EAT Service COVID-19 Statement - 19th March 2020
23rd March 2020
MOST RECENT UPDATE: 24/03/2020
PLEASE NOTE TEMPORARY PHONE NUMBER DURING COVID-19 SITUATION:
07583 065 468
The EAT Service is aware that many users of the service may have concerns regarding the recent COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak and we are aware that many people who use our service will have long term health conditions. Please see below for information on how the service is running during these times.
Assessments, Equipment Installations and Repairs
As of 24/03/2020 members of the team are likely to be redeployed in order to support other priority services within Lincolnshire Community Health Services. This is a directive from NHS England about how Community Services should deploy staff during this period.
This means that we are having to scale back our service significantly. While staff are redeployed we will be prioritising:
- Repairs of existing devices
- Assessments / Installations for priority cases
Priority in this case is the NHS England Guidance in the service specification and local guidance, which is:
- People with rapidly deteriorating conditions and
- People at risk of developing a significant psychological / challenging behaviour due to their communication needs
- People whose equipment will contribute to a faster or safer discharge from hospital
- People whose equipment will prevent an admission to hospital
This means that we may not be able to complete your assessment as quickly as we would like. We apologise for this and hope that you understand that in these difficult times, redeploying staff to protect life is the priority.
We are conscious that people may not want their visits to go ahead - please contact us to let us know. Please also be aware that we will be contacting all appointments beforehand and asking about signs or symptoms of COVID-19. During home visits staff members will need to wash their hands and may stay a required distance from people during the appointment.
For repairs and installations, we may attempt to do these remotely, using video facilities and potentially posting out equipment.
PPM Visits
On the 16th March - with a number of schools no longer receiving visitors and the likelihood of self-isolation for those over 70 we have now ceased booking routine PPM visits.
The lack of annual maintenance will, in the vast majority of cases, present very little or no risk to the user of the device - however if you have any issues with the equipment which has missed a maintenance visit, please contact us straight away. We will attempt to offer support remotely where possible.
If we receive updated guidance we may change the activities the service carries out and will attempt to complete as many appointments as possible remotely using our remote support tools.
Contacting the Office
At the current time more staff from the EAT service are having to work from home. Although we have tools in place to achieve this, combined with the closure of schools, some staff are having to work as well as looking after children. Please bear with us if we take slightly longer to get back to you during this time or if your call is interrupted by the caller’s children.
We are following advice provided by the Department of Health and Social Care in this instance: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
If you have concerns that you might have COVID-19 / Coronavirus please inform us prior to your appointment and follow the advice from NHS 111 - https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19
If you have any concerns regarding your appointment, please contact eats.lincoln@nhs.net
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