Issue 195: 30 June 2022 Issue 194: 23 June 2022 Issue 193: 16 June 2022 Issue 192: 09 June 2022 Issue 191: 01 June 2022

Letter from Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive and Sir David Sloman, Chief Operating Officer for NHS England and NHS Improvement setting out the next steps on transitioning from COVID-19 response to recovery.

Issue 190: 26 May 2022 Issue 189: 19 May 2022 Issue 188: 12 May 2022 Issue 187: 5 May 2022

This guidance has been updated to reflect the changes to the UK Health Security Agency’s COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients or residents in health and social care settings guidance. It replaces previous standard operating procedures (SOPs) and FAQs for lateral flow device (LFD) use in NHS trusts and primary care and use of LFD for vaccination sites.

The aim of this standard operating procedure is to provide asymptomatic testing, as required by a clinically led risk-based approach, to elective care patients using primarily lateral flow devices (LFDs), or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests if clinically recommended, from 1 April 2022. This will enable patients on elective care pathways to test as advised in advance of being admitted for an elective care procedure, ensuring safe care for the patient, reducing the risk of nosocomial transmission, and supporting the delivery of elective recovery.

The aim of this standard operating procedure is to provide testing, as required by a clinically led risk-based approach, to inpatients, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and lateral flow devices (LFDs) from 1 April 2022. This will reduce the risk of nosocomial transmission and allow for action to be taken to isolate COVID-19 positive inpatients.

Issue 186: 28 April 2022 Issue 185: 21 April 2022 Issue 184: 14 April 2022 Issue 183: 7 April 2022 Issue 182: 1 April 2022

Contents Patient testing Staff testing   Classification: Official Publication approval reference: C1621 To: ICS leads All CCG accountable officers All NHS trust and foundation trust: chief executives medical directors chief nursing officers chief people officers/HR directors All PCNs and all GP practices All community pharmacies All NHS primary care dental contract holders All primary care […]

Contents Medical certificate of cause of death Registration Coroners Burial Cremation Classification: Official Publication approval reference: C1566 March 2022 The Coronavirus Act 2020, which introduced easements to death certification processes and cremation forms, expired at midnight on 24 March 2022. Some changes have been retained on a permanent basis through other measures. Other processes revert […]

Contents Appendix 1: Accelerating the recruitment of social prescribing link workers   Classification: Official Publications approval reference: 001559 / C0656 To: CCG social prescribing leads, CCG primary care leads, PCN clinical directors, NHS England and NHS Improvement regional primary care leads. 31 July 2020 Dear colleagues Social prescribing link workers (SPLWs) have been an important […]