Delivering Clinical Services in Non-Clinical Areas in General Practice - Royal College of Nursing - June 2020

There has been a lot of discussion around delivering clinical services in non-clinical areas and the introduction of further routine work. The RCN has produced a useful guide to safe implementation and things that need to be considered in your risk assessments, the information can be found here
(Scroll to the bottom of this page and select primary and community care then move through the resource list to the section)

Delivering services in this way requires a number of considerations. The potential risks identified include:
• Maintaining infection prevention control
• Maintaining good documentation and record keeping
• Consent and Confidentiality
• Health and safety of staff and patients including needlestick injury; personal safety, traffic and environmental risks e.g. weather conditions rain/heat, equipment and site security.
• Managing post vaccination anaphylaxis
• Appropriateness for certain groups e.g. Vulnerable adults such as Learning Disability and Dementia patients.
• Safeguarding

Recommendations

Delivering services in different ways is an increasing demand for services during the pandemic. This is to help ensure social distancing as far as possible and minimise footfall in clinical areas.

There are some key considerations staff need to consider as part of the risk assessment for delivering the services in this way. A risk assessment is the responsibility of the employer and needs to be regularly reviewed, updated and changes recorded