Coronavirus pods planned for all hospitals to avoid chaos at A&E
ALL NHS hospitals in England have been ordered to create secure pods to assess patients with suspected coronavirus, to avoid A&E departments becoming deluged.
The letter, sent last week, instructs all chief executives and medical directors to have “coronavirus priority assessment pods” up and running by tomorrow. In the letter, Prof Keith Willett,
who is leading the NHS’S response to coronavirus, tells NHS managers: “Plans have been developed to avoid a surge in emergency departments due to coronavirus. Although the risk level in this country remains moderate, and so far there have been only two confirmed cases, the NHS is putting in place appropriate measures to ensure services remain unaffected by any further cases or tests of coronavirus. Trusts are being asked to organise a coronavirus priority assessment pod, which will mean people with symptoms indicative of infection will get quick assessment, while other patients also continue to get appropriate care.”
Any patient who arrives at hospital with possible signs of infection will be sent to the pods, while specialist help is sought. The secure areas will need to be decontaminated each time they are used, the letter explains. The letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, says the pods must be in “an isolated area of the hospital, which is away from the emergency department and able to be decontaminated after every use”.
The letter says hospitals need to plan for “measures to deal with the potential for increasing numbers of patients”.
An NHS spokesman said: “Anyone with a cough, fever, or shortness of breath who attends hospital and has recently returned from China, will be advised to follow signs to NHS 111 pods and call for advice, so they stay isolated from other patients and avoid causing unnecessary pressure in A&E.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has said 468 people in the UK have now tested negative for coronavirus, with two positive cases.
Meanwhile, the UK Government is chartering a final flight to bring British nationals back from coronavirus-hit Wuhan.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged countries to take an “evidence-based approach” to responding to the threat of coronavirus after the UK urged its citizens to leave China. In a veiled criticism of Foreign Office advice to British expats to quit the country if possible, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said “blanket approaches” were not helpful.
The UK is the only country to have called on nationals to quit China.