Ealing Hospital Restricting Visitors Due to Coronavirus
Advising friends and relatives with flu-like symptoms to stay away
Ealing Hospital is restricting visitors to its wards to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The Uxbridge Road site in Southall has updated its advice telling family or friends of patients to stay away if they have flu or cold-like symptoms.
The move comes as the number of London cases has risen to 91. Ealing however, continues to have five confirmed diagnoses in the borough.
In a message on its website, the warning reads: “Please do not visit your friend or relative in hospital if you have flu or cold-like symptoms.
“If you’re visiting someone who may have, or is suspected to have coronavirus, our staff will consider the risks involved with your visit on a case-by-case basis, and you may be asked to wear some special equipment that will help protect you against the virus.
“You will be asked to return home after your visit and not to go to other areas in the hospital.”
The A&E hospital has also set up a pod to isolate potential coronavirus patients.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s latest figures on Wednesday, March 11, show 456 people have tested positive across the UK.
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the Ealing hub, is treating patients suffering from the respiratory disease at its Northwick Park hospital in Harrow.
The statement added: “While this is a new coronavirus, our doctors have extensive experience of treating infectious diseases. We also have appropriate facilities designed to provide the best care for patients who have the virus whilst keeping everyone else being treated at Northwick Park Hospital safe.”
The public are being asked to call NHS 111 rather than attend a GP surgery or A&E if they believe they have the illness, or have been to a country within the last 14 days where there is a high risk of coronavirus.
Anahita Hossein-Pour - Local Democracy Reporter
March 11, 2020