Hywel Dda University Health Board: hduhb.nhs.wales/healthcare/covid-19-information/ Following UNISON`s representation and pressure on the entire service, the Home Minister announced on April 29 that foreign health and care workers would receive free visa extensions. Despite the removal of the ICF, UNISON still says all care employers have a responsibility to pay the full normal wage for self-isolation. It is not fair to put significant financial pressures on caregivers if they self-isolate. Non-payment of sickness benefits is irresponsible and risks causing new coronavirus outbreaks in care facilities. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board: bcuhb.nhs.wales/health-advice/safely-restarting-our-services-during-covid-19/ caregivers will realize that the coronavirus outbreak increases the likelihood of staff shortages. UNISON negotiators encourage employers to address the issue at the ministerial and workplace level to ensure nurses are not asked to do unrealistic work. Anuerin Bevan University Health Department: abuhb.nhs.wales/coronavirus/testing-centres/ UNISON urges the government to give more details and advice to caregivers who have lost their role due to mandatory vaccination. If you are a UNISON member and this applies to you, you can contact your branch. UNISON believes that all nurses who must self-isolate should receive a full regular salary for this period. This is a subject on which UNISON has conducted a considerable number of campaigns. For much of the pandemic, employers were able to withdraw money from the Infection Control Fund (CFI) to help pay the full salary of self-isolation. However, on March 31, 2022, the government made the highly controversial decision to cancel this funding.

You can read UNISON`s response to this development here. This exemption applies to patients without severe immunosuppression, who must be routinely tested within 48 hours of discharge from a nursing home. However, any nursing home resident who tests positive and is discharged during their 10-day isolation period should only be discharged in a specific setting. If cohort contact with other residents subsequently tests positive for COVID-19, all residents with whom they have been grouped must resume their isolation period from the date of their last exposure to the newly diagnosed case. If a person undergoes a new PCR test within 90 days of the onset of their first illness or a previous positive COVID-19 test and the PCR test result is positive, a clinical risk assessment should be used to decide whether re-infection (“re-infection”) is possible and to inform subsequent measures, including if isolation is necessary. It took too long, but the government finally released the “Adult Social Services Risk Reduction Framework: Assessing and Reducing Risk to Your Workforce.” This document outlines the risk assessment process that employers should follow to manage increased risks to workers with protected characteristics, including ethnic origin. Your employer must follow these procedures to manage risks to Black workers. If a person is retested by LFD or PCR 90 days or more after the onset of their first illness or after the date of the previous test and is found positive, this should be considered a possible reinfection. They should self-isolate as soon as their symptoms appear or the date of testing if they do not have symptoms, and follow up with people with COVID-19 and their contacts. Re-infection should be considered and further management, including the need for isolation, should be assessed in accordance with the guidelines for the investigation and treatment of suspected SARS-CoV-2 re-infection.

There is a low residual risk of acquiring COVID-19 10 days after exposure to a confirmed case. As an additional precaution, a risk assessment should be conducted regarding the need for continued isolation 11 to 14 days after exposure. This risk assessment should take into account factors such as the type and extent of exposure, the vaccination status (including recall status) of the contact, the service to which the person will be transferred, and the risk of contact with patients at higher risk of severe illness in the event of COVID-19 infection. The IPC guidelines must be strictly adhered to. For social workers employed directly by the councils under the National Joint Council of Local Government Services (the majority of councils), UNISON negotiated this agreement with regard to holidays, sick pay, self-isolation and other issues related to the epidemic. These guidelines have been communicated to Directors-General in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Read the Welsh Government`s advice Self-isolation: advice for people with COVID-19 and their contacts This guide is intended for health and social care providers and workers to determine the current testing regime for health and social care workers. Based on public health and clinical advice that takes into account current health status. The goal is to ensure that people have access to testing so that symptomatic positive COVID-19 cases can be quickly identified to protect the weakest. We will revise these guidelines as prevalence changes and knowledge about current and future variants of COVID-19 increases. Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board: cwmtafmorgannwg.wales/latest-information-on-novel-coronavirus-covid-19/ If hospitalized contacts are transferred to a care facility during their contact isolation period, the nursing home should be informed of their contact status prior to discharge, and this should be clearly described in the discharge summary. For more information on the length of the period of self-isolation for nursing home residents, see Admission and care of nursing home residents during COVID-19.

If stationary contacts are released into their own homes, they and their household should be instructed to follow government instructions to stay safe and prevent the spread. To support risk reduction, workers must continue to follow their employer`s infection prevention and control guidelines. These include social distancing and the use of PSA in accordance with current guidelines: Infection prevention and control measures for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in healthcare facilities (pdf, phw.nhs.wales). This page is intended for informal caregivers, including residential care, home care, and community care for adults and children. She advises in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The devolved administrations of Scotland and Wales have all explicitly stated that they will not introduce compulsory vaccination for care home workers working in these countries. In Northern Ireland, amendments are currently being consulted. All health and care workers should be aware of the principles of Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICP) and Transmission-Based Precautions (TBP) to prevent the spread of infection in health and care settings and implement IPC measures in accordance with the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual for Wales NIPCM – Public Health Wales (nhs.wales). If the COVID-19 PCR test result is positive, follow the guidelines for withdrawal of infection control precautions and discharge of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, including information on isolation requirements. All patients with whom they have been grouped should resume their isolation period from the date of their last exposure to this newly diagnosed case. This includes patients discharged from nursing homes.

We know that Black workers have paid a heavy price and now need better protection. UNISON remains committed to forcing the government and employers to do more to protect black workers from the virus. The pandemic has shown how many frontline caregivers come from Black communities. The government`s official advice on taking care of employers and employees is to self-isolate if they test positive for Covid-19. The government has also confirmed that family members and health workers who have sadly died as a result of infection with the virus will be offered permanent residence. Fragments of an inactive virus can be persistently detected by PCR in respiratory samples after infection and for some time after a person has completed their isolation period and is no longer infectious. These guidelines replace all previous testing guidelines for health and social workers and apply to staff working in close contact with patients and service users.