Coronavirus (COVID-19) Statement - 17/03/2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Statement
17th March 2020
As a leading business in the healthcare industry, we understand the gravity of the situation and the challenge ahead of us. The management of Quotient Sciences has been closely monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 situation and taking steps to limit any potential impact it could have on our trial subjects, our staff, our customers, our community, and our business.
For preparedness, we implemented our Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plan at the start of February and monitor the advice provided by governments and other sources, such as the World Health Organization, on a daily basis. Regular Crisis Management Team meetings are also taking place to prepare for these unforeseen events, assess the impact on our facilities, staff and customers and agree on risk mitigation actions.
The immediate steps in risk management planning for our staff has included; a) promoting good hygiene practices across the business and displaying government guidance posters in all receptions and noticeboards; b) the circulation of a guidance document on COVID-19 to ensure they have a clear understanding of how Quotient is handling the situation and what support is available to them all; c) monitoring and restricting the travel plans (business and personal) of all staff; d) self-isolating any staff who have visited affected countries and/or are showing symptoms in accordance with government advice; e) checking recent travel of all external visitors to our sites and restricting access, where necessary.
As part of our risk mitigation planning for performing clinical trials within Quotient, we are already a) restricting all access to our clinical units to essential staff with no external visitors allowed; b) questioning all trial volunteers about recent travel before arriving at our clinics; c) monitoring the temperature of volunteers at screening, on admission and twice daily during participation in a clinical study; d) implementing a global COVID-19 Medical Response procedure that will be followed should a trial volunteer be identified as having the virus whilst on site.
To ensure we maintain critical inventory to fulfil our business obligations and minimise any disruption to customers, staff and volunteers, our Procurement team has connected with Quotient’s key suppliers to check on the readiness of ongoing supplies. Where any issues have been identified we are looking at alternatives and undertaking risk assessments.
While this is period of great uncertainty and daily change, Quotient remains responsive to any developments regarding COVID-19. We will continue to follow Government guidance and endeavour to keep all our stakeholders updated on a regular basis. We are committed to maintaining our business operations and ensuring our customers continue to receive the highest quality service without disruption.
Should you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Egerton, Chief Executive Officer