A total of 14 GPs and their staff at one practice have tested positive for Covid-19, as part of a coronavirus outbreak.
Haresfield Surgery in Worcester remains open following the outbreak, despite large numbers of staff having to self-isolate.
NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG confirmed to Pulse that the surgery has ‘undergone the necessary actions following the unfortunate event of positive Covid cases amongst its staff’.
All staff have since been tested ‘as a precaution’, but no patients were identified as having had contact with the infected staff.
The surgery has been deep-cleaned twice, including over the weekend, following the outbreak.
Dr Kathryn Cobain, director for Public Health Worcestershire, said on Friday: ‘[Fourteen] members of staff at Haresfield surgery in Worcester have tested positive for Covid. They are currently self-isolating for at least ten days and close contacts notified to isolate for 14 days, as per national guidance. As a precaution all staff have been tested. No patients have been identified as having contact with the staff affected.
‘The practice has robust measures in place to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and ensure the safety of both staff and patients. A deep clean of the premises has already taken place and further cleaning will be carried out over the weekend. The surgery remains open. Public Health in Worcestershire is working closely with the surgery to support staff and to ensure all necessary steps are being taken.’
The notice added that ‘the CCG, Public Health England and Worcestershire County Council have reviewed the situation and confirmed that the measures taken mean that there is no further risk to patients attending the surgery for necessary care’, despite the outbreak.
It comes as several GP practices had to close to be deep-cleaned at the beginning of the pandemic following concerns about similar outbreaks.
READERS' COMMENTS [9]
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I wish all my colleagues the very best and a rapid recovery. These are very rough times
Get better and don’t worry for the NHS.
Hope you are feeling better and get support from your local CCG.
By the way – what is this deep cleaning thing? Doesn’t this imply that standard cleaning that we are all doing doesn’t work. I wouldn’t imagine that spread between practice members will be lack of cleanliness!
Best wishes to all gps and staff
I do hope everybody is OK.
But the article describing covid prevention measures as robust reminds me of one of the science programs describing something unbreakable as the presenter promptly breaks it. Back to the drawing board surely.
Get well soon!
But I am curious, as I am sure many are, despite your ‘robust measures’, any idea what led to the outbreak spreading, so we can all adjust our measures too?
Whenever we have high numbers of cases in the community we are all at risk of catching COVID from even mild or asymptomatic cases. The long delays in Test and Trace is increasing the risk of viral spread and some patients have had to wait for 10 days for results to come back for the PCR antigen tests. It may be more useful to move to the rapid antigen test kits that give results either on the spot or within 1 hour. While they will only detect patients with higher viral loads it is such cases that are most likley to be spreaders. PCR testing amplifies even the tiniest trace of virus by log 40 an astronomical number; which is why it even picks up dead viruses after 10 days on many surfaces. Food for thought…
Shut the place for 2 weeks and let the entitled punters get out their spray cans and cover it with grafitti?
Get well soon, guys. Hoping for a speedy recovery.