Ingesting a case from Queercare national

This protocol is a draft. It has not yet been accepted as protocol and may be incorrect or poorly cited. Please do not use this in your work until it has been accepted.

Please see #protocols on Slack to discuss this protocol further.

This protocol is part of a system of protocols. These describe a system for doing dispatch from ingest to instructing volunteers and safeguarding, for doing dispatch safely and transparently for all involved. These are the Covid dispatch protocols part of the larger Covid protocols effort from QueerCare.

This page is specific to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our covid protocol still focuses on somewhat older science relating to droplet transmission. We are currently reviewing this. It will be updated rapidly.

When running a local Queercare-affiliated mutual aid group, you will receive messages from Queercare asking you if you can handle support work for specific people in your area who have come to us for help. In such situations, to make it easier on both us and you, we will be asking you to follow this protocol.

1. You should check to make sure that the following information has been included:
   • The name of the person
   • Their contact details
   • Their postcode
   • The kind of support they need

   Remember that this information constitutes personally-identifiable information so you must be very careful not to share this information with people who do not need to know it.

2. You should acknowledge the request quickly by responding to the message from Queercare. This is so that we know you are attempting to handle the request and we don't need to find another group.
   • For requests marked "(Urgent Dispatch)" you must respond within 24 hours.
   • For requests marked "(Dispatch Soon)" you should respond within 48 hours, but this is a less stringent requirement.
3. You should post an anonymised version of this basic information to your group. This should be in the form of “someone needs X doing in Y area at Z time” (see the form below).
4. When people volunteer in response to your post, check if the person requesting support would have any objection to those particular people being involved, giving the volunteers' first names and surname initial only. Similarly, check if the volunteers have any objection to being matched with the recipient, giving the first name and surname initial only.
   • This allows people to avoid being matched with someone who has previously caused them harm, for example. Remember that this may be a sensitive topic - don't require people to give their reasons.
5. Make sure these volunteers have read, understood and agreed to Queercare's relevant protocols. The specific protocols needed will differ depending on the nature of the request.
6. Make a new group chat or e-mail thread with these volunteers and, if they're available, the person who needs support. All discussion of what needs doing for that person should take place in this small chat.
   • This prevents people in the main chat from being given too many notifications, and keeps the person's address and detailed needs away from your main chat.
   • If the person requesting support is able and willing to participate in this chat themselves, this helps to maintain transparency and accountability, as well as making it easier to coordinate practicalities.
7. Finally, you must contact Queercare again to let us know whether you were able to handle the request. You should try to balance allowing people time to respond with making sure we have a prompt reply so that we know whether to try another group.
   • For requests marked "(Urgent Dispatch)" you must let us know within 48 hours.
   • For requests marked "(Dispatch Soon)" you should let us know within a week.

Form message

"Hi, this is [name] from [group name]. We've had a request for help from someone in [first part of postcode]. They need [tasks doing]. Please DM me to be added to the chat for organising this!"

An example of how this might look in practice is:

"Hi, this is Steve from St Brohias COVID-19 Mutual Aid. We've had a request for help from someone in [first part of postcode]. They need grocery shopping at 4pm on Tuesday. Please DM me to be added to the chat for organising this!"