Below is the updated COVID-19 situation in West Sussex, reposted from Tim Loughton MP website.
Recorded Cases
There are 1172 recorded cases in West Sussex according to the latest data from Public Health England.
Household waste recycling sites
The council is developing a plan, subject to further government guidance, to safely reopen Household Waste Recycling Sites (HWRSs) next week (week commencing 11 May).
The date will be confirmed later this week when further guidance on managing the reopening of sites will be released by central government.
Social distancing measures will be in place when the sites reopen, the number of people visiting at any one time will be restricted and there may be limits on the waste which can be accepted. We are reminding residents that a visit should only be made if the journey can be considered essential and that government advice, to stay at home, stands. Further details will be released later this week.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
WSCC PPE Stocks
WSCC continues to maintain its own PPE Stocks for its own needs and is receiving regular deliveries from suppliers. WSCC has, at the current level of use, enough stocks of basic items to meet demand throughout May. However, if these stocks are required to support the wider care sector they may deplete much sooner.
DHSC PPE Plan Stocks:
WSCC continues to receive at Horley Fire Station (WSFRS) the National PPE deliveries; from where they are distributed to ESCC and BHCC. These National stocks are very limited and some items such as IIR Masks, are now exhausted. This role under the DHSC PPE Plan is a considerable role for WSCC and its duration is being extended as the start date for the NHS Clipper PPE System keeps being pushed back. The SRF is holding a meeting Tuesday 5th May to review and update the SRF PPE Strategy.
Hospital discharge and capacity – residential and domiciliary care
We continue to have adequate acute hospital capacity in West Sussex, with occupancy levels below 60%, against a usual position of 99-100%. This equates to 3-4 large wards of acute beds. Our local system continues to have a significant amount of empty community bed capacity ready for a rise in demand. There is currently no delay in patients requiring a transfer of care and we are able to offer temporary assistance to neighbouring systems such as Surrey.
Hospital discharge hubs continue to work in partnership with local NHS organisations working hard to ensure patients are discharged safely with minimal delay. Our local NHS partners have asked us to keep a focus on mental health discharges and our teams are making sure these can continue in a safe and supported way, in the context of a reduced workforce.
Our work on capacity modelling to support the number of people leaving hospital is progressing. We continue to work with the CCG to secure more domiciliary care, care home and nursing home beds, and voluntary services.
We have agreed an additional Covid-19 3-month uplift to the residential and nursing home market to alleviate some of the financial impact on the market and a 3-month uplift proposal with our domiciliary care providers.
Community Hub
The Community Hub continues to operate seven days a week, from 8.00am to 8.00pm, with a dedicated web page and a telephone helpline: 033 022 27980.
Contact volumes into the Community Hub continue to reduce week on week with the predominant reason for contact continuing to be access to food. An increasing number of queries are able to be resolved through the provision of information, advice and guidance.
We believe that the reduction in call volumes is in part due to the proactive approach being taken. Outbound calls are being made by the Community Hub to around 3800 individuals who were in receipt of food parcels from the outset but have not made contact via the WSCC Community Hub. By the end of this week we aim to have contacted each individual to ascertain whether the food parcel is meeting their needs or requires supplementing and to explore whether there are other options that could better suit (e.g. meals on wheels). Each call also provides an opportunity to discuss any additional support needs which may have arisen (e.g. for medicine delivery, care and support, wellbeing).
Library Service staff have today started contacting around 6000 people on the Shielded list who have indicated that they do have access to food and supplies. These calls are initially focused in the Arun District which continues to generate the highest volume of contact into the Community Hub directly correlating with the numbers of individuals on the Shielded List. This approach will be rolled out across the rest of West Sussex on a phased programme.
Residents in Chichester and Horsham received their Community Hub leaflet via Royal Mail last week with delivery across Adur & Worthing scheduled for this week.
Mortuary capacity
Supplied by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government units are now operational at St Richards Hospital in Chichester.
Worthing hospital has now received delivery of its units which will be installed during this week.