Coronavirus: advice

Kingston Hospital Advice

Following guidance from Public Health England, please consider the following before coming to Kingston Hospital:

• Please don’t come in to our Urgent Treatment Centre or our Emergency Department if you have a sore throat, cough or flu symptoms and if you have travelled to the UK from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau in the last 14 days.

• Please stay at home and call NHS 111 for medical advice if you are worried you may be infected with coronavirus.

• If you are seriously unwell and require urgent medical attention please call 999.

For more guidance please visit  https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/wuhan-novel-coronavirus

At present, suspected cases are defined as:

• acute respiratory infection of any degree of severity (including at least one of: shortness of breath, cough or sore throat)
• or severe acute respiratory infection requiring admission to hospital, with clinical or radiological evidence of pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome
• and have lived or travelled in Wuhan/Hubei Province in the 14 days before onset of illness, or are contacts of a confirmed case of Wuhan novel coronavirus.

Information for the public

Information for the public on the outbreak of coronavirus in China, is available on a specific gov.uk page. Information is also available to the public on NHS.uk.

The gov.uk page is updated daily with information on the number of tests undertaken in the UK and the latest information. The public can use this page to find out about the virus and its symptoms. The page includes the following guidance for those that have travelled to Wuhan city, Hubei province and China.

A Coronavirus public information campaign has been launched across the UK. The government-funded campaign includes public health advice on how people can protect themselves from infection

NHS England and NHS Improvement response

Public Health England has declared a National Enhanced Incident following a preliminary determination of a novel (or new) coronavirus by officials in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The Department of Health and Social Care has also declared an incident and has established an incident team. NHS England have declared this a Level 4 Incident in line with our Incident Response Arrangements and we have established in Incident Management Team. Keith Willett has been appointed as Strategic Incident Director.

A number of pieces of guidance has been issued to the NHS on responding to the virus: guidance for primary care, infection and prevention control guidance andInformation on the initial assessment and investigation of possible cases.