Coronavirus Information

The NHS in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Public Health England (PHE) are well prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of all patients, our community and NHS staff while ensuring as many services as possible are available to the public.

Patients who are coming to RJAH for appointments, procedures and surgery are reminded to ensure they use the Main Entrance to access the hospital, and not other entrances found across the site. This is to ensure that all patients are screened ahead of entering the Trust for the safety of our patients and staff.

The screening questions that will be asked to those attending the Trust can be found here.

If you are a contact, including a household contact, of someone who has tested positive for covid-19 or is waiting for a PCR test result, please do not attend your appointment. Please email [email protected] if you are not planning to attend your appointment.

Surgery at RJAH

We have re-introduced elective surgery to our patients based on clinical need. We will get in touch with any patients who are currently waiting so please do not contact us.

Outpatient Appointments

Patients who need to attend an appointment at the Outpatients Department at RJAH are being asked to leave their relatives at home or for them to wait in the car.

It's important to reduce the number of people through the doors of the hospital, in a bid to protect staff and patients – with the exception of those, who require a carer to accompany them.

Those with children are also being advised not to bring them into the hospital.

Visiting someone in hospital

We are now able to offer limited visiting to our long-stay patients. You can read more about this here.

Hands, face, space remains in place

Patients are being reminded that the equirements to wear a face covering and social distance at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) will remain in place, despite the easing of restrictions in England.

During the pandemic, infection prevention and control measures have helped to keep patients and staff safe. During this time, patients and visitors have had to wash their hands, wear face masks and maintain a social distance of two metres.

These safety measures minimise the risk to vulnerable patients and staff and help people feel more confident about coming to our hospital to receive care.

Face coverings

We have put measures in place to ensure the safety of all patients and staff. When you enter the hospital, you will be required to wear a face mask which will be provided to you upon entry. If you have an allergy to latex, please ensure you bring your own face covering to wear.

For some people, wearing a face mask/covering may be difficult due to physical or mental health conditions. In these instances, other measures will be considered on a case by case basis, for example timed appointments and being seen immediately on arrival.

All visitors will be expected to comply with existing social distancing and hand hygiene measures, in addition to wearing face coverings while onsite in hospital.

Hydrotherapy Pool

The Therapeutic Pool - otherwise known as the Hydrotherapy Pool - has been closed since mid-March in response to the covid 19 pandemic. At this current time, we remain unable to open the pool to patients due to strict infection control and social distancing measures within the Trust.

Whilst the government have now issued guidelines for the opening of swimming pools, the pool here at RJAH is classified as a therapeutic pool. As such we will be following the guidelines written by the ATACP (Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Aquatic physiotherapy) in the first instance.

Initially, our aim is to open the therapeutic pool to patients who are currently undergoing treatment within the hospital. This patient group will mainly involve the patients on the Midland Centre for Spinal Injuries (MCSI) and may also include paediatric patients as we begin to restore inpatient stays. Due to the vulnerability of these patients, we remain unable to open the pool to members of the public out of hours in order to ensure that the pool area remains safe for our patients.

We will keep the situation under review and will be in touch with members, when we are ready to reopen the pool to the public and the form in which this will take.

Information around COVID-19

If you are unwell, please do not book a GP appointment or visit your GP practice, a pharmacy or hospital.

The most up-to-date public guidance can be found online at: www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.

Advice for staying at home can be found here.

If your symptoms are serious, or get worse, NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need further medical help and advise you what to do.

Only call 111 direct if you are advised to do so by the online service or you cannot access the online service. You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home.

For the latest COVID-19 advice, please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.

Like the common cold, coronavirus infection usually occurs through close contact with a person with novel coronavirus via coughs and sneezes or hand contact. A person can also catch the virus by touching contaminated surfaces if they do not wash their hands.