As you will be aware, the NHS has come under great strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of the non-urgent hospital and community services were ‘paused’ - both as a safety precaution and to allow us to deliver the urgent care necessary.
While the restrictions of lockdown are easing, there are still measures in place which impact on the number of patients we are able to see and treat. If you are a patient on our waiting list, we have recently written to you to let you know that we haven’t forgotten about you, and to ask you to please bear with us as we start to make new appointments for our patients.
Some patients may have already received their appointments so if you have received yours, please attend that appointment as planned. If you are still waiting for your appointment, we appreciate that you may be disappointed and would like to reassure you that we will be in touch with you directly within the next three months with more information about when you may receive your appointment.
We also understand that you may be nervous about coming into hospital or a community setting but please be assured that we have taken all the necessary steps to keep everyone safe and reduce the potential transmission of the virus. More information is available here.
We will, of course, keep the national guidelines under review and if changes are made that effect when you may receive your appointment, we will be in touch.
If you are waiting for an appointment, your GP is aware that we will be back in touch soon so please do not contact them (or the surgery) for matters associated with you being on the waiting list. For other non-urgent medical conditions please contact NHS 111 or your GP surgery. For urgent conditions, you can contact NHS 111 for advice or if it is a life-threatening emergency, visit your local Emergency Department.
We would like to thank all of our patients and their loved ones for their continued patience and support during this difficult time. Our Trust has been able to respond well to the pandemic so far and a big part of that is down to the support we have received from our patients and local communities so thank you.