Staff briefing roundup

Welcome – Rob Gerlis

The PM’s announcement gives us a clear four-stage plan to getting out of lockdown
This is dependent on infection rates and the impact on hospitals
Good news that schools will hopefully return on March 8

Stephen Fry: The CCG is working its way through the cohorts, from 1 to 9, with the clinically vulnerable now included
Cohort 5, the 65-69 group, is now making good progress
Cohort 6 has been a complicated group, including carers and vulnerable people
Figures on staff who have been vaccinated are due at the end of the week
Currently vaccinating 40,000 people a week as an ICS
We are expecting a lot of extra vaccines, possibly in the middle of March or in early April
A plan is in place to make sure this is all utilised
The second doses will begin in March
Everyone is reminded to fill in the staff survey about the vaccine offer if they have not already done so
Jane Halpin reported the figures to show staff take-up is not very high across the ICS but we will know more when the staff survey closes
Rob Gerlis – reported the ICS had agreed to pay the cost of early vaccination of people with learning disabilities after retrospective funding was refused

Challenges remain for the Trust
It was on OPEL 3 on Tuesday and flow continues to be a problem
COVID numbers continue to go down, which is in the right direction
Key work is being done around ambulance convey and referrals to relieve pressure
Peter Wightman :
The new hospital committee for PAH had its monthly meeting this week
Reported they were pleased with initial public meetings about the plans but would now like more systems involvement
There is a meeting on Wednesday with key people, PAH, and national representatives to look at where the Trust is with the scheme

The publication of the Government’s white paper has brought more clarity around the issue
It has a lot of information about ICS development
The white paper confirms the intention to transfer the function of CCG to ICS
This will be live from April 2022 – which is a “mammoth” task
But the transition will not be as complex before and should only affect staff in the change of name on payslip/ID
The paper re-states this is not about losing staff – everyone will transfer over and there is no planned reduction of staff at any point
It may however affect the number of CCG execs there are
More clarity is needed around place-based organisations – discussions are already taking place within the ICS about this
There is a whole range of other aspects more to do with the Department of Health intervening with disputes
The paper does not answer the question of whether boundaries will be imposed
Working towards making the transition as painless as possible

Diary invites were sent out for the bitesize mailbox archive training – one took place on Tuesday with another at 2 pm on Thursday. Designed to show you how best to use the new archiving system, it is only 30 minutes long.
Our Easter Quiz is on March 25 so please email the communications team to sign up
Please complete the staff vaccination survey, you should have received an e-mail
Let your line manager know if you have received a letter indicating you are part of the new clinically extremely vulnerable group and need to now shield
If you’ve had COVID and are struggling with recovery, you can find some help and guidance on the national website, Your COVID recovery. We will put some information in the staff newsletter this week, with a link to the website.
There is also a new Essex-wide helpline number for people who may have questions about COVID vaccinations. This will also be included in the staff newsletter this

The Here for You initiative is a staff mental health and wellbeing hub – one of 40 being set up across England
Ours launched 25 Jan – one of the first 18 schemes
It is aimed at all health, social care, and care-related staff, targeting at-risk groups and carrying out follow-ups to make sure they get what they need
Managers and leaders are being encouraged to have important conversations about well-being as part of the initiative
System-wide benefits include a benefits portal featuring discounts from local businesses, such as gyms and hairdressers, for healthcare staff
Includes occupation health support when needed, a 24-hour support line, IAPT assessment with a fast track to primary/secondary care, and 1 to 1 group sessions
Next month (March) the web-based platform launches
Feedback and ideas on what is needed and how to access those who need the service is being encouraged
The service has already received 100 calls since launching at the end of January and numbers will be monitored as the scheme is launched on a larger scale in the coming weeks
Also keen to hear from any managers, in particular males, willing to talk about how they have coped in the past 12 months to make engagement videos.
Full information on how to access the service will be uploaded to AskHUE shortly
Anyone already receiving support will not have to start again – this new scheme will be taking over from there.