Coronavirus Guidance
Coronavirus Guidance
Date: 20 Mar, 2020
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There is also specific advice for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so please ensure you relate our guidance to your own area too:
If you live in Wales, the government’s advice on shielding can be found here:
https://gov.wales/guidance-shielding-and-protecting-people-defined-medical-grounds-extremely-vulnerable-coronavirus-0
If you live in Scotland, the government’s advice on shielding can be found here:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-shielding/
If you live in Northern Ireland, your guidance around shielding can be found here:
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/guidance-shielding-extremely-vulnerable-people
The Corona Virus epidemic and how we can support you and your family.
I’m sure you, like us all, are anxious for yourself and your family at this unprecedented time. I wanted to share with you what we are doing and what we can do to support you and your family through these worrying and unknown times.
Our focus remains, to support the wellbeing of all patients and their loved ones as well as the well-being of our staff team. As many of you know the ASUK team are a virtual team and all work from home. This means that the Family Support Service will continue, but unless urgent, we will be carrying out most of our ‘family check ins and updates’ by telephone rather than visiting you in your home. This measure will help reduce person to person contact and follow the government guidance on social distancing.
As always you can contact your Family Support Worker by telephone, or FaceTime or by webinar link. Let your Family Support Worker know which method works best for you.
Update on Clinics
We will keep you updated on any decisions made to reschedule clinics and support you with any arrangements. As a provisional measure we are looking at supporting you through tele-medicine clinics until we can resume face to face clinics again in Birmingham. We will contact you by email, letter or telephone, whichever is best for you, as soon as we know more.
We are organising a variety of webinars so you can dial in by telephone or your computer to join together and chat with the Alstrom community. We will update the website and social media channels with more information about each session.
Social Media
We will continue to publish information on the website and through social media.
I want to reassure you that we will keep updating the ASUK Facebook pages with the evidence based information from trusted sources.
Finally, I want to thank you for your patience, understanding and offers of help during this worrying time. There has never been a more important time for us all to come together and help each other.
We look forward to speaking with you next week.
Best Wishes
Ann and the team
Ann Chivers, Chief Executive
Guidance from our Clinicians
Our AS clinicians have kindly brought together some specific information for people affected by Alstrom Syndrome. This is to read in conjunction with the Public Health England, NHS and Government general guidance below.
You can view guidance from our AS specialists HERE
General Guidance
This is the advice from NHS England and the links to the latest information about corona virus.
Everyone is being reminded to follow Public Health England advice to:
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Always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze. Bin the tissue and wash your hands or use a sanitiser gel.
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Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using public transport.
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Use a sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.
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Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
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Avoid close contact with people who are unwell.