Below are this week’s key messages from the national NHS Estates & Facilities Team. Please email any questions or comments you have on any of these items to: [email protected] or follow the links where provided.
Christmas Video Message
A message from Simon Corben has been posted on the NHS Estates Collaboration Hub where he thanks the estates and facilities profession for all of their hard work and commitment over the past year. This can be viewed in the latest news area of the Hub.
Covid booster campaign
It is important that you and your teams continue to do all you can to protect yourselves and others. The vaccine has already saved thousands of lives and getting boosted is our best hope of protecting people against the new Omicron variant.
Over 4.6 million COVID-19 booster jabs were given last week - up from 2.5 million the week before. Thank you to our NHS colleagues and volunteers who have been working so hard to accelerate the booster rollout. Get boosted now: NHS.uk/Covid-Booster
COVID-19 webinars and guidance
To support estates and facilities teams in responding to the increasing pressures from the Omicron variant, the national estates team will be hosting a series of COVID related webinars during the week commencing January 10, covering the following topics:
• January 10 (11:30am) – Clinical Waste
• January 11 (11;30am) – Oxygen
• January 12 (11:30am) – Ventilation
• January 12 (1:15pm) – Supplier/Supply Chain Resilience
• January 13 (11:30am) – Workforce
Invitations to these sessions will be sent to our listed contacts. However, if you would like to register your interest separately, e-mail: [email protected] marked for the attention of Tom McHugh.
Please ensure that you check the Hub regularly for further updates as well as the existing information which will be helpful to you in managing your services. This includes a number of key documents which have been published in the last few months, such as the management of oxygen systems, clinical waste and ventilation. You will also find recordings from our past national webinars, and a suite of standard operating procedures developed during the pandemic.
Please ensure that you and your teams are familiar with these documents. Members of NHS estates and facilities teams who require access to the Hub should e-mail: [email protected].
UK IPC Guidance
Please note the UK Health Security Agency’s UK IPC Guidance was updated on December 21, 2021 to help protect patients, staff and visitors in the light of increasing COVID-19 infections and the spread of the Omicron variant.
FSA Listeriosis Guidance Survey
We would like to thank all those who responded to the Food Standards Agency’s survey on the implementation of listeriosis guidance, which closed on December 17. The FSA is reviewing the survey responses and we intend to share the findings in due course.
Dates for National Webinars
Please note the dates for the national webinars which have been scheduled as follows;
• January 27 – NHS Estates Facilities: Resilience
• February 24 – NHS Estates Strategies (TBC).
These will take place at 11am. If you would like to attend any of these webinars then please contact: [email protected] or [email protected].
National Estates and Facilities Team – second Annual Forum: HOLD THE DATE
Our second annual Estates and Facilities Forum will be taking place online on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Please hold the date in your diaries. Further information will follow soon.
NHS Estates and Facilities Team – Monthly Bulletin
The December edition of the monthly Estates and Facilities bulletin was issued on December 6. This provides the latest updates directly from NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Estates and Facilities Team including the latest guidance, health technical memoranda and policy developments affecting your work, as well as celebrating the successes of the wider E&F community. NHS staff can register to receive future editions of the newsletter. If you have seen the bulletin we would welcome your feedback (please send to: [email protected]).
NHS England and NHS Improvement National Estates Team: Collaboration Hub
The Collaboration Hub is a protected space for local NHS estates and facilities teams to access key information as well as to collaborate and to share ideas and successes. Access to the Collaboration Hub for individuals from local NHS estates teams can be arranged by e-mailing [email protected]
We have been arranging “overview and masterclasses” to help registered members understand and navigate the Hub more effectively. These have taken place on an ad hoc basis to date. However, following the very positive feedback we are now looking to formalise these on a more regular basis. If you are interested in attending one of these sessions (they last approximately 30 minutes) then please e-mail the above mailbox and Joy Heaps and Stuart Robinson will follow up directly.
If your e-mail address has changed over the past year (perhaps to .nhs.net), or you have moved to another NHS trust then please e-mail us with the details ([email protected]) so that we can update our records.
You can also see the latest updates from the NHS Estates and Facilities Team by following our LinkedIn page
Thank You
Our thanks to all of those working in estates and facilities for all that you do in maintaining the NHS estate, facilitating patient care and supporting the ongoing response to COVID-19.
We would like to wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and hope that, despite the increase in pressures, you manage to get a little downtime during the festive period.
