Installation of Hot Hub at Salisbury Medical Practice – Q&A

What is going on at SMP?

We are installing a temporary Portacabin in our rear car park. This will be used to house our Hot Hub.

What is a Hot Hub?

It is the term that is being used to describe an area or site in general practice where we see people who have possible COVID-19 symptoms – this is anyone with a temperature over 37.8 or a new continuous cough or a new onset of loss of taste/sense of smell. This does not mean that everyone seen in it has COVID-19. In fact, most people seen in the hot hub will be people who do not have COVID-19 infection but who have another urgent medical problem, such as appendicitis or a breast lump, but have also had symptoms of a cough or temperature that means they need to be seen apart from regular patients.  

Why do we need one now? Isn’t the virus going away?

The concept of a Hot Hub is not new in Salisbury. For many weeks we have been running one alongside colleagues from other city practices. At present, the Salisbury Hot Hub is based at Harcourt Medical Centre. This plan was put together quickly at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak to cover the initial peak.

This plan has worked well for the people of Salisbury and has helped us to keep people safe. However, as time passes practices are becoming increasingly busy and Harcourt Medical Centre desperately need to return to their own premises as their temporary home is too small for the amount of work they now have to deal with. 

We have been advised by the government and NHS England that we need to build services that can continue for the next 12-18 months to cover the anticipated medical burden imposed by COVID-19. This is because until a vaccine is found there is no way to eliminate the virus. 

Why can’t this been done from inside Fisherton House or from another branch?

The purpose of creating a Hot Hub is to create a safe space, so that patients who need to be seen can be seen in the correct area and this keeps other patients and staff safe too.

This means that we can keep Fisherton house as our safe ‘cold’ site and allows us to continue to do all important normal day to day general practice for example seeing patients, doing dressings and immunisations.

Whilst much of our work is being done remotely via phone or video we are very much open for business and seeing people when appropriate.

In order to keep our staff safe we continue to exercise social distancing within our buildings. This means staff have to be more spread out and so we are using our branch surgeries in order to achieve this. This means however that we are tighter than ever for space, so we are unable to create a Hot Hub using our existing buildings. 

Is this testing centre?

Absolutely not. This is NOT nor was it ever intended to be a COVID-19 testing centre.

Test centres are run by NHS England and not your GP.

Are those that live and work near at risk of catching COVID-19?

No. We are putting in plans to ensure separate parking and clear signage. The patients who are coming to the Hot Hub (and remember they do not all have COVID-19), will be directed to a separate area and seen within the Portakabin. There is no reason why any other members of the public should need to be near this area and so there will be no risk.

We are aware that some people living and working nearby go through our back carpark as a short cut and walk around the back and side of our main building. This is not a public right of way and we ask especially during this time to refrain from doing this.  

Why have we not had more notice?

As I am sure you can appreciate this has been a mammoth task put together on a very short time frame. We are still working GPs and staff who are continuing to run normal surgery services whilst also trying to put together and provide the best and safest services for our patients throughout this ongoing pandemic. These are not normal times and therefore we have been unable to consult with everyone as we would do normally.

What about parking?

Because we are already doing much of our work via phone and video we are seeing fewer patients face to face at the surgery. There is therefore plenty of capacity within our privately owned practice parking area already.

This is not a walk in service, the patients coming to the Hot Hub have been booked in by a clinician and numbers are limited so the impact on the parking is limited.  The car park at Salisbury Medical Practice remains private property for use staff and patients only.

What about the weekend and night time?

As you may have already noticed there is more activity over the weekends than previously. This is because we have been temporarily supporting the local Out of Hours GP service who were previously based up at Salisbury Hospital but for obvious reasons have had to relocate during the crisis. It is not yet clear what the next steps are regarding this service but should they continue to be with us then they will be abiding by the same strict rules that we abide by.

Is this just a back handed way of expanding the surgery?

Absolutely not. This is a temporary solution for the COVID-19 crisis.

Once the crisis is over and we will be able to close the Hot Hub and remove the Portacabin, the area will then be returned back to its original state.

If you have any questions please direct them to WCCG.SMP@nhs.net.

Dr Rebecca Seabridge, Managing GP Partner

Published: May 20, 2020