***IMPORTANT*** Information Bulletin Regarding Coronavirus 17^th March 2020

As you will all be aware from the last bulletin I have been working closely with our board of Trustees and leadership team to ensure we have adequate contingency plans and risk measures in place for the ongoing coronavirus situation.

As this is a rapidly changing situation we are ensuring we adhere to all government and NHS advice and making decisions in the best interest of the people we support, their families and carers and our dedicated staff team. Many of you will have seen the latest government advice issued last night regarding additional measures being asked of us all. As such we have had to make some decisions to ensure minimise risks and still ensure we are able to support people safely. I have outlined these below:

Social and Leisure Programme

Effective from 19^th March 2020, we will suspend all of our social and leisure provision and groups until further notice. Some of the venues we deliver from have already closed or announced closures, and in line with government advice regarding group activities and social distancing we feel this is the safest option. We are in the process of contacting all individuals and families that this affects and will have individual discussions with each person affected.

One to One Supports

At present we aim to continue to deliver one to one support, however we are continually reviewing this and we will be asking all of our staff when supporting people, to ensure they adhere to the latest guidance which includes avoidance of busy public places and non-essential public transport.

We will continue our one to one social supports in accordance with the latest guidance however if we need to make any changes to service provision, we will contact those affected immediately to discuss.

Our essential one to one support (housing support and care at home) will remain a priority to ensure we allocate our staffing resources to those services where there is the most need.

People we support and carers/family members

This is a challenging time and we want to offer as much support and guidance as we can to help alleviate some of the pressures.

I would ask that anyone caring for a person we support, let us know as soon as possible if they or anyone in the household are displaying symptoms of coronavirus and follow the latest NHS and Government guidance. I have included links at the bottom of this blog for the latest information.

Our colleagues at Enable Scotland, have provided some very helpful guidance for those receiving support and families/carers about Coronavirus. Please see the link below to access these. These are in easy read format and have been issued to all staff to share with people we support however if anyone would like a printed copy please give us a call and we will send one out to you.

https://www.enable.org.uk/coronavirus-information/

Thank you to all of the people we support and carers for your continued patience and understanding during this time. If anyone has concerns they wish to discuss please contact myself or a member of the leadership team.

Staff

For those staff working in social and leisure, we will discuss with you what other work we may require you to do in the meantime while things are closed and we will support you through the changes and maintain ongoing communication.

For all staff supporting people on a one to one basis and within our other support environments I ask that you take all necessary steps to minimise the risk to yourself and the person you are supporting by following the most recent guidance from the government and not supporting people to access busy public places, engage in large group gatherings or unnecessary social outings and minimise the use of public transport if possible. A link to the current guidance has been listed at the bottom of this bulletin for your reference. This may involve change for some people we support which is unavoidable at present however myself and the leadership team are here to support our staff and people who use our services so please contact us if you have any concerns.

I would like to say a huge heartfelt thank you to our dedicated staff team who have as always, been committed to ensuring continuity and high-quality service provision to the people we support. I understand this is a challenging time and we are operating in an unprecedented situation and things are uncertain, but I am very proud of the entire team for their selfless and empathic approach and their willingness to adapt to the changing situation. I hope you can all appreciate that we are making decisions based on the type of service provision, the risk factors and the need to try and maintain important support for as many people as possible and this is why decisions may affect some staff more than others. I greatly appreciate your patience and flexibility.

Fair Deal Office

We will maintain staff within our office however this will be in reduced numbers as per government advice, with other office staff being asked to work elsewhere. Our reception will remain manned however as of 18^th March 2020 the office will be closed to visitors and members of the public and only essential or urgent visits will be arranged. We ask that you do not come to the office but instead phone us on 0141 634 4996. Our duty and on-call system will run as normal and our leadership team will be available to anyone requiring assistance.

All non-essential training and meetings have been cancelled until further notice. If any of our staff are booked on training, we will contact you individually to inform you of any cancellations/changes. Staff supervision will continue however this will be done by telephone until further notice.

As we move through the coming days and weeks, I will endeavour to keep everyone informed via a weekly blog on this site so please keep a look out for this and we will communicate any future changes as soon as we are able to.

Please see below links for latest NHS and Government advice:

https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Kind Regards and Stay safe

Fiona Dunwoodie

Chief Executive