Staff briefing roundup

Here’s a summary of what was covered in today’s staff briefing…

Rob Gerlis

ICS structure – Executive recruitment

First round of structure and placements have been made
Peter Wightman has been appointed as the Managing Director for West Essex CCG
Jane Kinniburgh has been appointed as the joint Director of Nursing for the ICS
Alan Pond has been appointed as the joint Director of Finance
Over the upcoming weeks Jane Halpin will be looking into the structure
There are now six directors currently in post
Farewell wishes to Andrew Geldard, this is his last staff briefing but he will be attending the AGM on 30 July

Total number of COVID 19 cases – 273
Total number of HTU/ ITU beds occupied with COVID-19 patients – 24
New cases identified – 15, 8 of these were new admissions to hospitals
COVID-19 pressure on hospitals across east of England is calming significantly
No COVID-19 related deaths at PAH for 34 days yesterday
Waiting on likely impact as a result of relaxing social distancing measures
Still no clarity on whether we’ll see a resurge due to the easing of social distancing and lockdown measures
Questions on the impact of COVID-19 in winter is still unclear and whether this will make it worse

We are working on our version of Leicester response – watching the situation carefully and will learn from this

Test and Trace

Test and trace still remains at the heart of the strategy to deal with COVID-19 and will continue to do so
Leading the Essex Resilience Forum
Good coverage on mobile testing units across west Essex
Epping is the only location across the county that doesn’t have testing units – working to get this up and running next week

Antibody testing

Test will show whether you have positive, negative antibodies
No clinical reasoning for the test, its simply providing evidence on any antibodies we may or may not have
Brand new booking and data system in place. There have been minor technical issues that will be rectified
Frontline staff will be tested first – EPUT community mental health staff and GP practices
Number of GP practices across Essex will be testing stations for their own staff
For CCG staff, testing is set to start the week beginning 13 July at Epping
EPUT will be providing phlebotomy services
Looking to accommodate approx. 100 tests per day
Comms information (how to book etc.) will be out on Thursday latest
Individual risk assessments are mandatory and must to be completed by 7 July – results will be agreed between you and your line manager
Signage and sanitisers are starting to come into the building
Key part is decluttering of offices
We will be putting stickers on items that need to go
We will be inviting staff in to declutter and will tie visits in with antibody testing dates
Offices will look quite different if and when we do return

Annual leave

You can carry 10 days over into next year but we encourage you to use annual leave as you would normally. Kam Kaur (our HR Business Partner) will check the guidance on carrying over days.

CCG tour

Rob and Andrew starred in a new video that will explain the changes around the building and the new rules. First cut of this should be ready next week with the premiere to be announced!