Protected: For Care Home Use

21/01/2021

As part of a new scheme, the surgery will now be calling your care home on Saturday and Sunday mornings until further notice. The aim of this is to be able to deal with routine queries that would otherwise result in a call to 111, and to reduce the demands on the emergency services during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The GP on call will be calling from their home, and will not be providing a visiting service. If patients are acutely unwell and require a 999 call, this should still take place as usual. Ideally, most issues can be dealt with during the morning call but, if needed, the GP on call can be contacted by calling the surgery mobile 07831 758650.

The hours covered are currently 8am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday and, if these hours change, we will let you know.

We hope that this service will help provide extra support to our care homes, and more efficiency care to our patients.

Best wishes

Dr Peter Davies

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07/01/2020

COVID-19 Vaccination Update

Dear All,

I hope this finds you well.

Many of you have been asking about the COVID-19 vaccine and up until now, I have not been able to give you any information as we have not had anything concrete to provide you.

The senior members of Arun Integrated Care (AIC) Primary Care Network (PCN) have been working hard behind the scenes to implement a vaccination program that we can deliver safely and effectively.

I can at last announce some information about the vaccinations and the preparation work we will require from you and your homes in order to undertake this mammoth task.

Who will be eligible for the vaccine?

• Every resident within your home
• Every member of staff who has not yet been vaccinated

What vaccine will be administered?

• We will primarily be administering the AstraZeneca vaccine also known as the Oxford vaccine.

When will the vaccines be administered?

• We are hoping for a delivery of the vaccination the latter part of next with a view to administering to all of our care home residents and staff by the end of January 2021. The logistics of this are still being discussed and may include attendance at any homes on a weekend day.

Who will be administering the vaccine?

• The visiting team will need to consist of a GP and at least 1 other member of staff, most likely a clinical member of staff.

Does a resident/staff member need to provide documented consent and how is this obtained?

• Yes. There are 3 types of consent form for care home residents. Only 1 needs to be completed per resident but it is important to complete the correct one for each resident.
• Staff members will need to complete frontline social care workers form.
• These forms are accessible on our website.

What consent form does my resident need to complete/need completing for them?

• “Able to consent” – this form is for any resident who has capacity around the COVID-19 vaccine and can physically sign the form.
• “Unable to consent – Attorney” – this form is for any resident who does not have capacity around the COVID-19 vaccine for which the medical decision falls with their appointed power of attorney for health and welfare.
• “Unable to consent – Family view” – this form is for any resident who does not have capacity around the COVID-19 vaccine whom does not have an appointed attorney for health and welfare.

What consent form does my member of staff need to complete?

• “Consent for Frontline Social Care Worker” – this form is for any staff.

Resources

The consent forms on our website as accessible by scrolling midway down this page.

List of consent forms and letters from government website for care home residents:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-consent-forms-and-letters-for-care-home-residents

List of consent forms and letters

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-consent-form-and-letter-for-social-care-staff

What do you need to be doing before the vaccinations happen?

• I would be grateful if you and your teams are able to start the process of completing these forms, either with the residents or with their respective POA’s, relatives, next of kin’s.
• Please keep hold of the completed forms.

Should you require any further information, please get in touch. I will update you all further as I have more news.

Best wishes and stay safe.

James

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01/11/2020

Online registration is now available for permanent residents. This now removes the needs for paper forms. This is a three step process which feels long winded and repetitive but is a direct replacement for the previous forms.

Temporary residents should continue to be registered via the traditional forms. An online version will follow, hopefully in the coming weeks.

As this is a new feature, please report any issues in the following ways:

• For general use issues around questions, format or features you wish to be added, please contact me directly.
• For any issues regarding the actual use of the website and issues with access, please call the surgery for advice.

I hope you like the new process of registering residents in this way. There will be many more new ways to report specific resident issues to us in the coming weeks so watch this space.

Thank you

James Schmidt Paramedic Practitioner

The number to call is 01903 788130

• This number will only be active between 0800 -1300 on Saturdays and Sundays
• Your call will be diverted to the clinician providing the out-of-hours cover
• Please do not call the surgery mobile at these times, as this may not be monitored