Reminder on changes to Covid-19 guidance, symptoms and HR Q&A

For household contacts: if you live in the same house as someone who has Covid-19, or are a close contact of a friend or relative, you can now continue to work as normal if you do not have symptoms and feel well.

You do not need to have a PCR test in order to return to work and a formal risk assessment is no longer required. However managers should consider the area in which the colleague is returning and ensure a risk-based approach to reduce contact with people who, in spite of vaccination, are at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19.

You do need to continue to test twice weekly and report through the gov.uk portal.

If you have symptoms: take a lateral flow test and only return to work when you are feeling better. If positive, self-isolate and repeat your LFT on days five and six if you are well, before returning to work if the tests are negative.

Updated symptoms: NHS England has updated the list of Covid-19 symptoms, which can be viewed here.

Asymptomatic staff: staff with no Covid-19 symptoms should continue to take LFTs twice a week. You can order your tests here.

Our HR guidance has been updated – read the Q&A here.

Update your car parking records

Following the reintroduction of car parking charges for staff, it is important that your assignment number and banding details are up-to-date to ensure that you're charged the right amount.

Your assignment number can be found on payslips, via BEAT, or the employee self-service. Your banding can be found in your contract.

To update your records, click here. The form will take approximately two minutes, and should be completed by 29 April.

For further information on the new UHD car parking charges, you can view these in appendix D of the UHD car parking policy.

RBH only: no diabetes inpatient cover today

There is no specialist inpatient diabetes cover at Royal Bournemouth today (12 April). Telephone advice can be accessed via bleep 2273.

Read all about it with the next edition of The Brief

Our staff magazine is a great way to stay up-to-date with the latest updates in the trust. Find out about the biggest change to acute medicine in a decade, our new clinical trials department, humans of our hospitals and much more! Read more here.

#YouMatter – make a difference to UHD with the People Pulse survey

We've all been facing an extreme challenges and pressure, which makes it more important than ever for us to know what we are getting right, and where we can improve. The quarterly national NHS People Pulse survey is your opportunity to share your views and help us make changes at UHD, and in the wider NHS. Scan the QR code or click here for your chance to have your say.

"We want to support our staff at UHD in the best way possible and to do this we need to know how you feel. You can help by filling in this quick survey, what you say really does make a difference."

- Soracha Dossit, occupational health advisor and physiotherapist.

RBH: alcohol liaison reduced service

Due to unforeseen circumstances there will be no alcohol liaison service this week from 11-18 April.

For clinical guidance visit the intranet pages.

Join us for Ask Aly on 21 April

Join us at 12.30pm on Thursday 21 April for Ask Aly, hosted by our chief medical officer, Dr Alyson O'Donnell.

It's a great opportunity to ask questions, raise concerns or share your views. You can join the informal meeting on Teams here, and if you'd like to send any questions in advance, pop them through to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we can ask on your behalf. We hope to see you there.

Update to Windows 10

To ensure our Windows PCs and laptops are kept up to date all Windows 10 devices across the trust need a large update installed and IT will beginning deploying the required update in a phased approach to applicable PCs throughout April and May. This update will take approximately 30 minutes and your device will need a restart.

You can find out which version of Windows 10 you are using by clicking on the start button (bottom left hand corner), typing ‘about' and clicking on ‘about your PC'. This shows the version under Windows specification, and if it states ‘Windows 10 Enterprise, version 1909' the device will need an update.

You can still complete the update manually via the software centre/update section which can be located on your desktop or via the start menu. Follow the below steps to complete the instillation and plan the reboot of your machine - taking into consideration the longer process and ensuring you do not power off the device whilst it is updating.

Please contact the IT Service Desk if you have any problems.

Calling all trainee doctors

The deadline to complete the National Training Survey for doctors in training is 3 May – make sure you have completed it to help us build an accurate picture of our medical training provision and how you feel about it.

Visit www.gmc-uk.org/nts.

Meet Craig, our clinical audit and effectiveness manager

"Clinical audit measures current practice against best practice standards and addresses any shortfalls. The clinical audit team can help you design your project from the start – just email or call us for an initial discussion. We can help you set the standards against which you will be auditing. We can help to design your data collection questionnaire, and have software that can enable you to collect your data online. Once you have collected your data, we can help with collating the results, developing an action plan, writing your report, and preparing any presentations. For any completed projects, we would be more than happy to provide you with a certificate confirming your participation.

"I am very proud of our team as everything we do aims to make treatment safer and better for patients. It is great to help facilitate improvements that will make a difference and is really satisfying to see audits lead to positive changes for our patients.

"To contact the team for any help, go to our intranet pages where all our phone numbers and email addresses are listed."

- Craig Murray, clinical audit and effectiveness manager

Listening to staff voices - our way forward

Our trust is an extraordinary organisation and so are our colleagues.

Your feedback in our staff survey results cover all aspects of our working lives, so listening to and understanding this is really important as we continue to develop as #teamUHD. This year's survey includes new reporting areas such as our experience of burnout and enables us to look at how our experience of Covid has affected how we feel about what matters to us.

Staff survey reports, including interactive reports, are easy to access and read electronically and are available on the intranet staff survey page.

POOLE: Do you have any spare hospital wheelchairs in your area?

Our porters collect our wheelchairs every evening so please can all wards and departments put any spare wheelchairs out onto the lift lobbies at the end of each day. This enables the porters to distribute them where needed most.

Explaining the roles of the ICS, ICP and ICB

Last year the government set out proposals for all areas across England to become Integrated Care Systems (ICS) by 1 July 2022. Legislation from NHS England and the government gives legal credibility to this more joined-up way of working. As well as ICS, you may have heard the acronyms ICB and ICP floating about, but what do they mean, and what's the difference between them? Our colleagues at Our Dorset have produced this animated video to help.

Chat with Unison

Find information from our Unison representatives as they host stalls across the trust. Their next event will at RBH on Thursday (14 April) from 10am-2pm outside the restaurant and by the lake.

Outpatient survey from Dorset CCG

As part of the Dorset Outpatient Transformation Programme, Dorset CCG is exploring opportunities to improve their referral and advice and guidance processes.

This work forms a key part of the national elective recovery plan and looks to improve the clinician user experience and outcomes for patients.

Advice and guidance plays a vital role in enabling a patient's care to be managed in the most appropriate setting, providing primary care with continued access to specialist clinical advice, strengthening shared decision making and avoiding unnecessary outpatient activity.

They would love to hear from us about our experience with advice and guidance within Dorset and have put together a short survey to capture our views.

Take part here.

Job of the week - nurse specialist in the early pregnancy unit

Work within a highly skilled team of nurses and clinicians in our women's health gynaecology and early pregnancy assessment units across all sites. The post holder will play a key role in influencing transformation within the early pregnancy team; making this is an exciting time to join us as we move forwards together. Find out more here.

Not long left to sign up for the world's greatest festival of cycling

UHD charity has secured 10 places in the iconic Ride London event Essex 100 which returns on Sunday 29 May 2022.

Ride London is back with an exciting new Essex 100 route that will see participants cross the finish line at Tower Bridge welcomed once again by spectators. Setting off from Victoria Embankment in central London and into Essex via Epping Forest, riders will be able to take in the historic landmarks along the way all whilst raising funds for our hospitals.

Whether you sign up as an individual or bring some friends along for the ride, this unique opportunity is not to be missed by any bike buff! If you're up for the challenge, don't delay, join #teamUHD today!.