Coronavirus COVID-19 Information

Do I need a sick note?

You can find lots of NHS England guidance here

You can obtain an Isolation note from here

What if I need my regular medication?

In the first instance please order repeat medication via our website, Patient Access or NHS App or via email. Please be aware that although we are working through requests as quickly as we can, the levels of demand are placing the system under pressure and pharmacies may not be able to order medication quite as quickly as normal due to the volume of requests.

Where we can, we are using techniques and systems available to us to try and ease some of the difficulties, but we would ask that you are patient and request medications with a little more time than you usually would. There is no need to request medications very early, we anticipate that these difficulties will be very temporary in nature and will ease over the coming weeks.

NHS England have asked all GP’s to issue prescriptions with a 28 day supply at the moment to avoid any potential supply disruption, however your GP might be able to give you more than one prescription at a time so please don’t worry this will not affect getting your medicines as usual.

We have also been asked to switch off paper prescriptions to reduce face to face contact in the surgery, this means we will send your prescription to a chemist of your choice.

You can download an App to help track your repeat medication here

What if I have a chronic medical condition?

Those most at risk of serious illness are being contacted by the NHS from 23rd March to advise what they should do.

Who is at high risk?

You may be at high risk from coronavirus if you:

• have had an organ transplant
• are having certain types of cancer treatment
• have blood or bone marrow cancer, such as leukaemia
• have a severe lung condition, such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma
• have a condition that makes you much more likely to get infections
• are taking medicine that weakens your immune system
• are pregnant and have a serious heart condition

Please do not contact us to ask about this – wait to be contacted. We will continue to support our patients and will follow the latest government advice. As you will appreciate, guidance changes on a daily basis and we are doing everything we can under challenging conditions.

How are we minimising the risks to patients?

In order to ensure that we can continue to deal with as many patients as possible, we have been advised by the Government that general practice should move to telephone and online consultations where possible. This helps to minimise the number of people who are physically coming into the practice. Where possible we avoid seeing patients who have coronavirus Symptoms but who are managing well at home. Cleaning advice has been issued by the government, and while we are always rigorous with our cleaning and disinfection, where appropriate and guidance differs for Coronavirus, we have changed our cleaning practices to reflect this.

Cancellation of and re-arrangement of routine appointments

Where we have needed to cancel or re-schedule appointments due to the current situation, we appreciate that this will not have been welcome news. We will do our best to provide capacity to re-book these appointments as soon as we are able.

At this time the hospital will also be cancelling routine face to face appointments, for some departments they might be able to change your appointment to a phone call or they might need to rebook it in the future. If you are unsure about any hospital appointments please call the hospital on 0208 401 3800 to speak to a member of the bookings team.