Coronavirus useful information

Coronavirus health information

Please use the NHS website for general health information about Coronavirus and when to seek medical help.

Do not leave your home if you have either:

a high temperature - this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough - this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

To protect others, do not go to places like a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Stay at home and book a Covid-19 test online.

If you're unsure, use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.

Guidance for all patients and visitors

We ask that members of the public not to visit our hospitals unless they are attending an appointment or visiting the emergency departments.

If you are visiting one of our hospitals or clinics for an appointment, please come alone. Only bring someone to accompany you if absolutely necessary. You will need to wear a face covering when visiting the hospital.

Watch our short video below about what you can expect when coming to our hospitals for your appointment during this time:

Changes to hospital visiting

To minimise infection and keep our patients and staff safe at this time, visiting inpatients on our wards has changed.

Visiting in Maternity

The safety of women, their families and our staff is our absolute priority but we do understand that the last few months have been really difficult for new and expectant families.

Throughout this time, we have been working hard to continually reviewing the time that birth partners can be present, while being able to do so safety in the physical space and environment available and within the two metre social distancing advised for healthcare settings.

We are pleased to confirm that we are now in a position to increase times partners can be on the ward to six hours, with effect from Thursday 29 July 2021. Slots can be pre-booked and available either between 8:00am-2:00pm or 2:00pm-8:00pm.

We recommend that birth partners help to keep everyone safe by undertaking a lateral flow test, prior to attending the ward. Lateral flow kits are readily available from local pharmacies or by contacting NHS119.

Thank you for your understanding and patience while we work to reintroduce visiting in a safe way.

Please click here to view all information about service changes in maternity.

Face coverings

Visitors and outpatients coming into our hospitals will be asked to wear a face covering at all times, to help us reduce the spread of Covid-19. It is essential that you wash your hands or use hand sanitiser before putting it on, after taking it off and after use. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth at all times and store used face coverings in a plastic bag until you have an opportunity to wash them.

Measures to increase services

Our staff have been working hard to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and ensure the safety and quality of our services for all patients.

Just like the rest of the NHS, our number one priority for the last few months has been ensuring that all those who need urgent care - not just those with coronavirus - have been able to get it when they need it. Combined with the need to avoid unnecessary contact to reduce the spread of the virus, this has meant that some non-urgent appointments and surgeries may have been postponed, and others delivered differently using technology.

We have been gradually increasing some important face-to-face services, but only where this can be done safely - the virus is still circulating and we don’t want to put our patients, the public or our staff at greater risk. Thank you for your patience and understanding during these difficult times.

What does this mean for me?

We continue to ask patients to attend face-to-face services only when it is really necessary. Where possible, appointments will be offered using remote services such as a video or phone consultation.

You should only attend your outpatient appointment if you have no symptoms of coronavirus.

If you do need to attend hospital for planned (non-emergency) care, you will be asked to take some steps to ensure you can get the care you need in an environment that keeps you safe, as well as staff and other patients. Our admissions team will give you all the information you need. While at the hospital, it is important that you comply with normal social distancing requirements.

For planned health care such as operations and certain diagnostic procedures, we will ask you to self-isolate at home for up to 14 days before admission (including day surgery). We will arrange a Covid-19 swab test before your admission and unless it is extremely urgent, your treatment will only proceed if the test is negative.

If you start to show symptoms of coronavirus or test positive while admitted to hospital, you will be immediately isolated to ensure the safety of other patients and staff.

Coronavirus latest figures

Last updated 04/08/2021

Total number tested positive to date	2,985
Confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients currently inpatient Trust-wide	36
COVID-19 patients discharged (to date) to their usual place of residence or no longer being treated as COVID-19	2,325
COVID-19 patients currently in ICU	7