Changes to Trust services in response to the Coronavirus outbreak >

 

Coronavirus, or Covid-19, is a new illness. It can affect your lungs and your airways and make you seriously unwell.

People with weakened immune systems, older people, smokers and those with long-term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease are at more risk.

Advice for everyone about coronavirus

Visit the government coronavirus page for the latest advice on how to help control the virus: www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Visit  www.nhs.uk/coronavirus  for information about coronavirus and what to do if you or someone you live with has symptoms.

For NHS advice on looking after your mental health at this time, visit Every Mind Matters mental wellbeing while staying at home.

Find translated coronavirus information here.

Information for our community patients and carers 

We are doing our best to ensure that you are supported at this difficult time.

If you have an appointment with us, we will probably make arrangements to contact you by phone or video call instead of in person.

If you are in mental health crisis, please avoid visiting accident and emergency (A&E) or calling 111. Visit  our crisis page  to find out what to do.

We know this is a difficult time for carers. Please consider preparing a backup plan for if you become unwell.  Visit Carers UK planning for emergencies  to find out more.

You can also check out our page for carers.

Information for our hospital patients and their carers

If you are a patient in one of our hospitals, we will do everything we can to protect you and everyone else from coronavirus. This might mean we move you to a different ward or hospital, discharge you from hospital, or ask you to stay in your room and away from communal areas. Our staff will keep you up to date.

For everyone’s safety and wellbeing, we are sorry to say visiting is suspended until further notice, unless you are visiting a child (see below). Please find other ways of keeping in touch with your loved ones in our hospitals, like phone and video calls. We will help with this wherever we can. 

Visiting

The health, safety and wellbeing of our patients, communities and individuals and teams remain our absolute priority. We have updated our visitor guidance which is consistent with NHS advice on compassionate visiting arrangements at end of life and government advice on social distancing.

Please contact the ward or department in advance to discuss appropriate arrangements for visiting. We are only able to allow one visitor or close family contact per patient and a second visitor may be permitted in circumstances including where this is essential to support a loved one's care.  

If you have any difficulties contacting a patient please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service.

Do not visit if you:

• should be self-isolating
• are unwell, or have a fever or cough
• are vulnerable or aged over 70
• are aged less than 12 (except with the ward manager’s permission)

Face coverings

People infected with Covid-19 can have very mild or no respiratory symptoms (asymptomatic) and can transmit the virus to others without being aware of it.

In line with recent recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO), we are introducing new measures to keep visitors, patients, and staff safe; from June 15 2020 you will need to wear a face covering when you come to hospital as an outpatient. 

What this means for you 

We can all play a role in reducing the spread of coronavirus and keeping our hospitals safe. If you are coming to hospital for outpatient care, it is important that you wear a face covering at all times. This is for your safety and the safety of other patients and staff.

Face coverings can be cloth and/or homemade, and advice on how to wear and make one can be found on the government website. Face coverings worn as part of religious beliefs or cultural practice are also acceptable, providing they are not loose and cover the mouth and nose.

We are asking that you plan in advance and bring a face covering with you whenever possible, but if you do not have one available when you come to hospital, please see a member of staff on arrival and we will provide you with one.

If you are currently shielding and have been provided with a surgical face mask for your appointments, please continue to use this. If you have not been provided with a surgical face mask, you should wear a face covering.

For some people, wearing a face covering may be difficult due to physical or mental health conditions. In these instances, other measures will be considered on a case by case basis, for example timed appointments and being seen immediately on arrival.

If you are a deaf or hearing impaired, our staff have a range of communication options to ensure that they can communicate effectively with you. This might include the use of clear masks where possible, as well as visual aids such as writing things down, speech to text apps and sign language.

All visitors will be expected to comply with existing social distancing and hand hygiene measures in addition to the face coverings while in the hospital setting.   

Thank you for your continued support and understanding at this challenging time. Please note that this guidance may change depending on risk.