COVID-19 – Coronavirus – stay safe!
Updated April 15th 2020
Key messages
Updates in Gloucestershire
- Around 66,000 items of PPE received over the weekend which are being distributed to settings across the county today. This is in addition to the 400,000 pieces received and distributed last week. Special schools and Trading Standards have also received supplies.
- GCC are compiling a list of priority workers for testing at a drive-through facility in the county.
- Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service will assist district councils and community groups with delivering food over the thresholds of people’s houses, where they are unable to do so.
- County continues to benefit from coordinated response to covid-19 pandemic
Adult Social Care
From Monday 6 April the Adult Social Care teams will be operating seven days a week from 8 am to 8 pm.
The number of locality offices that staff are working from will be reduced as will the number of staff that will be working in the office. Staff will now work from two hubs, one in Shire Hall, Gloucester and the other in Redwood House, Stroud.
These hubs will have a small group of key staff working to triage referrals and decision making and will have additional support from other colleagues are working at home to undertake visits if necessary and telephone contact.
There are no changes to the referral route, all referrals should continue to me made via the Adult Help Desk 01452 426868.
National updates
Chancellor provides over £14 billion for our NHS and vital public services since the beginning of the crisis, including:
- £6.6 billion of support to our health services
- £1.6 billion for local authorities
- £0.9 billion to cover extra measures such as food packages
- £3.5 billion to ensure vital rail services continue
Coronavirus: personal protective equipment (PPE) plan – Cross-government UK-wide plan to ensure that critical PPE is delivered to those on the frontline responding to coronavirus.
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Your questions answered
Parish and town councils and community groups are being asked to support huge numbers of vulnerable residents, are there supplies of PPE for community volunteers?
The council’s public health team has issued new internal guidance on the use of PPE which follows the Government guidance released last week:
When should PPE be worn?
Employees should wear PPE in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic where there is the risk of exposure to someone with symptoms of COVID-19, and the likelihood of transmission because of the care or procedures they are having to carry out.
PPE is not required when risk is managed through social distancing (e.g. maintaining a distance of 2 metres) or by excluding possible or confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the setting (e.g. in schools). This includes most community and care settings where infection prevention and control good practice should apply, including cleaning of surfaces and rigorous handwashing.
PPE is required when it is necessary to provide care within 2 metres in a setting or within a household where someone is a possible or confirmed case of COVID-19 or when someone is shielding due to their own extreme vulnerability.
For community settings, including the voluntary sector, who may be involved in providing support for people who are shielding because they are extremely vulnerable (e.g. shopping or dropping off medication), following the principles of social distancing and guidance on effective handwashing is sufficient.
Local guidance for volunteers can be found here
The government has also issued advice on how to help others safely here
Daily stats (updated 14th April)
Total UK Tests – 367,667
Total UK Cases – 88,621
Total UK Deaths – 11,329
Total Confirmed Cases in South West – 3,392
Total Confirmed Cases in Gloucestershire – 644
Total Deaths in Gloucestershire – 71
The testing data reflects nationally published data https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/#local-authorities
Key links
Latest advice and developments from Gloucestershire NHS
Gloucestershire’s Community Help Hub
Make an adult social care referral
Our ‘Looking after your wellbeing‘ webpages are being updated regularly to support people to look after their physical and mental health