Coronavirus Advice and Guidance

COVID-19 treatments for highest risk patients - updated guidance

Information for high risk and vulnerable patients

You should keep lateral flow tests at home
You should keep lateral flow tests at home to use if you have symptoms. You can order these free of charge from https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests or by calling 119.
From 1 October 2023, the way you access tests may change. More information will be available at www.nhs.uk/CoronavirusTreatments.
You can also now use tests purchased from a pharmacy or shop.
You should take a test if you have COVID symptoms
If you have COVID symptoms, you should take a test immediately, even if your symptoms are mild.
If your test is negative but you continue to have symptoms, you should take another test on each of the next two days (three tests in total over three days).
You should report your test result where possible at https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result or by calling 119, using your NHS number and postcode. This will ensure your test result is visible to the NHS, to support referral and assessment.
You will not be able to report the result of a test purchased from a pharmacy or shop through the gov.uk website but this will not affect your access to an assessment for treatment.

For any general patient queries about COVID-19 treatments, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/treatments-for-coronavirus/

Local information:

https://www.sussex.ics.nhs.uk/your-care/local-nhs-services/covid-19-treatments-patients-at-highest-risk/

Treatment for those at greatest risk:

https://allianceforbettercare.org/nmabs/

Important information about the COVID-19 PANORAMIC antiviral clinical trial - you can join via this link

PANORAMIC is an Urgent Public Health clinical trial investigating COVID-19 treatments for people aged 18 or over with current COVID-19 symptoms. More details at www.panoramictrial.org

Become a hero from home and join the search for COVID-19 treatments

COVID-19 has affected the lives of everybody. We need to find safe and effective treatments that can help people to recover at home, without the need to go to hospital.

Researchers at the University of Oxford - in partnership with the NIHR - are trying to do this right now, and you have an opportunity to help by joining a national priority study called PANORAMIC.

The trial aims to find antiviral treatments that reduce hospital admission and speed-up recovery for people with COVID-19, who are at home and in the early stages of infection. The first antiviral treatment to be investigated through the trial will be molnupiravir (brand name Lagevrio).

To take part, you will need to have had:

1) a positive COVID-19 test result and be experiencing COVID-19 symptoms which started within the last five days

2) to be aged 50 years and over, or 18 years and over with an underlying health condition, such as asthma.

Taking part is easy. Eligible participants can join online or over the phone from the comfort of your own home. We will courier all the information you need directly to you at home. You will also receive a symptom diary, and you may receive a treatment to take.

Find out more and join the PANORAMIC trial’s volunteers in the search for COVID-19 treatments by visiting: https://www.panoramictrial.org/

GermDefence

There is a useful website called Germ Defence which was created by a team of doctors and scientists to give advice that has been proven to reduce the spread of viruses in the home. It can help you plan how to protect yourself and members of your family from infection by COVID-19 and ‘flu.

It’s easy to use and only takes 10 minutes - just click on this link:

www.germdefence.org

Please pass details of the Germ Defence website to your friends and family.

There’s a button at the bottom of the Germ Defence website for sharing by social media.

If you’d like to know more:

Over 20,000 people previously took part in research about Germ Defence
People who followed the advice in Germ Defence had fewer and less severe illnesses - and so did the people they lived with
Results of the study were published in The Lancet medical journal
Germ Defence has been updated with COVID-19 advice to help prevent a wave of COVID-19 and ‘flu this Autumn/Winter
Information about how the Germ Defence website is being evaluated is available here

Covid 19 and Diabetes Advice

Please click here for a link to more infomation.

The Practice is undertaking telephone diabetic reviews

NHS Diabetes Advice helpline NHS England and NHS Improvement have launched a new helpline in response to disruption to normal diabetes services due to the COVID-19 pandemic and response. The service is for adults living with diabetes who use insulin to manage their condition and require immediate clinical advice. Whether you or a member of your household have caught the virus, or routine care has been disrupted, the helpline is available for immediate clinical advice to help you understand how to effectively manage their diabetes. You can access NHS Diabetes Advice via Diabetes UK’s support line on 0345 123 2399 Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm.