Last month I wrote an international nurses day blog to nurses and healthcare assistants working for the CCG and in primary care in Sheffield. I’m going to continue this and blog monthly to highlight all your great work and update you on the work of the CCG.

As well as sharing updates and key information with you, I really want to use this platform to raise the profile of you, our fantastic nurses, health care assistants and support and care workers. 

Each and every one of you will have had to change the way you work in some way and adapt to the ever-changing environment during this pandemic. I can’t tell you how proud I am of how you have all gone above and beyond to ensure the people of Sheffield are still cared for and still have access to the services they need. A big thank you and well done.

One of the hot topics during covid-19 is care homes. The safety of staff and residents in care homes is a big priority for the CCG, we are working closely with Sheffield City Council to protect vulnerable residents and frontline staff in care homes across the city.

Sheffield was in a good position going into the pandemic compared to many other areas due to all support and training we’re been offering over the last 12-18 months. Since the outbreak, we’ve been collectively supporting all care and residential homes in Sheffield with the supply and use of PPE, infection control and prevention, clinical advice, and testing staff and residents for covid.

I want to say a big thank you to our CCG nurses who recently delivered infection prevention and control training to care homes in the city, we were up against a tight deadline and they all worked exceptionally hard to meet this and did a great job in delivering the training – well done!

I also want to take this opportunity to mention Lisa Renshaw, one of our infection prevention nurses who has co-written the UK wide Infection Prevention Society’s coronavirus infection prevention and control training document for care homes. I’m really proud of Lisa, this is a fantastic achievement.

The Sheffield covid-19 testing service continues to expand its service and is now testing staff and residents in care homes that are currently covid-free to try and help stop the spread. They are still testing primary care staff, CCG staff and voluntary sector staff and their household members too. The team is run by CCG and PCS nurses and health care assistant and they’re doing a great job. We’ve had so much positive feedback from people who have used the service, particularly about the efficiency of the staff running the service. You should all be proud of how well you are doing in keeping this essential service running.

The testing service has also recently started to offer antibody tests too, primary care staff are one of the first groups of staff to be offered the test. You will have received a link in the covid bulletin to register your interest in having an antibody test.

Practice nurses have demonstrated their resilience and flexibility in responding to the changing needs during the current covid pandemic. Routine work had been paused but much of this is now starting to recommence.  New ways of working are being established and nurses have adapted by embracing new technologies to organise their appointments and do their consultations, whether over the phone, using the new messaging service AccuRx or by using clinical questionnaires to assess control.  

It’s been great to see nurses embracing new technologies for interacting with each other.  Practice nurses are supporting peers across the city by using the newly formed network forums on Microsoft Teams. Additionally, some nurse teams have held virtual network meetings as a way of identifying where learning can be shared, and care delivery developed. This is all innovative and impressive work.

Before I finish, I would like to mention two of our general practice nurses, Emma de Chenu and Sam Cunliffe, who have been nominated to be on the chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May’s, national nursing committee, with the opportunity to influence change at a national level. This is fantastic news, well done.

That’s it for this month, my blog will be emailed to nurses but will also be uploaded to the CCG’s website on the news pages. If you have anything you want to share with me, please do get in touch with me, I’d love to hear from you.

Once again, a big thank you to you all, you’re amazing!

Stay safe

Alun