Personnel information on the coronavirus

The site has been updatet 27 march 10.00 - with new information about students.

This applies for all hospital staff, employees at Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, the Capital Region of Denmark emergency medical services (Akutberedskab), at Capital Region of Denmark pharmacies (Apotek), at the Social Enterprise (Den Sociale Virksomhed) and at Koncerncentrene.

Covid-19 test

Information on test of personnel is not yet updated and translated.

Terms and conditions of employment 

Other websites in english:

Being sent home from work (updated 19 march, 16:00)

Based on evolving information from the Danish Health Authority, the Centre for HR and Education will be updating the region’s own guidelines. 

  • The following applies to employees who have symptoms of COVID-19:
  • If an employee has been in close contact with a patient with COVID-19 during the course of their work - e.g. by not using the protective equipment as prescribed - then the manager is obligated to ensure that the employee pay close attention to the symptoms of COVID-19 for the following 14 days. Symptoms include fever, coughing, breathing difficulty, aching muscles/joints, fatigue and headaches, as well as milder symptoms of a cold.
  • In the event of mild respiratory symptoms that could indicate COVID-19, the employee is not permitted to come to work. If symptoms appear while at work, the employee must leave work.
  • The employee can return to work 48 hours after the respiratory symptoms have become asymptomatic.
  • Employees without symptoms and employees with trivial symptoms not commensurate with COVID-19 can go to work as usual.
The Capital Region of Denmark is currently determining how we will deal with the need to test our employees who carry out critical functions (see link below), so that they can return to work as soon as possible. Further information will be available as soon as possible. An employee can return to work if they test negative for COVID-19, despite continuing to have mild upper respiratory symptoms.

Employees who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or who have symptoms of COVID-19 are obligated to inform their manager so that an application for sickness benefit reimbursement can be submitted from the first day of illness.
Employees who have already been sent home due to COVID-19 can return to work once they are asymptomatic.

Travel

The Danish Health Authority strongly urges people to stay at home for 14 days after returning from abroad. There is no longer a distinction between red or orange areas.

With regard to e.g. healthcare professionals, the Danish Health Authority recommends that employees who carry out critical functions arrange their return to work with their manager. This includes whether the employee should be tested for COVID-19. The aim is to make an individual assessment on whether or not the employee can return to work immediately after returning to Denmark.
 
In our specific assessment at the Region, we will take our outset in how we manage situations in which an employee has had close contact with a patient with confirmed COVID-19, for example due to failure to use protective equipment as instructed. Among other things, managers and staff will have sharper focus on symptoms of COVID-19.

Other reasons for being sent home from work

The government has announced that all public employees will be sent home unless they work in critical functions. All hospitals, businesses and centres will determine on an ongoing basis which employees are to stay at home in light of the government’s statement regarding public employees. 

Administrative centres have decided that the majority of their employees must work from home. Employees are still available for tasks, coordination and support, etc. via Skype, email and over the telephone. 

Employees in high-risk groups and with other serious illnesses (updated April 3rd - not completedly translated yet)

The Danish Health Authority has provided a list of high-risk groups, including people with chronic diseases, compromised immune system and pregnant women (as a precautionary measure).

The Danish Health Authority does not recommend that all employees belonging to high-risk groups automatically be sent home and put on sick leave.

Employees in a high-risk group should not expose themselves to any risk of infection, such as dealing with patients who are under suspicion of having COVID-19 or patients with a certified positive sample for SARS-CoV-2.

Medarbejdere, der tilhører en risikogruppe, og som varetager funktioner, hvor de med stor sandsynlighed udsættes for smitteeksponering, dvs. har kontakt med patienter med mistænkt eller bekræftet smitte med COVID-19, skal derfor flyttes til anden opgave eller funktion, hvor der ikke er oplagt smitterisiko.

The manager and individual employee will together assess whether it is appropriate for the employee to work as usual in terms of safety and health.

I vurderingen skal bl.a. inddrages hvilke muligheder, der er for omplacering til funktion uden kontakt med patienter med mistænkt eller bekræftet smitte med COVID-19, samt medarbejderens egen trygheds- og risikovurdering ved den vanlige arbejdsopgave/-funktion.

Eventuelt begrænsede muligheder for at omplacere medarbejderen skal løses lokalt, og må ikke være en hindring for, at medarbejderen omplaceres og skærmes fra opgaver med oplagt smitte, dvs. kontakt med patienter, der er mistænkt for smitte eller bekræftet smittet med COVID-19.

Employees, particularly employees in high-risk groups, must be informed of key sources of infection as well as what precautions to take to shield themselves from infection. Information can be locally sourced and can be accessed via our intranet, RegionH.dk, the Danish Health Authority website (SST.dk, English version in progress) and coronasmitte.dk (in Danish only).

Specifically regarding pregnant women

Ifølge Sundhedsstyrelsen er det ikke på nuværende tidspunkt påvist, at gravide er særligt modtagelige for smitte, har en øget risiko for at få et svært sygdomsforløb med COVID-19 eller har en øget dødelighed. Det er heller ikke påvist for det ufødte barn. Men ud fra et forsigtighedshensyn, både over for den gravide og over for det ufødte barn, betragter Sundhedsstyrelsen gravide som en risikogruppe i forhold til COVID-19

Lederen skal således drøfte den arbejdsmæssige situation med den gravide medarbejder, så der foretages en konkret individuel vurdering af, om vedkommende kan varetage sine vanlige funktioner og/eller opgaver.

Indtil graviditetsuge 28

Gravide inden 28. graviditetsuge håndteres under hele graviditeten på lige fod med andre risikogrupper i deres arbejdsmæssige situation.

Hvis den gravide medarbejder i sine vanlige funktioner og/eller opgaver vil komme i kontakt med patienter med mistænkt eller bekræftet smitte med COVID-19, skal vedkommende omplaceres til en anden opgave, hvor der ikke er kontakt med patienter, der er mistænkt for smitte eller bekræftet smittet med COVID-19. Omplacering af den gravide skal ske, uanset hvor langt kvinden er i sin graviditet.

Fra graviditetsuge 28

Ud fra et udvidet forsigtighedsprincip med fokus på det ufødte barn skal gravide fra graviditetsuge 28 have hjemmearbejdsplads uden udgående funktioner fra hjemmet. Hvis hjemmearbejde ikke er muligt i den funktion eller i forhold til de opgaver, som den gravide medarbejder varetager, skal den gravide medarbejder sygemeldes.


If you live abroad (updated 13 March, 21:00)

Denmark has closed its borders up to and including 13 April 2020. This means that only Danish citizens and foreigners with a valid purpose can enter Denmark. A valid purpose could, for example, be that you have employment in Denmark.  

For employees of the Capital Region of Denmark who live abroad - e.g. in Sweden - this means that you must provide proof of valid purpose when entering Denmark. 

On 14 March, the Capital Region of Denmark sent a letter documenting your employment with the region to your eBoks (or your work email, if you are not registered for digital post). Present the letter at the Danish border as documentation of your valid purpose for entering Denmark.

Students (updated 27 March, 10:00)

Students and trainees can help deal with the current extraordinary circumstances. It has therefore been agreed that clinical rotations should continue as far as possible.

Students will not be sent into placement until the situation changes. For student social and healthcare assistants, this means that they will not have hospital and/or psychiatry work placement before the situation has changed. This is because they have no previous experience in the areas.

Normal group teaching has been cancelled.

As usual, students and trainees can help by:
Carrying out tasks for which they are qualified based on where they are in their studies.
Carrying out tasks that they are not qualified for, but with sufficient guidance.
What tasks this will include will be based on an assessment by the student’s place of work.
Hospitals and departments will individually decide whether they choose to keep students on clinical rotations. This will depend on whether there are any tasks that the student can help with.

Students employed by the Capital Region of Denmark will continue to receive their salary if they are sent home.

If a hospital or department decides to cancel placements, they will notify the relevant institution/school and CHRU. It must then be clarified how the cancellation will effect the relevant training programmes. Further information on this will follow.

The clinical place of training will ensure the safety of students on clinical rotation. Students must take the same precautions as other employees of the Capital Region of Denmark and should not go to work if they are ill.
If hospitals need extra help from medical students who are not on clinical rotation, for example, or students who have been sent home, then students etc. providing such help can be included in other ways. However, this will not be considered as part of their clinical study programme.

On 21 March, the Danish Ministry of Education issued a temporary Executive Order making it possible to extend work placement for a number of vocational education and training programmes. This is to create greater flexibility and make it possible to use student labour. More specifically, it means that a work placement employer and a student can agree to extend the placement. This applies for paramedic (ambulancebehandler), service assistant, as well as social and health care assistant programmes, and the extension can be for up to two months, although only if the extension is because the student is on work placement in order to be part of critical social functions to prevent and mitigate COVID-19. If the employer sends the student home as a consequence of measures concerning COVID-19, it will be possible to shorten or extend the work placement. It will also be possible to swap around school and work placement periods.

Stay updated via University of Copenhagen websites or University College Copenhagen websites. 

Students employed by the Capital Region of Denmark will be informed by the relevant vocational colleges. Furthermore, all students employed by the Capital Region of Denmark have received a letter clarifying that students should show up at their placement and that the placement site will decide whether they can continue their clinical rotation.

Some municipalities in the Capital Region of Denmark have decided to stop all clinical rotations. Students employed by the Capital Region of Denmark with scheduled rotations in these municipalities will therefore not be able to complete them.

For additional information regarding clinical rotations, please contact the hospital, company or centre responsible for the activity.

Meetings, courses and training activities

Regional training activities (updated 19 March, 16:00)


All normal regional course and training activities, including management development, that are not linked to skills-upgrading in connection coronavirus, have been cancelled up to and including the end of May.
Theory-based course activities and larger gatherings of students have also been cancelled.

For additional information regarding courses and training, please contact the hospital, company or centre responsible for the activity. Questions regarding specific activities should be submitted to the organiser of the activity.

Meetings and conferences, etc. (updated 19 March, 16:30)

Gatherings of more than ten people are no longer permitted in Denmark. Public and private hospitals, clinics, private practices and enterprises run by authorised healthcare professionals are not included in the ban.

Employees of the Capital Region of Denmark should generally not participate in work-related conferences or large meetings, etc. For each individual case, consider whether the meeting can be postponed, held via video or over the phone, etc.

Virtual meetings

We recommend that, as far as possible, all meetings be held via virtual media or similar.

Hand wash and handshakes

Just like the rest of the citizens of Denmark, employees of the Capital Region of Denmark, must limit physical contact. For example, employees should whenever possible avoid giving handshakes. Regional employees should frequently wash hands and/or use hand sanitizer. Please find posters with good advice regarding avoiding the spread of infection here.

Furthermore, it is recommended that all physical meetings, as much as it makes sense, be replaced by other types of meetings, such as video conferences or similar.

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Pernille Bøegh Levorsen