'Hot clinics' to be set up in communities to treat coronavirus patients as they recover at home

The planned treatment centres in County Durham, including East Durham, are similar to two set up in Sunderland last week.

They will give patients the chance to have a consultation in person, but do not offer testing, with only those referred by their GP able to attend, with all other visitors to be turned away.

The locations of the sessions, dubbed ‘hot clinics’ and ‘hot sites’ by NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), are not being revealed to prevent people trying to attend without an appointment.

The CCG has said it is planning a number across its area to help COVID-19 patients who need to be seen in their community.

A spokesperson said: “They will be put in to place as and when the workload escalates and we have to scale back work done in local surgeries.

“This allows us to free up primary care staff to support our acute hospitals, as that is where the early surge in cases is likely impact in the early weeks.

“As this pressure eases we expect the pressure to be in community services and that will then be where we concentrate our workforce.”

The clinics aim to see patients showing symptoms of the virus but cannot be managed through a remote consultation appointment or need to see a GP or nurse face-to-face.

Patients have been told they should continue to access their own GP surgery by telephone or online who will determine the most appropriate treatment/consultation required.

The Wearside units were launched in Sunderland on Wednesday, April 1, and have already started to offer extra help and advice to those who have long-term health conditions or underlying issues.

They were set up to fill the gap between those who do not need acute hospital care, but need additional treatment and monitoring of their symptoms and other related health conditions.

The NHS has stressed those clinics will also only see those referred to the teams through their GP and has said the units do not offer testing facilities.

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