Surgery at centre of Atherstone's coronavirus outbreak cancels face-to-face appointments 'for next few weeks'

Open surgery is being cancelled at the medical centre where Atherstone saw its first coronavirus case.

Face-to-face appointments will not be available "for the next few weeks" as the Covid-19 outbreak fully impacts on Atherstone Surgery and its 16,300 patients.

GPs Scott Thomson and Rachael Davies plus a female administrator at the Ratcliffe Road practice are self-isolating at home after coming into contact with two patients – both now thought to have tested positive for the condition.

One was confirmed on Monday and the results for a second is imminent.

Practice manager Karen Clarke confirmed to Nub News earlier in the week that normal consultations with clinicians would be switched to telephone triage appointments in most cases.

And the surgery has put out a statement indicating it is "delaying any non-urgent routine appointments to a later date".

The statement added: "This will also mean that we will be cancelling face to face open surgery for the next few weeks and will deal with phone slots only for the clinician to decide if an appointment is necessary or not.

"We are constantly monitoring the coronavirus situation and will keep our patients updated as soon as we can."

The surgery, under siege with calls from the public, furnished Nub News with an up-to-date position his morning.

Ms Clarke said: "We are telephoning patients before they come down to the surgery to ascertain whether they are unwell or not.

"And anyone who may be ringing up for a repeat presecription which might require a medication review is being told we will be delaying that for a month."

The surgery is back to full strength in terms of doctors with locums covering for the missing GPs.

Yesterday two care homes in the area began to move to 'lockdown' mode when Nub News revealed Merevale House and Bentley House Care Centre had closed their doors to all visitors as added protection for their residents.

Sue Ibbotson, Public Health England centre director of the West Midlands, said: "Public Health England is contacting people who had close contact with four of the latest confirmed cases of COVID-19 who are residents of Warwickshire.

"Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed case.

"This tried and tested method will ensure we are able to minimise any risk to them and the wider public."

Meanwhile, the Bank of England has stepped in to cut interest rates from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak on the day Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivers his first Budget.

This comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which now has a total of 382 confirmed cases.

Nub News has published a 'What Atherstone needs to know about coronavirus' , compiled from Government-approved sources, which you can find here.