24 February 2022

Covid member update – England and Scotland

Following the publication of England's living with Covid plan on Monday and Scotland's updated Covid-19 strategic framework on Tuesday, this Covid-19 update covers:

• The requirement for healthcare settings to continue following existing IPC measures
• Scottish Government grant for ventilation enhancement
• England's living with Covid plan
• Scotland's Covid plan

Healthcare settings to continue following existing IPC measures

Since the Prime Minister announced plans to lift Covid-19 restrictions in England, we have worked with NHS England and the College of Optometrists to get timely guidance to primary eye care settings.
NHS England has now confirmed its position as follows:

• There are no immediate changes to IPC requirements in health care at this stage
• The current testing protocol for staff should continue as now
• NHS England will write in coming weeks to provide more detail on "various testing protocols for patients and staff".

Read NHS England's latest letter.

The UK Health Security Agency has today confirmed that there is no longer a legal requirement for people with Covid-19 to self-isolate in England. However, "due to the higher risk nature of health and social care settings, the advice for staff members working in these settings has not changed".

Therefore, please note:

• Healthcare staff who have tested positive for Covid-19 should not attend work until they have had two negative LFD test results taken 24 hours apart.
• The first test should not be taken before day five after their initial positive test. These tests need to be 24 hours apart. If they are medically fit, they can return to work on the morning of day six if they tested negative 24 hours earlier.

Read the guidance.

ABDO and the College of Optometrists have issued a joint statement saying: "Optometry practices and staff should continue to follow the College's Amber guidance and FAQs to maintain high standards of infection control to keep staff and patients safe from the continued risk of Covid-19."  This includes following the existing FAQ on what to do if somebody in your household has Covid-19.

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected]. 

Scottish Government grant for ventilation enhancement

The Scottish Government has confirmed it will provide a new ventilation enhancement grant of up to £1,500 per individual optometry practice premises.

The grant will help GOS practices purchase air extraction equipment of a specified standard. The grant will not be available to mobile practices or dispensing only practices.

Read the PCA to find out more.

Read the FAQ

Access the claim form. 

England's living with Covid plan

Key points to note from England's living with Covid plan are:

General direction of travel  

• Covid restrictions will be removed and replaced with public health measures like those to manage other infectious illnesses.
• In line with other viruses, pharmaceutical interventions and testing will be used to protect the most vulnerable.
• Monitoring will continue against future variants, and contingency measures will be in place to respond to any threats, including mass vaccination and testing in an emergency.

Specifics

From today, 24 February:

• The legal requirement to self-isolate ends for the general public
• However, the government advises people who test positive to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least five full days and then continue to follow the guidance until they have received two negative test results on consecutive days.
• Self-isolation support payments, national funding for practical support and the medicine delivery service are no longer available.
• Routine contact tracing ends.
• Fully vaccinated adults and those under 18 who are close contacts are no longer advised to test daily for seven days.
• The legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate will be removed.

From 1 April, the government will:

• Remove the health and safety requirement for every employer to explicitly consider Covid-19 in their risk assessments
• No longer provide free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the public in England.

Read more about England's living with Covid plan. 

Scotland's Covid plan

The Scottish Government has updated its strategic framework for Covid-19. It said that if the Covid threat level remains "medium/low in the weeks ahead", it plans to follow the plan detailed in the figure below.

Read Scotland's updated Covid-19 strategic framework.