Public Health England has launched its national test and trace programme where people who test positive for COVID-19 are contracted to identify people who do not live in the same household but may have had close contact with them, which puts them at risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19.
National guidance has been published for the management of staff in health and social care settings. This requires us to identify contacts of the positive case, conduct risk assessments in conjunction with local infection prevention and control (IPC) policies and make decisions regarding whether the individual is a significant contact and needs to self-isolate for 14 days.
A staff member who is required to self-isolate because they have been notified that they are a contact of a COVID-19 case will be required to report their absence via Absence Manager or their local reporting process. Through first day call backs the Attendance Team will arrange for a COVID-19 swab test to be undertaken or confirm if the member of staff has secured a swab already through a community testing Centre.
The full Nightingale protocol can be found below. Please take time to read the protocol.
