Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – latest information

21/08/2020

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is accepting international urgent and critical patient referrals. Each referral will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by our expert team and prioritised by clinical need. We know delays to treatment can cause great anxiety. Your child’s health remains our number one priority and our clinical team are working hard to prioritise those who need our care most urgently.

We are accepting outpatient referrals, but please be aware should your child require further treatment through an inpatient admission we may not be able to accommodate this for certain procedures at the current time. Where relevant your consultant will discuss this with you in more detail.

International patients travelling to the UK for treatment and their family may be required to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival to the UK. This is required for all families coming from a country that is not on the government’s 'corridor list'; you can find more information on GOV.uk. If you are required to self-isolate, you will still be able to visit the hospital within the first 14 days of arrival.  

All travel corridors are currently closed: for more information about UK 'travel corridors' please visit GOV.UK

We will discuss self-isolation requirements and additional safety measures with you at the time of booking an appointment.

The safety of our patients, families and staff is vitally important to us, even before coronavirus. This is why we have expanded and improved our telehealth services, offering you our expert advice and services online. All or part of your child’s treatment journey may now take place online; this is to ensure the safety of your family and our staff.

If you visit the hospital, you will notice that we have additional safety measures in place to protect everyone at GOSH. You can find more information about our safety measures on our Coronavirus (COVID-19) information hub.

If your treatment with us was postponed, you will hear from us shortly. If you have any questions about any upcoming or current treatment, please contact your consultant directly.

To refer a child or patient, please visit our referral page online, email us on privateinfo@gosh.nhs.uk or phone us on +44 (0)20 7762 6822.

Our International & Private Patients Service (IPP) wards and clinical teams are integrated with the wider hospital, providing additional capacity and - in a first for GOSH - general paediatric services supporting the wider London population and local NHS Trusts. 

The IPP central team are continuing to support our current International Inpatients and work with their Embassies to repatriate those patients who can travel as soon as the travel situation allows.  We are working closely with our patients and families who need to remain in the UK for ongoing essential care and treatment.

We continue to engage with, and support, our international partners and recently hosted an international video conference with children’s hospitals in China, discussing their experiences and what they have learnt.  We’re actively engaged in a number of research studies and clinical trials in order to advance the global understanding of the impact of this pandemic on children, and specifically those with complex and urgent health conditions who we continue to support.

We continue to review urgent and complex patients who are being referred to GOSH.

For FAQs please see here. 

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) update (24.03.2020)

We have made the difficult decision to limit hospital visitors to one carer per family. This must be the same carer each day. Unfortunately, siblings will not be able to visit the hospital.

While we understand that these measures will be difficult for families, our priority is the safety of all GOSH patients, families and staff. Limiting visitors will significantly reduce the risk of infection being brought into the hospital.

As part of the reconfiguration to support NHS services across London, the International & Private Patient (IPP) ward teams are integrating with the wider GOSH services in order to provide additional capacity, until such time as we begin to recover from this situation.  IPP central services are continuing to support our current International Inpatients until such time as they can be repatriated, or whilst they remain in the UK for ongoing essential care and treatment.

We continue to work closely with the Embassies and Country Sponsors to facilitate repatriations as early as possible, and are looking at other ways that we can support patients and families to be in the most appropriate setting for what may be a protracted period for some.

In line with GOSH preparations to support wider NHS services, the International & Private Patients (IPP) Service is reconfiguring Bumblebee Ward in order that it can support NHS general paediatric patients. Our current and future international & private patients will be cared for within the appropriate specialty areas of the hospital, in order to ensure they continue to receive the very best clinical care and treatment.  The IPP team will continue to support patients and families wherever they are in our hospital, something that we are very familiar with doing. Our Outpatient service is now closed to anything other than essential care and treatment, for example our Cancer service remains open and supporting our patients.

Discussions and planning for discharging and/or repatriating our international Inpatients continue with their Country Sponsor, and GOSH will continue to support these patients as transfers are arranged in the coming days and weeks. 

Thank you for your understanding and patience during this period.

As part of the NHS preparations, GOSH has been asked to support NHS services across central and north London by increasing its capacity for high dependency and intensive care paediatric admissions.  In response, GOSH has suspended all NEW non-urgent international & private Inpatient and Outpatient referrals.

In discussion with their Country Sponsor, our current international and private Inpatients have been reviewed and some non-urgent patients are being discharged and/or repatriated. 

We have now been asked to extend this to our current Outpatients and a case-by-case review is taking place in discussion with the treating clinicians, with non-urgent appointments being postponed. Essential Outpatient treatment will continue and is being prioritised.  Those families impacted will be contacted directly.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) situation within the UK continues to evolve rapidly. GOSH is working closely with Public Health England and implementing NHS guidance to control and mitigate the potential impact of the virus. GOSH remains responsive to the situation and is reviewing measures daily to ensure the safety of our patients, families and colleagues.

In response to the situation, GOSH is suspending all NEW international & private referrals with effect from Friday 13th March. All current international and private Inpatients will continue to be treated.  All international and private inpatient admissions that are already arranged are being reviewed on a case-by-case basis, with non-urgent admissions being postponed. You will hear directly from GOSH about any upcoming planned admissions.

The situation will be reviewed in early April, and families will be contacted at that time with an update. If you have any questions about any upcoming or current treatment, please contact your treating consultant directly.

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