Dr Craig Melrose, GP clinical lead urgent and emergency care for North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are part of the huge effort underway within the NHS nationally mobilising to change the way that hospitals and GP practices run, freeing up tens of thousands of beds, bringing in more staff and ventilators, getting protective equipment to where it is needed and ramping up testing.”
He explained that within the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust: “We are pulling out all the stops. We are caring for more people with coronavirus in our hospitals each day and we are preparing to see a lot more.
“We have developed plans to significantly increase our critical care capacity by postponing routine procedures. This has enabled us to train theatre staff to deliver critical care and free up a large amount of beds.
“We have developed plans to zone our hospitals so that there are clear pathways for patients with COVID symptoms.
“Earlier this week we suspended visiting to our sites – this is a sensible step to help avoid unknown cases of Coronavirus in our hospitals and in our communities across North Cumbria.
“Our teams and other essential workers are coming to work to save lives, please help us to help you – stay at home. We all have a part to play in and out of work in our local communities.”
Following the Governments advice around social distancing will help reduce the speed of the virus and help hardworking NHS staff continue with their jobs.
Primary care:
Healthcare teams in Cumbria in primary care are working really hard to support patients during the pandemic. General practice staff are still seeing patients but everyone is being triaged first, on the phone or on-line consultations.
GPs are still offering essential routine appointments for baby immunisations and essential blood tests, but everyone will have a conversation on the phone before being invited for their appointment which in some cases might not be at your usual surgery.
Cumbria Health On Call (CHOC) is working hard to support patients out of hours.
Community pharmacy:
You might have seen people queuing outside your community pharmacy – this is to keep the staff there safe so they can keep dispensing your medicines.
You don’t need to order more than usual of your prescriptions, but be mindful you need to social distance when queuing.
NHS teams across Cumbria are working really hard and need your patience and support to keep going.
Covid 19:
If you think you have symptoms of Covid-19 the advice is:
- Stay at home
- Treat yourself by staying hydrated and taking paracetamol
- Only contact 111.nhs.uk or NHS 111 if you are getting worse and can’t cope
- NHS 111 will give advice on the process if you need to see a health care professional
- Don’t go to your pharmacy or into a GP Surgery if you have symptoms
