Staff briefing roundup

Welcome – Rob Gerlis

General update – Peter Wightman

• • All three districts (Harlow, Uttlesford and Epping) are showing a reduction in rates
  • There are critical care transfers out of the area
  • Care homes – residents and staff positive cases increasing
  • Vaccination programme – positive position, national news to vaccine over 70s, over 80s still priority and focusing on these before moving on to over 70s
  • Harlow Leisurezone vaccination centre – issues around equipment being delivered, all being well it will go-live next week
  • PAH staff vaccination – well on their way to vaccinating their own staff
  • Annual leave – we encourage you to take time off to refresh and recover
  • You can carry over 10 days into the next financial year and in extreme circumstances 15 days
  • Covid statistics to come
  • Naomi Money – we encourage you all to allocate 25/50 minute meetings rather than the full 30/60 minute meetings to allow people to have a break in between other meetings

Dr Jane Halpin – Vaccination programme continued

• Delivery rates across Herts and west Essex best in east of England
• Community pharmacy sites going live this week
• A logistically challenging national programme being delivered locally
• Hospital hubs predominately encouraged to vaccinate their own staff and providers
• There is less clarity about what frontline healthcare workers are
• What we are trying to do is support the hospital hubs to vaccinate
• The cohorts we have been offering vaccines to have universally accepted it, the did not attend (DNA) rates have been negligible
• However, as we work down the cohorts to the lower ages, we should expect this acceptance won’t be at the same scale and DNA rates are to increase
• There is a lot of vaccine scepticism and rumours
• We want everyone who works in the CCG to be an advocate for the vaccine
• We need to be part of a really strong communication strategy, not just within the NHS but when we speak to our friends and family about it
• If you do have reservations about it and feel you are not able to champion it, please speak to us so we can give you the right information/support to ease any worries
• Vaccine and fertility rumours – no vaccine ever that can affect fertility, this is just an urban myth and completely inaccurate
• Vaccinations for volunteers at the vaccination centres
• Will they be considered as a priority group – by taking part in the programme they have effectively made themselves patient-facing, not particularly high risk by doing so but this should not be a reason to volunteer
• Clare Cowdery – We have sent comms to clinical directors if they have spare vaccine to vaccinate volunteers

Agnes Annan – HR

• Redeployment – if you have any capacity to do so, please speak to your line manager and ask them to contact me

Local update – Ian Tompkins

• PAH email clarification – if you have booked an appointment already, please cancel it.
• You will be contacted directly as and when bookings become available
• New starter – we would like to welcome Iolanda Cuomo who started this week as Cancer Campaign Manager. She will be working on early diagnosis and screening
• Reminder about risk assessments – review this with your line manager as soon as possible. If you’re a line manager, you have until Friday 12 February to submit your team’s risk assessment forms to HR