Tuesday 05 October 2021
| Dear Contractor |
Please find here a letter which issued today from Northern Ireland’s Chief Pharmaceutical Officer in relation to: SELF-ISOLATION OF CLOSE CONTACTS OF COVID-19 CASES WHO ARE FULLY VACCINATED – APPLICABILITY IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY SETTINGS. This is a follow up letter from the advice of the Chief Medical Officer in his letter of 24 August 2021 with some of the key points summarised below for reference: Fully vaccinated staff who are identified as a contact of a positive COVID-19 case will no longer be expected to isolate and can to return to work in most circumstances. However, it is important the following safeguards are implemented for them do so safely: – The staff member has had two doses of an approved vaccine, and is at least two weeks (14 days) post their second vaccination at the point of exposure. – A negative PCR test prior to returning to their workplace. Staff should not attend work while awaiting the PCR test result. A subsequent PCR test should also be undertaken at day 8 following exposure to the case of COVID-19. – Provision of subsequent, daily negative LFD antigen tests for a minimum of 10 days following their last contact with the case each day before commencing a shift. – LFD test results should be reported to Test and Trace via the web portal and to their duty manager or an identified senior staff member). Any close contact who has a positive LFD test should self-isolate and arrange a PCR test. – If a staff member has had a SARS-CoV-2 infection in the past 90 days, they should not have a PCR test and should only undertake daily LFD antigen tests (as above). – The staff member is and remains asymptomatic. – Continued use of IPC measures, in line with the current UK IPC guidance and appropriate to the service setting to which the staff member is returning. – The staff member does not have ongoing contact with the person who tested positive for COVID-19, for example, they do not live with them. The staff member should remain off until 10 days have elapsed following exposure to a household contact. – The staff member should be given information about COVID-19 symptoms and asked to self-check for symptoms every day. If the staff member develops any COVID-19 symptoms they should stay at home and immediately arrange a PCR test. The letter from the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer today contains important information which follows on from the CMO’s letter, some of which is included below: Given the low risk of transmission in community pharmacy settings, and with a consistent application of the PPE and IPC mitigations, there is discretion for community pharmacy staff who are household contacts to be risk assessed and allowed back to work i.e. not requiring to isolate for 10 days. The risk assessment will require consideration of the nature of the household contact and how contact is minimised both with the positive case in the household setting and with persons in the workplace setting to prevent the staff member contracting and, if infected, from transmitting COVID-19. It is the responsibility of the contractor to carry out risk assessments with appropriate advice. All other requirements as set out in HSS (MD) 59/2021 e.g. daily LFD etc. must also be in place. Importantly, anyone who develops symptoms must not enter the workplace, and must self-isolate and book a test immediately in the normal way. To note, even if fully vaccinated, if community pharmacy staff have been identified as a close contact, they are advised not to visit hospitals or care homes for 10 days and to minimise contact with those known to be at higher risk if they contract COVID-19, such as the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Group (CEV) for 10 days. They should also be excluded from close contact services such as vaccination for this period. Action: Contractors are advised to familiarise themselves with the content of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Letter and in particular the conditions relating to the discretion for community pharmacy staff, who are household contacts of a COVID-19 positive case, for return to work. Please do not hesitate to contact a member of the CPNI team should you have any queries. |
| Kind regards |
| SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE Chief Executive |
