Continuing our series detailing all the entries to the IWFM Covid-19 Response Awards
Lewisham & Greenwich NHS in partnership with ISS Healthcare
Circumstances
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and ISS Facility Services Healthcare were in the second week of a complex mobilisation when the first confirmed Covid-19 patient in London was admitted to University Hospital Lewisham. The trust immediately brought ISS into their Gold command centre operation, with communication and constant dialogue shared between the clinical team and ISS.
What they did
- ISS took on the cleaning of high-risk Covid-positive areas, relieving core nursing staff of cleaning responsibilities.
- Over the Easter weekend Matthew Antoine, ISS operations manager, drove to the linen factory to collect additional scrubs personally rather than wait for delivery.
- The ISS team also repurposed retail spaces at the hospitals for use as wellbeing hubs for hospital staff.
- Smart devices were linked to a new helpdesk to communicate with frontline operatives.
- A new cook-freeze service was introduced.
esure Insurance – Facilities team
Circumstances
From very early on the esure facilities team was monitoring and preparing for the impact from Covid -19. When the time came and the office building started emptying, the team was not only able to help in the process of getting staff home with a computer kit but also had stocks of alcohol gel, masks and gloves on-site to help colleagues feel safe during this process.
What they did
- Stayed at the forefront of the buildings exit strategy.
- When everyone else became homeworkers, became key workers and stayed behind to manage the soft and hard services as normal.
- Worked with many partners to source the equipment required, installed hands-free door handles and traffic lights at the toilets, as well as removing desks to maximise walkaways.
- Worked with cleaning partners and increased the cleaning cycles and hours on site.
- Created a ‘return to office’ booklet and video to show colleagues the work that has been undertaken and help them feel more comfortable about returning to the office.
Facilities Team Tameside Hospital
Circumstances
Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust services about 250,000 people, and provides Acute Hospital care from Tameside Hospital, and to community services across the borough. Its clinical teams have been front-and-centre throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with a dedicated, innovative and well organised in-house facilities team behind and supporting them.
What they did
- Provided a vital first response by limiting transmission of the virus through robust cleaning regimes and supporting the logistical activities of patient movements, waste disposal and distribution of supplies and PPE.
- Delivered significantly enhanced cleaning and environmental decontamination duties.
- Responded quickly and innovatively to staff unavailability by running a virtual recruitment campaign to enlist additional staff.
- Organised additional laundry services and freshly cooked food to all patients, and also served free meals for hospital staff.
Fit 2 Work Health Surveillance Tool by Riskex
Circumstances
Riskex is one of the world’s first cloud-based safety software providers, and for almost 20 years has spearheaded innovation in risk management and compliance, delivering AssessNET, a vital risk management tool for ISS and ABM, FM organisations. As the Covid-19 situation unfolded in Asia, it became clear that there would be a knowledge gap, and the UK needed a tool to fill it, to help to control Covid-19 from entering the workplace.
What they did
- Developed and honed the simple-to-use Fit2work and upgraded Safe2day health surveillance tools, working with frontline FM client feedback.
- Sent an email to all employees to sign up to complete daily health questionnaires.
- Collected and analysed real-time data for a range of Covid-19 questions.
- Supplied advice based on UK Government guidelines, with links to websites.
- Displayed statistical data and concerns on the management dashboard.
- Apps help to identify who is “Fit2work” and those who should remain at home, controlling the risk at source.
Find out more
These entries were chosen from nearly 70 received for the Covid-19 Response Award. Facilitate is showcasing the stories behind all of them on our Facilitate Daily newsletter, while there are extended versions of each of all our IWFM Awards 2020 features on www.facilitatemagazine.com