Coronavirus Guidance

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Guidance for Visitors (Ward) | Guidance for Visitors (General) | Secure Certificate | Hospice Response | Community Services | Wellbeing

To keep everyone as safe as possible, all staff and volunteers:

• Carry out coronavirus testing regularly
• Continue to practice social distancing on site
• Continue to wear face coverings in communal areas and on the ward
• Continue to practice good hand hygiene

Rest assured we are doing everything we can to keep our patients, families, staff and volunteers safe.

Inpatient ward – guidance for visitors
New guidance with effect from 9TH September 2021

• Visiting is between 12pm and 8pm.
• Every visitor needs a Lateral Flow Test before visiting, on each occasion, and you will need to allow at least ¾ hour prior to your visit for this process. An appointment for a test immediately prior to your visit will need to be booked with the inpatient ward team for each day.
• Visitors are expected to report to the reception prior to their allocated Lateral Flow Test and will then be directed to the Oak centre where a Hospice colleague will guide you to complete your own test (these will be provided).
• If the test result is positive you will not be permitted to visit. You will then be guided through completing a second swab (PCR – Polymerase Chain Reaction) which you will post yourself and will give a full laboratory analysis to confirm your result. You will be requested to return home immediately and follow the government guidelines to self-isolate for ten days. A period of 14 days must elapse before you can recommence visiting and you must at this stage be no longer experiencing acute symptoms (e.g. a high temperature, severe muscle aches, headaches), however, note that a cough and lack of taste of smell or taste may persist for a number of weeks/months).
• Only four visitors per patient are permitted at any one time (patient’s children don’t count in the numbers if they are aged 18 or under).
• If the patient is deemed to be in the end of life stage of care and in the last hours or short days of life, a member of the nursing team will advise you of this and at that point visiting hours may be extended at the discretion of the nurse in charge.
• You will be expected to wear full PPE, gloves, aprons and a mask, which will be provided.
• During visiting you will be asked to remain at the patient’s bedside. Please liaise with the nursing team regarding the availability of refreshments.

Reception is currently open for enquires and donations etc:

Monday to Friday: 9am – 6pm
Saturday and Sunday: 1.30-4.30pm

If you have any queries please speak to the Nurse in Charge or contact the Hospice on telephone number: 01524 382538.

Thank you for your understanding

General guidance for Hospice visitors
New guidance with effect from 01/09/2021

Please note this new guidance does not affect current guidance for visiting the Inpatient Ward.

Anyone entering the Hospice building is asked to:

• Please wear a face covering (unless medically exempt)
• Do not enter if you have Covid-19 symptoms
• Be willing to take an LFD test
• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and use hand sanitiser regularly
• Respect other people’s space to ensure comfort and safety

COVID-19 Secure certificate

NHS QR Code Privacy Notice

St John’s Hospice displays the NHS QR code poster and this information may be shared with local authorities and health protections teams.  You can view the government privacy notice at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-qr-code-venue-posters-privacy-notice

HOSPICE RESPONSE Update

We want to assure our loyal community that St John’s is following guidance provided by the Government and Public Health England regarding the Coronavirus outbreak. We are taking every precautionary action to protect our critical community and inpatient services, and protect the safety of our patients, families, volunteers and employees.

We are adapting the way we work in all areas to ensure that key services continue to operate in these uncertain times. This does mean that until further notice, to protect the health and wellbeing of our communities, St John’s Hospice has taken the difficult decision to:

• Cancel Day Therapy Services at the Oak Centre
• Close The Courtyard Café
• Close The Courtyard Giftshop
• Close the St John’s Hospice high street and furniture shops
• Postpone or cancel some of our fundraising events
• Restrict access to the chapel to current hospice patients and their visitors

Community Services – including Clinical Nurse Specialists and Hospice at Home Team

During this period of the Coronavirus outbreak our Clinical Nurse Specialist team are still at work across the community. This care team provide vital specialist palliative care including pain and symptom management as well as psychological support.

Our Hospice at Home team are still travelling in the community 7 days a week delivering care to patients near end of life as well as support to their families and carers.

Our teams will make contact with all of our patients in the community to discuss their ongoing care and support. Please be assured we remain totally committed to supporting you and your families and where appropriate, we will conduct reviews remotely by telephone call.

Day Therapy Services and Support Programmes

Regrettably we will not be able to host our weekly programmes, drop in sessions or remembrance services until further notice. The services provided consist mostly of group sessions and operating would be counter to guidance on social distancing in order to prevent the infection and spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Although we are currently unable to provide the Hospice Neighbours home-visiting befriending service we will soon be offering a volunteer befriending telephone service.

Volunteers

We have welcomed back volunteers into hospice shops positions and a small number of other roles. The majority of our volunteers however continue to be stepped down from their  roles whilst the coronavirus is ongoing. This is sad for St John’s Hospice as the support of our volunteers is very important.

Wellbeing and mental health during Covid-19 DOWNLOAD

Here is a helpful booklet from Every Life Matters, which provides help and guidance for wellbeing and mental health during Covid-19. Thank you to Every Life Matters for making this available. Download here.

You can also access The Little Book of Hope, thanks to the Yogi Group. Download here.

Thank you for your loyalty and unselfish commitment in these difficult days – we wouldn’t be here without you

Last updated: 10/09/2021