Hospitals in Wakefield 'fully compliant' with all coronavirus guidance, NHS Trust confirms

At a meeting of the NHS Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust Board on Thursday morning, chief executive Martin Barkley said the trust had set up three groups to ensure that they comply with all national guidance.

He said the Trust, which serves Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury Hospitals, are hoping to begin delivering community swabbing this week.

➡️ Castleford man's ingenious £3,000 toilet roll plan as Coronavirus panic buying leaves supermarket shelves emptyIt is unclear what form this community swabbing would take, though other Trusts have trialled schemes including 'drive-through' testing and visiting people in their homes.

Mr Barkley said: "The Trust is fully compliant with the national guidance. At the national guidance new guidance is issued very frequently. We have established a command and central set up in the trust.

"We have an operational group that meets at 9am every morning. We have a technical group that meets at least twice a week. And we have a strategic group that should meet once a week but has already met twice this week.

"It is a very dynamic situation. We have the pods on all of our sites and we are moving towards delivering community swabbing this week."

Wakefield Council are reminding residents to follow central government advice, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise.

At the time of print, no cases had been reported in Wakefield, but cases of the virus, officially known as Covid-19, have been confirmed in Leeds and Bradford.

Anna Hartley, Wakefield Council’s Director of Public Health, said: “You only need to self-isolate if you have been asked to do so by the NHS 111 service or a health professional.

“If you have been told to self-isolate, you need to stay indoors and avoid contact with other people for 14 days.

“It is very important that you follow this advice for the whole period, even if you do not have any symptoms, to help reduce the possible spread of infection.”

On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that a sixth person had died of the virus in the UK.

All of these people had underlying health conditions, but it is not known how each of them contracted the illness.

The official advice remains to focus on personal hygiene, washing your hands for 20 seconds at a time, and to self-isolate if returning from high risk areas, which include Thailand, Japan, Italy, Iran and China.

As of Friday, the NHS are also advising that anyone presenting with a new continuous cough or a high temperature should self-isolate for seven days.

Further information on self-isolating is available here. For the latest travel advice, visit the government's coronavirus page.