Non-urgent operations postponed and home birth services suspended in Surrey due to covid case rise
A number of measures are being put in place as pressure mounts on the NHS
Last updated 2nd Jan 2021
Home birth services have been suspended temporarily in parts of Surrey.
This means South East Coast Ambulance Service cannot guarantee a timely response to women who have chosen to have their birth at home.
It is one of a number of measures being adopted by a clinical commissioning group in response to rising coronavirus.
Surrey Heartlands CCG is also postponing non-urgent operations. But this won't affect cancer care or urgent operations.
Hospitals will look to discharge patients as soon as they are well enough to leave providing they have the right package of care as soon as possible.
Many outpatient appointments will move online or be done via telephone.
The measures affect East Surrey, Guildford and Waverley, North West Surrey and Surrey Downs.
Dr Claire Fuller, Senior Responsible Officer for Surrey Heartlands said:
“Due to the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 on local NHS services, we are doing all we can as a health and care system, to increase capacity. This includes opening more beds and redeploying staff to support our Covid-19 response, wherever we can.
However, to ensure we keep vital NHS services running we recognise that this isn’t enough and we now need to prioritise how we provide some care services to our community.
This is not a decision we have taken lightly but we must focus our efforts on those who are critically ill and need the most urgent care.
This means we have now postponed many routine and non-urgent elective procedures and operations to focus on urgent and cancer care, including caring for those with Covid-19.
“I would like to thank all our staff and partners across Surrey Heartlands, for everything they are doing at what remains a challenging and exceptionally busy time.
The measures we have put in place will allow us to care for those who need the most urgent help over the next few weeks; we will of course keep the situation under constant review so we can restore these non-urgent services as soon as possible.
In the meantime, NHS services are available if you really need us; spotting problems early is vital, especially cancers, and GPs continue to refer patients who need urgent treatment to hospitals as normal. And if you do have a booked appointment it’s really important that you attend.
Finally, we would like to thank the public for their support and to remind people to follow the national guidance to reduce the spread of Covid-19; this is critical in helping to protect our families, keep frontline services running and save lives. The pressure will stay on the NHS as long as the infection rates stay high.”
The latest government stats show coronavirus cases have risen by 6,373 in Surrey.
The figures for the week ending December 26 2020 also show the reproduction rate of 532.8 per 100,000.
More than 53,000 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the UK on New Year's Day. That's the second highest since the pandemic began.