Below are this week’s key messages from the national NHS Estates Team. Please email any questions or comments you have on any of these items to [email protected] or follow the links where provided.
COVID-19: National Vaccination Programme
The national Vaccination Programme continues at pace and it is really important for estates and facilities teams at the front line to get vaccinated when invited to do so. Estates and facilities teams work hard to ensure that patients remain safe. We must not lose sight of the need to ensure that our people all remain safe.
There is a wealth of material which is centrally available in relation to the vaccination programme. We have also developed a pack which is available now for use by estates and facilities teams to encourage staff vaccination take-up. A pdf version of this pack is accessible to members from the Knowledge Base section of this website, under Guidance Documents. You must be logged in as a member. Click here to be redirected. The PowerPoint version will be circulated directly to members with the digital version of this newsletter.
NHS England and NHS Improvement – Estates Team Questionnaire
This remains open until Friday, February 19. We have kept the survey as short as possible and it can be completed in a matter of minutes. It is really important for us to obtain as much feedback as possible from the estates and facilities community. We will share the outcome and action plan on the Collaboration Hub in due course. The questionnaire can be accessed at the following link:
The NHS Estates and Facilities team thank you in advance for taking the time to help us shape how we best support the profession going forward.
NHS England and NHS Improvement Online Estates and Facilities Forum
This is scheduled for March 16 and good progress is being made with the arrangements which we will be launching soon. We can confirm that the agenda for the day will include Prerana Issar, NHS England and NHS Improvement Chief People Officer, at 10:30am and Edward Argar, Minister of State for Health, at 11:30am. Please hold the date and look out for registration arrangements for the individual sessions.
Operational Pressures
These remain as previously reported and are outlined below.
Waste Management
The standard operating procedure for waste management was updated and published by NHS England and NHS Improvement on January 18, 2021. This document has been updated to reflect the National Vaccination Programme which is now well underway.
The document can be accessed from the following link:
The key message in this area is to ensure that all waste is appropriately segregated. Further messaging on this issue was shared via the NHS England and NHS Improvement Health and Care Leaders Update bulletin on 27 January 2021.
NHS Trusts need to complete the daily waste management survey (Monday – Friday). This is critical to us as it enables the national NHS Estates Team to provide system wide assurances to both the DHSC and Civil Contingencies Secretariat. The informational also enables the team to help and support much earlier in the process as appropriate. Any queries about the daily waste management survey should be sent to [email protected]
Oxygen
We need to ensure that the key messages recently shared previously on the Collaboration Hub regarding the management of oxygen services continue to be enacted by estates teams locally. This will help to manage the current pressures and as ever the members of the National Oxygen Team will be on hand to advise and support as necessary.
Our thanks to the profession for your help and support in this area, as we are now seeing an improvement in the situation.
Scrubs
Support is still needed to ensure that scrubs are not being hoarded and are returned to the laundry system in a timely manner. It is also important to ensure that scrubs are not disposed of either and that they are returned for laundering. This situation has become more challenging over the past week. We are now seeing genuine issues and problems in the laundry system. Any help and support which estates and facilities teams can provide here will be greatly appreciated.
NHS England and NHS Improvement National Estates Team: Collaboration Hub
The Collaboration Hub is a protected space for local NHS estates teams to access key information as well as to collaborate and to share ideas and successes. Access to the Collaboration Hub for individuals from local NHS estates teams can be arranged by e-mailing [email protected]
Thank You
Our thanks to all of those working in estates and facilities for all that you do in maintaining the NHS estate, facilitating patient care as well as supporting the response to the current pandemic. The service could not function without you.
