Coronavirus: our statement
As a national charity supporting almost 1,000 people with learning disabilities and autism, Affinity Trust is doing all we can to maintain our high standards of support in these unprecedented times. Our top priorities are the safety of the people we support, and the staff who support them.
Affinity Trust’s Senior Management Team is now meeting every day to review the situation as it develops, re-issue Public Health England guidance as it changes, and take decisions as needed.
We have issued detailed guidance to our staff on how to maintain good hygiene, reduce the risk of transmission, and what to do if they think they, a colleague, or someone we support has developed coronavirus. We will of course maintain regular communication with our staff as the situation develops.
In line with the latest government guidance, we are asking relatives and regular visitors of people we support to postpone their visits. We know that this will be difficult for all involved, and we are making every effort to support other types of contact, for instance by arranging phone and video calls where this is possible.
Affinity Trust is also taking a number of other measures, including:
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taking steps to ensure that business-critical functions, such as paying staff and key suppliers, can continue
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pausing face-to-face training and non-essential travel, while increasing the use of video-conferencing and e-learning
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monitoring our staffing levels and redeploying as required.
We will update this statement as the situation develops.