Coronavirus testing pod for Shrewsbury hospital as UK cases rise
A coronavirus testing-pod will be set up at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital by the end of the week, health chiefs have revealed as the number of confirmed cases in the UK reached 40.
David Evans, joint accountable officer for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups, delivered the news to a meeting of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Council's joint health overview and scrutiny committee today.
Liz Noakes, director of public health at Telford & Wrekin Council, told the committee that more than 11,700 people have now been tested in the UK, but so far no one has tested positive in Shropshire.
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A temporary building has already been put in place outside A&E at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, for the purposes of testing patients with suspected coronavirus.
The NHS ordered all hospitals to set up the isolation booths to deal with suspected cases of the respiratory illness.
Ms Noakes said the numbers of people being tested had increased both locally and nationally, particularly over the past week, due to people travelling back from affected areas in February half-term.
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust is also supporting The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in the development of home and community testing.
Shropshire Council's director of public health, Rachel Robinson, told the meeting that people were being directed to the testing pod when necessary after ringing NHS 111, and had not just been turning up at the hospital sites.
Mr Evans confirmed that RSH would be getting its own coronavirus testing pod by the end of the week.
He said: "We need to try and make sure that people understand the message, that is ringing 111 in the first instance.
"Those patients that need to be tested will be directed to a pod."
When asked what the pods were like, he replied: "They effectively are just isolated rooms within the two hospitals so people don't go into A&E.
"They get directed straight to the pod.
"There are staff that will attend the pod as people turn up to be tested."
Symptoms of coronavirus can include a cough, difficulty in breathing and fever.
The infection can cause more severe symptoms in people with weakened immune systems, older people and those with long-term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease.
Today, Boris Johnson said the spread of coronavirus in the UK is "likely" but a plan has been agreed to tackle it.
He said people "should go about business as usual" at the moment, adding that the UK was "well prepared" and further details would be announced in the coming days and weeks.
For the latest information and advice from Public Health England visit gov.uk/coronavirus
