We wanted to provide you with some information on how to safely put on and remove PPE. As you know, for the past 2 years we have been using PPE in all health & social care settings, and with restrictions being completely removed the likelihood of higher COVID cases is inevitable so the need for PPE is more vital than ever before. We hope this information is of some help to you and contributes to keeping you and those around you safe.

How to ensure PPE is affective

• Keep your hands away from your face when PPE is being worn
• If any PPE becomes damaged or contaminated, change this immediately and wash your hands
• Limit surfaces touched
• Always clean hands, especially when putting on and removing PPE.
• Ensure PPE is the correct size

Washing and sanitizing hands

• Before putting on the PPE, perform hand hygiene. Use alcohol hand rub or gel or soap and water. Make sure you are not wearing any jewellery, bracelets, watches or stoned rings.
• You should wash your hands for 20 seconds, using soap and water or hand sanitiser.
• You should wash your hands after you blow your nose, sneeze or cough. Also remember to cough or sneeze into tissues before binning them.
• Wash hands before and after you eat or handle food.

Applying a face covering

1. Ensure mask is flat against both cheeks
2. Mould the nose piece round the bridge of the nose, firmly pressing down on both sides
3. Once the face mask is secured round the ears, make sure it fits well around the rest of your face, and extend the mask down to fully cover the chin

For surgical face masks with ties, position the straps on the crown of your head and tie the bow above both ears. Tie the lower straps at the nape of the neck securely

Surgical face masks can be used while attending to a number of residents, however gloves MUST be changed between every resident.

Facemasks should:

• Be well fitted, covering both nose and mouth
• Never be dangled around neck or ears
• Not be touched when put on
• Be worn once, and then thrown away

Removing PPE

PPE should be removed in an order to minimize the possibility of self-contamination.

• Before leaving the room or area where service users are being cared for, remove and dispose of gloves and apron if you are wearing them
• Once outside the room or when you are 2 meters away from the service users, remove your mask and dispose of it immediately
• Using both hands, cross the elastic ties secured around your ears, stretch them, and carefully pull away from your face.

Click here to watch full video tutorial!

If you would like to discuss the above, or about how we can collaborate, please let us know. To get in touch, email [email protected] or call us on 03305 552233.

As a specialist, family-run recruitment business, we provide a proactive and consultative approach to recruitment within Social Care. We help organisations to target issues such as continuity of staffing, reducing spend where you have a high volume of agency usage and supporting those who have specific talent requirements or are in hard to fill locations. We can help with any immediate staffing requirements or longer-term recruitment projects to ultimately save you time and money on agency spend.

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