PPE, IPC and Hygiene Provision

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Prison PPE supply and ordering of disposable gloves and aprons for business as usual tasks (22.10.21)

There are large central stocks of nitrile gloves and disposable aprons for BAU use held at NDC Branston, sourced in bulk earlier in the pandemic to cover for supplier shortages.

Establishments are advised these items should be ordered on SOP from Branston via the Branston i-proc catalogue and not ordered via the Arco portal until further notice.

When placing the order search the i-proc catalogue for the codes listed below:

Product codes;

Disposable Nitrile Gloves – EN374:5:2016

Unit price £10:50 per box of 100

• Medium – item 7065
• Large –     item 7066
• X Large – item 7067

Disposable Aprons  – Overhead loop apron with back waist ties, suitable for use in i.e. food production areas / healthcare to shield clothing from stains caused by splashing and dirt in the workplace.

Unit price zero,  per pack of 1000

• White Disposable  – item 7061
• Red Disposable    – item 7062

It is worth noting there are no caps on these products, please order as required.

Reminder

• The COVID PPE hub will continue to supply gloves and aprons to meet the appropriate requirements for use in-line with COVID SOP’s .

Please direct any queries related to the above to the following email;  Health-Safety.national@justice.gov.uk

Hot Weather and Heat Control Guidance (17.06.21)

IPC & PPE Training (23.04.21)

Delivery of the PPE & IPC training continues to remain part of the HMPPS combined measures for our COVID controls. Prisons will still be required to ensure this delivery is maintained. Local training outcomes however do not restrict a Prison’s ability to progress to Stage 3. The use of HMPPS SOPs and H&S COVID guidance documents all include the necessary  information for the use of PPE and hygiene measures in activities and settings. This will have been further specified with Prison LOPs and the EDM process. Prisons are requested to ensure staff have sufficient knowledge of PPE & IPC protocols via the use of both training and procedural information. Local TU colleagues must continue to be part of the COVID workplace inspections and also part of the discussions of local COVID controls and actions. During this period Prisons are requested to ensure the current face to face training continues at pace and also captures non-operational colleagues. Using a variety of face to face training options should be explored where possible to increase training figures where needed.

PPE Guidance

Establishments should remain up to date with current Government guidance around social distancing and self-isolation and ensure that local operating procedures are updated to address the issues posed during the COVID-19 period. This can be found at GOV.UK. Public Health England (PHE) have also published guidance on outbreaks in places of detention, attached below.

Safe Operating Procedures which detail the PPE requirements for individual activities/tasks are available at: Safe Operating Procedures.

Additional guidance has been produced around the use of PPE by those with beards or stubble and is attached below.

PPE Expectation of Health Delivery Partners

Governors and Probation Managers are reminded that decisions on levels of PPE are the responsibility of the respective employer.

Following the Health Secretary’s announcement that face masks are required at all times for staff in hospitals last week, NHS trusts and hospital providers have now updated their guidance on PPE and infection control expectations for their employees. This includes a number of trusts who have issued the requirement that all staff in their employment ‘in any role in any setting’ are required to wear PPE at all times, with some exceptions, for example eating, drinking or in a designated COVID19 safe area. This has an impact therefore on any health service employees working in Prison and Probation settings.

It is acknowledged that health provider employed staff and HMPPS may deploy different levels of PPE for the same settings/situations/tasks. This applies to health staff working in residential healthcare departments (in-patient units), but also health partners in other health settings such as OPD Services or Stabilisation Units.

It is important that Governors/Probation Managers mitigate the impact of this difference by working in partnership with their health providers to communicate with staff and prisoners/residents why the difference exists, that no one approach is inferior to the other, and that different employers have the right to determine different levels of PPE they wish their staff to wear, based on the type of activity, location and frequency of contact.

It is important to remind staff and prisoners/residents that HMPPS PPE instruction is based on specific Public Health guidance for prison and probation settings, and to reinforce messages that regular hand washing and social distancing continue to be essential as part of our infection control measures. In many cases partner organisations will apply their organisational policy to all employees, regardless of the setting they work in. Health partners must be made aware that they can be requested by HMPPS staff to remove face masks temporarily for identification purposes.

Recent announcements for hospital settings do not apply to HMPPS employed staff working in HMPPS settings. HMPPS is working with PHE and the NHS to consider additional guidance for people working outside of hospital settings in response to changes within the health sector.