The National Aspergillosis Centre(NAC) is situated in the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) at Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK. As the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 outbreak spreads throughout the UK all hospitals are having to devote most of their activity to help with treating people who have been infected by coronavirus and who are having severe symptoms. Consequently, MFT is shutting down normal outpatient clinics to release staff from their normal duties until at least 1st June 2020. NAC patients are high risk so we have developed our policy to inform and carry on caring for our patents during this time. All patients will get a letter explaining all of this in addition to this note.
NAC Outpatient clinics (26/03/2020)
- MFT has instructed for all out-patient clinics to be cancelled from 26/03/20.
- All new NAC patient appointments will be re-scheduled until after 31/05/20.
- A letter has now been sent to all NAC patients with follow-up appointments from 26/03/20 until 31/05/20 to advise them that their face to face appointment has now been converted to a telephone appointment that will be conducted in the same week as their scheduled appointment.
- In order to significantly reduce the number of consultations patients have been asked in this letter to call our secretarial team to re-arrange their appointment unless it is absolutely necessary.
- Two attempts will be made to telephone each patient; thereafter if no contact can be made their appointment will be re-scheduled by 3 to 6 months.
- If patients are deemed by a consultant to require face to face review following telephone consultation they will be booked into NAC clinic on a Friday morning. No face to face consultations will occur on a Wednesday P.M or Thursday A.M.
- If a patient requiring face to face review has symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 they will be asked to self-isolate for 7 days prior to being reviewed in the hospital.
- Telephone consultations will be held during the same week as the patient scheduled appointment. Due to staffing constraints scheduled appointment times cannot be adhered to. Where blood or sputum sampling is required to inform patient management postal packs will be sent out to patient homes.
- Patients that telephone NAC clinic administrators will be assessed, re-scheduled until after 31/05/20 or passed to a specialist nurse.
- Patients who contact the booking centre should be directed to email idandnacadmin@mft.nhs.uk
- Weekly patient Zoom support meetings are now taking place every day 10am. Register at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uZQocO-trj8pElzq-0Z9wqj4p-xoVd0CGg
- Monthly patients support meetings at NAC will now take place online at the same address, starting 02/04/2020