Important information about coronavirus (COVID-19)
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The COVID-19 virus can have a huge impact on our physical and mental health. People recover at different rates and experience different challenges during their recovery.
Your COVID Recovery from the NHS helps you to understand what has happened to you and what you might expect as part of your recovery.
The site features a wealth of information including:
A limited number of countries and tour operators still require proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The mechanism for proving your vaccine status is through the NHS app.
For those who cannot access the NHS app you can request written proof that you have received your COVID-19 vaccination by contacting the NHS on 119. Please do not contact your GP practice.
Planning to travel? The NHS app will be your COVID-19 vaccine ‘passport’.
We would like to ask all patients to:
Follow the current government advice. Advice is being kept under constant review and you can find the latest guidance at: www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.
Do not come to any GP practice unless you have been specifically advised to do so after a phone/video consultation with a clinician at the practice.
Symptoms
Coronavirus symptoms:
Protecting you and those around you
Like the common cold, coronavirus infection usually occurs through close contact with a person with novel coronavirus via cough and sneezes or hand contact. A person can also catch the virus by touching contaminated surfaces if they do not wash their hands.
Everyone is being reminded to follow Public Health England advice to:
For those over 70, have an underlying health condition or are pregnant, they are strongly advised against social contact and to significantly limit face-to-face interaction with friends and family if possible.
For those who remain well, are under 70 or do not have an underlying health condition, they are advised to limit their social contact where possible, including using less public transport, working at home and considering not going to pubs, restaurants, theatres and bars.
If you need medical help from us, you can contact us online or by phone to be assessed.
If you need urgent medical help, use the NHS 111 online service. If you cannot get help online, call 111.
If it’s a serious or life-threatening emergency, call 999
If you are told to go to hospital it is important that you go to hospital.
You should continue to attend your appointments, unless you have been told not to attend.
As a result of the current COVID-19 outbreak, we are facing unprecedented demands on our services.
The vast majority of consultations will now be done via phone, e-consultations or video consultation. Clinicians will make a case-by-case decisions based on their experience to determine whether it is safe to manage each patient without physically seeing them or whether, in some circumstances, they need to see a patient in person.
Patients will be asked to ring the surgery with any query they have. All patients will be telephone triaged by the clinician.
Routine referrals
GP practices have started to send routine referrals into secondary where they have been reopened. As you will appreciate secondary care have a backlog of patient referrals to deal with so there will be delays and possible long waiting times.
Prescriptions
Order your medication as normal. Do not stockpile medication or request medication earlier than usual.
Do not request a sick note for any illness lasting 7 days or less or for any periods of self-isolation/social distancing. All non-dispensing patients prescriptions will be dealt with by Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and sent directly to your chosen pharmacy.
Routine vaccinations
Cancer patients
Heart attack patients
Stroke patients
Pregnant women
Dispensing patients
You can collect direct from our dispensary window, please knock on the window near the patient drop off area at Whitby and the window around the back at Robin Hoods Bay.
Inaccurate information - COVID-19 Rescue Packs
We have been made aware of some inaccurate information circulating regarding special ‘rescue packs’ for patients with pre-existing respiratory conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Please do not contact your GP practice for a rescue pack; you should continue to manage your condition in the usual way.
If you feel you have symptoms of COVID-19, go to the NHS 111 dedicated pages at https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19 before doing anything else.
NHS is here to support your mental health during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as your physical health.
Learning disability and autism
The Retreat’s Primary Care Mental Health Support Service
We know many people are experiencing increased problems with their well-being in the current circumstances. It can be hard to access mental health services or to know what support is available.
We are offering free mental health support sessions to patients of your GP practice. These sessions will be with a qualified psychotherapist who will listen and explore what might help you, either on the phone or online video meeting. Individual sessions will be 30 minutes, and we also have support groups of 1 hour.
If you would like to access this support please call 01904 412551
For further details please visit the website for more information on all services.
The Go-To site for children and young people
A new website has been launched, dedicated to helping children and young people in North Yorkshire find mental health support.
The Go-To – www.thegoto.org.uk – is designed to be a portal or ‘single point of information’ showcasing the mental health support services offered by different agencies in the county.
With the majority of young people currently not in school and many in isolation as a result of the restrictions imposed on movement to deal with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, health leaders believe online mental health support for young people has never been more important.
Diabetes UK Befriending Circle
The befriending circle provides people with phone and email based peer support, matching people with trained volunteers based on their experience of diabetes. Anyone interested in accessing this peer support can self-refer. Please click here for more information and how you can contact the service.