next steps will be. Please submit a health risk assessment form if you haven’t done so already, selecting ‘route 1’ on the form, so that it can be considered by Occupational Health and you can receive advice on how to stay safe and well. You need to be on the Trust network or using the remote access service to fill in the form.
If you live with someone who is shielding, the government guidance is that there is no longer a requirement for you to shield. We are getting in touch with colleagues who are in this group, to discuss individual circumstances and how you can be supported to return to work within a safe working environment. If this applies to you, please feel free to proactively contact your line manager to start that conversation.
We would encourage all colleagues in doubt as to whether they should continue to take anti-inflammatories to contact their GP for advice.
