South-east London patients urged not to skip hospital and GP appointments over Covid fears

By Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporter

Patients across South-east London have been urged not to skip their appointments with hospitals and GP practices due to coronavirus fears, as local health services back beefed-up precautions amid the UK’s second wave.

The NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) last week published an appeal for residents to continue seeking help for health issues aside from Covid-19, saying that services have gone to great lengths to keep people as safe as possible from the virus.

In a video released by the South East London CCG last week, staff from across the health authority urge residents to still access mental health services, GP practices and community based services.

Among the new measures implemented at facilities across South-east London include one-way walking systems, increased cleaning programmes, rearranged seating and face covering requirements.

It comes as the most recent data from NHS England shows rates of coronavirus remain lower in South London than in the north, with the borough of Greenwich having the lowest infection rate in the city, with 214 new cases confirmed in the seven days up to October 15 – or 74.3 cases per 100,000 people.

The data also shows that the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust has seen 35 patients admitted for coronavirus between September 20 and October 11, the most recent data that figures have been published to.

More than 100 patients with coronavirus required hospitalisation at the trust’s Lewisham hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in April, with the trust saying at the time it had adequate capacity to treat them all.

Fellow south-of-the-river neighbours Bromley recorded 265 cases in the week leading to October 15, while Lewisham (236 cases, up from 222 the week before) and Bexley (188 cases, up from 155) also recorded increases across the board.