25 May 2021

We would like to reassure you that all Covid-19 reporting procedures and workplace guidance will remain the same for all North West Boroughs staff who transfer to Mersey Care.

The below information should be a reminder of the Covid-19 procedures currently in place and will continue until further notice.

Covid-19 reporting

All ward staff should send daily ward sit-reps to the Incident Management Team (IMT) by 8.30am each morning. Please continue to send these to nwbh.emergency@nwbh.nhs.uk.

All teams are required to complete the daily Covid-19 staff sit-rep webform.

If a member of your team tests positive for Covid-19, you must continue to inform Occupational Health by emailing occ.health@nwbh.nhs.uk, the Incident Management Team, who can be reached on 01925 664466 or by emailing nwbh.emergency@nwbh.nhs.uk, and Infection Prevention Control (IPC), who can be reached on 0151 244 3335 or by emailing InfectionPreventionandControlTeam@nwbh.nhs.uk.

Workplace guidance

If you are working on an existing North West Boroughs site from 1 June:

  • You must wear a surgical face mask in all areas unless you are sitting at your desk in a non-clinical office with maintained social distancing.
  • Workplace assessments should be carried out and refreshed for all areas and maximum occupancy should be displayed in all communal areas.
  • All patient-facing staff should be using lateral flow tests twice a week. This is vital to continue to keep our staff and patients safe. In addition, we are now able to offer test kits to non-patient-facing staff who are returning to work. For more information, please see the lateral flow FAQs.

Inpatient swabbing and isolation

All inpatients should be swabbed for Covid-19 on admission, day 3 and day 5-7 after admission, and every seven days thereafter.  

All new admissions must remain in isolation until two negative swab results have been obtained from admission and day 3 swabs.

If a patient tests positive, they should be encouraged to isolate for 10 days, or if symptoms persist for longer than 10 days until they have been fever-free for 48 hours. For more detail, please refer to the standard operating procedure for testing on inpatient wards.