NWAS on challenges of pandemic

A SPOKESMAN for NWAS said: “The pandemic has been challenging to all NWAS staff and we are proud of the way our teams responded.

“We have initiated a number of schemes to support staff and keep them informed, including regular Covid briefings, opportunities to ask questions directly to senior staff in online forums, and welfare vehicles providing food at key sites.

“NWAS follows the PPE advice and guidance of Public Health England (PHE) specifically set out for ambulance staff which is being followed by ambulance trusts across the country.

“All frontline staff have been fitted with masks and hoods and there is a rolling programme for this.

“We receive our PPE stocks directly from the government – any issues over supply early in the pandemic are no longer an issue, and all that we receive meets national standards.

“In regard to our vaccination rollout, many NWAS staff have been offered the vaccination, including all who are clinically vulnerable, with many of them having taken it up already.

“We are increasing opportunities for colleagues to get the vaccination both by establishing our own vaccination hub and by working with other healthcare partners.

“We’re alarmed to hear staff members feel they still should work following a Covid case in their own home.

“Doing so puts their colleagues and patients at risk and we have a clear procedure to isolate.

“Our policy includes that Covid self-isolation and sickness does not count towards any formal action in respect of sickness absence.

“In addition, during the first wave of the pandemic, sickness hearings were paused in agreement with Trade Unions.”