This list is by no means exhaustive and although we will endeavour to keep it up to date and add to it when new resources/guidelines are released, we cannot guarantee that it will always content the latest information. Please also refer to your local trust and hospices guidance as well as NHS England and Public Health England
COVID-19 - Resources for Healthcare Professionals
COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca e-learning sessions now available
Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare has worked in partnership with Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop the COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning programme. The e-learning programme is designed to provide the health and care workforce involved in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme with the knowledge they need to confidently promote high uptake of the vaccine and deliver the vaccine programme effectively.
The programme consists of a core knowledge session, the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech session, the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca session and accompanying assessment sessions for each.
All those undertaking this e-learning should complete the core knowledge session as this is designed to provide essential knowledge about COVID-19 and the key principles of immunisation needed to deliver the vaccine. Learners should then complete both vaccine specific sessions as these provide more detailed information including how the vaccine works, how it should be stored, prepared and administered and any contraindications, precautions and potential vaccine reactions. The assessment sessions should be completed after each session.
The e-learning sessions describe the national COVID-19 vaccination programme for England. Most of the information in the sessions will be relevant for those involved in the programme throughout the UK and Crown Dependencies. However, those undertaking the programme in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Crown Dependencies should be aware that some details as to how the programme will be delivered may be different. Vaccinators should therefore ensure that they refer to any country-specific information available, so they are familiar with the details of the programme for the country they are practising in.
This e-learning programme provides theoretical training. Practical training in vaccine administration, and assessment and sign-off competency is also required before administering the COVID-19 vaccine.
For more information about the COVID-19 Vaccination programme, including details on how to access, visit the e-LfH website.
JSC Palliative Medicine – COVID preparedness.
Our learning from the initial peak of COVID-19 in acute Trusts is that palliative care is an essential front line service, supporting patients at risk of or dying and not suitable for escalation to ICU on COVID wards, including patients failing trials of CPAP. Therefore it is critical to maintain a core presence of medical, nursing and admin specialist palliative care staff.
Stress, Coping and Resilience
Infection Prevention and Control Guidance
Infection Prevention and Control Guidance
Specialty Guide to Cancer and the Coronavirus
Cancer Alliance - Managing New Cancer Referrals
Difficult Conversations
Vital Talk COVID Communication Skills Pack
Medicines reuse in care homes
Children and young people with palliative and end-of-life care needs who are cared for in a community setting (home and hospice) during the COVID-19 pandemic
Covid - 19 Guidance - Scotland
Please find below a new resource developed with the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons in Glasgow. This short video introduces the RED-MAP guide for care planning conversations.
Click here to access the video
The below link collates many of the resources from different organisations being used in Scotland on a single webpage for ease of access.
Click here to access the guidance.
Useful Website Links Regarding COVID-19
- Cornavirus Act 2020 – Progress of Bill
- Information for the public
- Isolation Note
- COVID-19 prioritisation within community health services
- COVID-19: Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in care homes
HEE e-LfH COVID-19 e-learning programme link
The below two links are to EAPC resources – please bear in mind that medications recommended will vary from UK practice, and the pathways/operational guidance reflect local requirements.
- Guidance on critical care including an algorithm on pre- critical care decision-making
- Guidance for general (not COVID-a9 specific) best practice, discussion and decision-making at end of life in critical care settings
- Guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable from COVID-19
- There is also a Hospice UK COVID webpage with resources
- The Royal College of Physicians are also hosting a very useful webpage on Coronavirus in general – this does not yet have palliative care-specific information, but the speciality-specific pages are developing fast and also the general resources are very helpful.
- This guide is for friends, volunteers or generalist clinicians without experience of dying to support someone dying at home – it is free for use, but please acknowledge the Helix Centre, working with Central North West London NHS Trust who have developed it.
- They have also released guidance for carers to administer subcut meds at home https://subcut.helixcentre.com/
- The NEJM provides a collection of free papers regarding COVID epidemic
- Drafting of an all-Wales policy/procedure for lay carer administration of as-needed subcutaneous medication for common symptoms in people who wish to be at home when they are dying provided by Dr Marlise Poolman. Her team has done this based on the findings from an NIHR-funded study that they did on this topic. (NIHR HTA project 15/10/37). The policy/procedure for the CARiAD package was signed of by the Welsh Government on 20/3/2020 and implementation has started.
- Guidance for use in the community setting has been produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners
- The British Thoracic Society have a fantastic resource page
- Guidance for those caring for paediatric patients has been produced by the Association for Paediatric Palliative Medicine
- Visiting
- Coronavirus Act 2020
- Coronavirus Act – excess death provisions: information and guidance for medical practitioners
If you want to keep up to date, there are two good UK networks to join (UK palliative care clinicians only):
- The FutureNHS Collaboration platform - and you want the EOLC practitioners network
- Also Hospice UK/APM clinical COVID webinars are on Wednesdays at 3.30pm – you have to sign up first – particularly relevant to hospice senior leadership teams and hospital/community team leaders. You will need to sign up and have Zoom installed on your computer (or phone/tablet). See https://tinyurl.com/COVID19ECHO to register.
**Last updated 20 April 2020 New PDF Guidelines added **
Covid-19 cyber security advice from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit
Due to the current COVID-19 situation there are a number of fresh issues emerging online and safety measures that as a national network, we are highlighting. In the North West of the UK we are prioritising getting these messages out to businesses and organisations that are in the health and social care arena as we feel that these are organisations that the most vulnerable in our society are currently relying on more than normal. We have contacted a large number of hospices already and are now working through organisations such as yourselves so that we can get the advice out as widely as possible.
I am hoping that the advice that we provide can reduce the risk of cyber incidents such as ransomware, whilst already dealing with a surge in demand.
I have also included an alert about a fake COVID Map which was discovered last month, the map while giving legitimate information also installed software which harvested banking details. As a result of this we are advising that individuals obtain COVID-19 information from https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus.
HELEN WILLIAMS | CYBER PROTECT OFFICER |
North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU)
Coronavirus Map Alert
Cyber Criminal Exploit Coronavirus
NCSC Bring Your Own Device
NCSC Home Working
Ransomeware
Malware