We are here for you at Chiddenbrook Surgery. We urge that you contact us by telephone or e-Consult (via this web page) if you have any worrying symptoms, not related to Coronavirus, so you can access our services. Our clinicians are here to talk to you and advise the very best course of action for you. We use a very secure texting service for you to return photos to us if necessary. These are filed straight into your medical records ready for your telephone consultation with our clinician. Where needed, video consultations are also organised. If the clinician needs to see you, they will advise the best time to come along to the surgery where you will be seen/examined in a very safe environment.
The clinicians are currently meeting their patients in the car park to avoid too many patients in the waiting area at one time, however if you are arriving by foot and the weather is cold or wet, you will be directed by a passing clinician to the waiting area until your clinician is ready for you. If you are arriving by car, you do not need to let us know when you have arrived; please stay in your car and the clinician will find you as near to your appointment time as possible.
Clinicians are using protective equipment when they do see people face-to-face to minimise the risk of transmission. We ask that you also wear a mask/face covering if you need to attend the surgery.
Hospitals are continuing to offer tests for cancer, and treatment for cancer. Social distancing measures are in place to keep patients and staff safe when they do come in for their tests. The type of assessment may change and it may take slightly longer than normal, but this is still better than delaying until after the pandemic.
Hospitals are taking care to make their cancer assessment services safe for patients to attend, where this is necessary. Some have moved cancer services off-site, some are using video consultations.
Hospital procedures, operations and clinics are continuing to take place locally. You should not attend any appointment if you are self-isolating due to COVID-19 or have been informed by the hospital not to attend.
If you are experiencing symptoms of high temperature and/or a cough, you will need to contact NHS111 in the first instance.
We appreciate that everyone is trying to do the right thing by staying at home at this time, however, we are concerned that those caring for children, especially children with complex or underlying health conditions, may be too worried about going to hospital at this time to seek urgent medical help in the way that they normally would.
Nationally, the number of children with a delayed presentation to hospital is increasingly leading to further health complications and increased risk of serious illness, which could be avoided if medical help was sought sooner.