Westminster Park Residents Association

The Countess has announced the following changes to elective surgery, outpatients, visiting and maternity services:

Changes to elective surgery and outpatients clinics

The Countess of Chester Hospital is making changes with immediate effect to prepare for, deal with and adapt to the unprecedented challenges facing us as we manage our response to Covid-19.

Elective surgery

With regard to pre-planned surgery (elective capacity) and our approach to outpatients clinics, we will be providing emergency operative procedures only, together with management of cancer patients for whom it is absolutely necessary to ensure appropriate care. It is important that we do this to enable us to free up staff, free up capacity, and enable alterations to our bed base as necessary to accommodate large numbers of unwell patients.

Outpatients

We are also ceasing face to face outpatient consultations unless there is a compelling, safety-critical need for a physical visit to the site, at the discretion of the specialist team concerned. We are instead enabling virtual consultations for patients wherever possible, and will be communicating this to those patients affected.

This does not affect our emergency admissions, cancer treatments or other clinically urgent care activity.

Changes to visiting

If you are visiting loved ones at the Countess of Chester Hospital, please consider this advice:

If you are healthy, visiting is restricted to essential visitors only, such as parents or carers of a young (paediatric) patient, an affected patient’s main carer or if a close relative is terminally ill.

Please do not be alarmed if medical staff are wearing protective equipment, this is to protect themselves as well as our patients and to help to minimise the spread of the virus.

You may be asked to leave if certain procedures are being carried out. Visiting is restricted to one visitor per patient.  You are not permitted to take any photographs of staff or hospital premises without prior consent.

More information can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/visitor-guidance/

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Changes to Maternity Services

Important Information about Visiting and Appointments due to recent recommendations.

If there is going to be any changes to your appointment or visit you will be contacted by your Midwife.

If you or a family member have a new persistent cough and/or fever (temperature above 37.8) please do not attend any appointments.

If you are due an appointment with your Community Midwife at a Clinic before having your baby, or a home visit after having your baby please contact your Community Midwife on the number in your notes, or the Community Midwives office on 01244 365166.

If you have an appointment or scan at the hospital Please ring antenatal clinic on 01244 365106 or scan department on 01244 365090.

In each of these cases we will give you advice on an individual basis regarding further appointments.

Labour ward is also available 24 hours a day for advice on 01244 365028

For all appointments in the community or at the hospital we will be asking women to attend alone.

These measures have been put in place to help to protect the safety of mothers and babies by reducing the chance of the spread of COVID-19.

To help reduce the virus from spreading, we have decided to suspend the following services:

• Parent Education classes
  • Confident birth sessions
  • Early bird sessions

Breast feeding information and birth preferences will be offered as a telephone consultation for as long as the service allows.

We will continue to provide home visits on the first day following discharge and then on day 5 and day 10-14. Further visits may be arranged depending on your individual care plans.

If you are self-isolating, we will provide telephone consultations with a midwife and follow-up arrangements will be made according to your own needs.

Planned Induction of Labour and Caesarean Section

If you or a member of your house hold have COVID-19 symptoms please inform us- this may not change when your birth happens but we will need to make special arrangements for your arrival at the hospital to ensure your safety as well as other mums and babies.

Caesarean births will still happen, as this is planned surgery not elective.

Visiting Guidance

We are restricting birthing partners to 1, and visiting on the ward for the birth partner will remain 7am-11pm, but currently no other visiting.

The scan department will only be able to see you, no partners/ family present please. You will be able to video call during the scan.

These measures have been put in place to help to protect the safety of mothers and babies by reducing the chance of the spread of COVID-19.

Do not hesitate to call us if you are worried or have any questions. Please be reassured that we will provide care that is essential to mothers and babies throughout this challenging situation.

For all up to date information go to the Countess website:

https://www.coch.nhs.uk/patients-visitors-and-public/latest-information-about-coronavirus-covid-19.aspx

In order to cope with the rise in demand for their services, Royal Mail are changing the way they deliver letters and parcels.  From now on they will alternate delivery days for our area as follows:

Postal deliveries: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Parcel deliveries: Monday, Wednesday and Friday

We know that alternatives to loo roll have been a hot topic of conversation over the last few weeks. Whilst you may not be left with any choice but to buy them, you’ll need to dispose of them differently.

Kitchen roll and wet wipes don’t break down as toilet paper does and so they can cause blockages in the sewers.

Please put wet wipes or kitchen roll in a bin if you use them, don’t flush them.

Apparently this virus seems to be spreading quickly via petrol pumps so wear gloves or use a paper towel when filling up and dispose of them straight away.

Think I need to tidy up the office!

Hi all,

We are definitely in interesting times! Many people are self isolating, others very much limiting contact with the outside world.

But we do all need to communicate. Fortunately there are MANY options out there as well as the boring old phone call to talk to friends and family. Calling with video can make for a much better experience. Plus many of them allow for group chats so you can still meet up with friends virtually.

If you have a modern laptop, tablet or just your mobile phone, you are good to go. If you have a desktop computer, you will need to add a webcam and microphone, although some webcams come with a microphone built in.

Much has been said recently of Zoom. This is an enterprise product, but it does have a free option. I may look at this myself to do some online karate classes for my club. Others have used this for choir practice and other club meetings.

But there are many other options.

Facebook messenger can be used to make video calls.

Skype and Google Hangouts are also popular and good for group meetings and can also be used for screen sharing.

And of course there is always Whats App, Face time, and others.

So if you have not tried this before, now is the ideal time to give this a go.

Here is a link to the latest advice issued by Public Health England for households with suspected Covid-19.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection#things-to-help-you-prepare-now

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