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Coronavirus (COVID-19): Information for the public

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For latest Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland update please click here

 

The Covid-19 LLR Bulletins have now been replaced by our Five on Friday update, covering a broader range of topics.

 

Latest COVID-19 LLR Bulletins

 

Information and guidance

  • Dental services - If you live in the affected parts of Leicester and Leicestershire and have an urgent dental problem or you are in extreme pain, then please phone your local dental practice for advice and treatment. Please do not attend your practice in person, unless requested to do so by a dentist. If you do not have a regular dental practice, then call a local practice to access urgent treatment or advice as required. You can find a list of dental practices at www.nhs.uk or by searching dental practices for your area online. If your urgent dental problem is out of hours, then call 111 for advice.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

  • new continuous cough and/or
  • high temperature

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild infection. Find out more on the NHS Coronavirus pages.

Health advice

Andy Williams, Joint Chief Executive of the CCGs in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) said: “This is an unprecedented challenge to public health and health services. It is essential that people follow the simple advice on handwashing for example, and is aware of the symptoms and signs of coronavirus and takes appropriate action. Please make sure you are using the official information provided by the Government.

“Remember, the situation is changing rapidly so please do keep up to date with the latest information.”

Local planning

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Organisations across LLR met at the end of January 2020 to begin preparing services.  The LLR Health system is currently prepared for a response to COVID 19.

Help protect us, so we can protect you – is the message from the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

With coronavirus now impacting on almost every area of life, it’s more important than ever that we are looking out for each other and the most vulnerable in our communities.

The LRF is the multi-agency partnership made up of representatives from local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS and others. They are working together to implement the well-rehearsed plans already in place to deal with a pandemic.

Multi-agency approach

The challenge of COVID-19 is extreme; there is no vaccination, and it is a worldwide pandemic crisis, and our responders across all agencies are not immune.

With local plans in place, it’s key that you help us keep you safe too.

A multi-agency Strategic Coordinating Group, chaired by the Director of Public Health, Mike Sandys of Leicestershire County Council, are meeting regularly, and includes all the relevant partners at a senior level seeking to coordinate the complex response across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Mike Sandys said: “It’s important everyone understands how they can help to stop the spread of coronavirus and follows the Government’s advice. This means reducing the contact you have with people by working from home if you can, avoiding taking public transport and visiting social venues and minimising face-to-face contact with friends and family.

“This is an unsettling time and I want to reassure residents that councils, emergency services, the NHS and other partners are working together closely to ensure services continue to run, communities and businesses are supported and lives are saved.”

Chief Constable Simon Cole, the Chair of the LRF Executive, said: “We are all working very closely to make sure our response is joined up and we are keeping everyone across the city and two counties as safe as we can with the most up-to-date information.

“This is an unprecedented time for everyone, and we would ask that you help us – and yourself – by following all the advice from Public Health England.

“Staff and volunteers from all of the partnership agencies will be out in your communities helping keep you safe – do what you can to help keep them safe too.”

CCG response and planning

LLR CCGs have implemented command and control procedures which enables coordination of efforts from a health perspective to ensure we are protecting our patients and core services. The CCGs are also implementing an incident command cell for local coordination.

The LLR CCGs chair a system-wide Health Tactical Coordination Group meetings (HTCG) every week which have updates from each service along with Public Health England (PHE) to ensure we have the latest update to plan our response. Local authority colleagues are also represented when required on the HTCG.

CCGs are provided with a weekly webinar chaired by Professor Keith Willet, National Director for Acute Care to NHS England, who with key aides provides an overview to planning arrangements; each region/locality then adapts this information to tailor an approach for their respective areas.

NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) also meet via a regional incident response cell in order to monitor the situation and provide timely flow of information in order to assist local health systems in response to COVID-19.

LLR CCGs are also in close contact with the Local Resilience Forum (LRF - see above) which is coordinating a Strategic Coordination Group (SCG) with LRF partners who will provide assistance if required.