On Wednesday the 4th March we held our quarterly Flight Nurse network meeting at RCN HQ in central London. We had senior nurse representation from 15 different UK-based medical assistance companies, government and non-government organisations, and air ambulance providers. The main themes of the meeting were COVID-19 and how it relates to our flight nurse and assistance companies, flight nurse education, and the flight nurse competency document review.
We were fortunate to have a guest join us who is a Senior Nurse from Public Health England to lead the discussion around COVID-19.
Some key points of interest:
- For general enquiries about anything to do with transfers, admissions, occupational health for escorts etc., contact your local Health Protection Team. They are the first point of call for COVID-19 enquiries from health professionals.
- For an questions from embassies, it is best to go through the FCO as they will liaise with PHE. FCO and PHE are co-located in the National Incident Co-ordination Centre so it shouldn't slow down the response but will make sure the right people are aware and can support. For useful information for decontamination advice for offices etc visit this site.
- A handy paper that outlines the requirements for respiratory protective equipment:
Guidance on the use of respiratory and facial protection equipment.
Coia JE; Ritchie L; Adisesh A; Makison Booth C; Bradley C; Bunyan D; Carson G; Fry C; Hoffman P; Jenkins D; Phin N; Taylor B; Nguyen-Van-Tam JS; Zuckerman M; Healthcare Infection Society Working Group on Respiratory and Facial Protection, The Journal Of Hospital Infection [J Hosp Infect], ISSN: 1532-2939, 2013 Nov; Vol. 85 (3), pp. 170-82 - And lastly, PHE Medvac guidance is due to be published imminently, it's just going through the approvals process so keep an eye on the gov.uk website.
In addition, we are delighted to announce a ‘Save the date’ for our Flight Nurse workshop:
Saturday 17th October at RCN HQ in London, programme to be announced imminently.
We are also working towards further development of flight nurse education and have conducted initial research as to where to target our education. We have assembled a working group to begin review of our flight nurse competency document and will aim to compete this in 2020.
It was fantastic to have so much experience, passion and nursing professionalism in the same room. We welcome input from all our members and look forward to a productive and successful 2020 supporting our members.
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