Public Board of Directors papers 27.01.22

adequate isolation rooms/units as part of the Trusts winter plan Health and care settings continue to apply COVID-19 secure workplace requirements as far as practicable, and that any workplace risk(s) are mitigated for everyone Organisational /employers risk assessments in the context of managing seasonal respiratory infectious agents are: • based on the measures as prioritised in the hierarchy of controls. including evaluation of the ventilation in the area, operational capacity, and prevalence of infection/new variants of concern in the local area. • applied in order and include elimination; substitution, engineering, administration and PPE/RPE. • communicated to staff

The trust has maintained enhanced biosecurity measures throughout the pandemic to apply COVID-19 secure workplace requirements as far as practicable. A trust wide COVID-19 risk assessment has been in place throughout and regularly updated in line with changes to national guidance. See COVID-19 Risk Assessment v3 July 2021 Ventilation, operational capacity, prevalence and new variants of concern have all been accounted for in the organisational risk assessment. We have actively encouraged opening of windows on wards 4/10/11/12 where there is no mechanical ventilation although historically this was not actively promoted given the risks of air ingress from the construction outside (risk of fungal infection in immunocompromised patients from airborne spores). In 2021 meetings took place between IPC and a company that manufactures air cleaning services, who were looking at working with a trust to trial on a larger scale. This was not taken forward at the time as: • Evidence base limited at the time • Would potentially need them in every bay, every corridor, every toilet, and bathroom area of ward 4/10/11/12 if interpreted those as risk areas which means very large capital and logistical project • If windows can be opened this was being done and seemed contradictory to add an air scrubbing device in as well resulting in a potential waste of resource • Limited infection control team staffing to aid with any evaluation • As more products and publications come online this will

It became clear from the first ward outbreaks early in the pandemic that transmission of COVID from unsuspected cases in bays (as seen in other trusts) was the bigger risk.

Routine opening of windows along with reduced bay occupancy (2 or 3 instead of 4) were important mitigations all of which have been communicated and actioned though the relevant team and trust wide communications.

C1501: Infection prevention and control board assurance framework (24 December 2021 Version 1.8) – January 2022

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