COVID-19

Use this contingency checklist to review your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) or to support you to build your own.

The steps taken in Care Homes to protect residents and staff from infection represent an important element in the quality of care, particularly as some infections have the capacity to spread within environments where susceptible people share eating spaces and living accommodation. It is also important to be aware of the possibility of infection in residents and for care workers to identify these promptly.

There is currently no strong evidence that ibuprofen can make Coronavirus (COVID-19) worse.

Information on Healthcare advice for employers and support for businesses.

• Preventing the spread of infection
• Actions on returning from China and specified countries and areas
• Symptoms and what to do
• Feeling unwell while away from home
• Cleaning shared spaces

• What to do if an employee becomes unwell and believes they have been exposed to COVID-19
• Closure of office / workplace or Residential setting and other actions if staff, members of the public or residents are undergoing COVID-19 testing and they have been in the office, workplace or Residential setting
• What to do if someone with confirmed COVID-19 has recently been in the office, workplace or Residential setting
• What to do if someone has had contact with an individual who has been confirmed with COVID-19

The advice in this document can be applied to any non-healthcare setting such as workplaces, offices, waiting rooms, hotel rooms, student accommodation, and boarding schools where a possible or confirmed COVID-19 case has spent time while symptomatic.

This revised guidance outlines infection prevention and control advice for inpatient management for Healthcare providers caring for possible and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in secondary care. It should be used in conjunction with local policies. It supersedes previous guidance and reflects a developing understanding of COVID-19. This guidance does not apply to primary care or COVID-19 assessment areas.

This guidance will assist schools and other educational settings in providing advice for students, staff, parents and/or carers regarding:

• The novel Coronavirus, COVID-19
• How to help prevent spread of all respiratory infections including COVID-19
• What to do if someone confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 has been in a school or other educational setting
• What advice to give to individuals who have travelled from specified countries or areas within the last 14 days, including school trips

Measures to prevent infections in Care Homes are vital. Managers and staff in Care Homes will find this guide very useful as a reminder of the most important methods of preventing infection.

The ethical framework guidance CQC had contributed to partly in response to the arrival of the Coronavirus bill last week and one of those key aspects being the Care Act Easements.

The framework, which providers may find helpful to refer to, recognises increasing pressures and expected demand that it might become necessary to make challenging decisions on how to redirect resources where they are most needed and to prioritise individual care needs.

This framework intends to serve as a guide for these types of decisions and reinforce that consideration of any potential harm that might be suffered, how the needs of all individuals are always central to decision-making, and how to record and assess those decisions.

Please also review the updated letter to providers from Kate Terroni sent on 16 March 2020.

This information is intended to help voluntary sector organisations decide what steps their organisation may need to take regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Advice for employers to consider some simple steps to help protect the health and safety of staff.

Statutory Sick Pay will be made available from day one when self-isolating, instead of day four.