Gold update from Andrew Jones 8 April 2021

This is my first time back in the Chair’s seat since I went on annual leave before Easter and I am cautiously optimistic about the improving picture over these last few weeks. As we head into Spring and the epidemiological picture looks cautiously positive, the Gold group once again confirmed our organisational response level at Enhanced. This is because, although the overall incidence of Coronavirus is lowering in most parts of Wales, the impact on our teams and services remains significant and we continue to operate an Enhanced Health Protection Response. This will be kept under constant review.

 

As the picture evolves, so too do our operational arrangements. As Huw George wrote in his Gold update on 29 March 2021 , we have set up a task and finish group to plan and implement a wind-down of the National Call Centre (NCC) from 1 May 2021. As you will all know, since the inception of the Covid-19 response in February 2020, the NCC service has been operational seven days a week and has managed a huge volume of incoming calls from health and care providers, businesses and members of the public alike. The overall volume of calls has been falling consistently for some weeks now and the nature of the calls means that in most cases they are best answered by local Test Trace Protect (TTP) teams or Health Boards. This, coupled with the need to support the reactivation of our own services means we are developing an exit strategy to close the NCC function, transitioning the work over to the Test Trace Protect (TTP) call centres as they come up to capacity.

 

I am pleased to report that 946 of our staff have now received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and progress continues apace to offer vaccinations to staff in groups 9 and 10. When you receive your invitation, please do take up the offer and if you are unable to attend your appointment, please make sure that you notify the vaccination team so that your vaccine can be allocated to another member of staff on that day.  Updates on vaccination arrangements are published in the daily staff e-bulletin and on our dedicated staff vaccination intranet page so please do take a look if you are unsure about whether you are in a group that is now eligible. Following the recent advice from the JCVI and MHRA in relation to the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine, Public Health Wales has updated our public facing information and information for staff.

 

This year Easter, Passover and the holy month of Ramadan all fall in the month of April so for many of our staff this is a time of renewal, connecting and reflection.

 

I hope that many of you will have had some rest and recuperation time over the Easter period or over the coming weeks.

 

I would like to wish a heartfelt Ramadan Mubarak to all of you celebrating the holy month of Ramadan from today, 12 April 2021.

 

And to all our staff, cofion caredig ac aros yn ddiogel ac yn iach. Kind regards, and stay safe and well.

 

Andrew