Doncaster health bosses 'preparing for worst and hoping for best' over coronavirus outbreak

The council’s public health led Dr Rupert Suckling urged people to contact NHS 111 if they feel they may have the virus.

There are currently no cases in Doncaster but three confirmed cases in South Yorkshire after one resident in Rawmarsh, Rotherham and two in Barnsley tested positive for the virus.

A GP practice in Mexborough closed on Friday morning following national guidance. A person attended The New Surgery with symptoms and they have since been transferred to a coronavirus pod for testing.

One man is in quarantine in Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital after being transferred from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

Edlington and Warmsworth Coun Phil Cole asked the council’s public health led Dr Rupert Suckling what strategies were in place in Doncaster and asked if people know what to do if someone presents with the symptoms.

He also raised concerns around potentially ‘misleading’ social media posts and questioned who is monitoring the situation in Doncaster.

Coun Cole said: “The evidence here is that people are producing the symptoms of coronavirus who have not had immediate travel back from affected areas making it difficult to contact the trace.

“This is going to be on an entirely different scale - one in five of people over the age of 80 who contract this will die.

“It’s not clear in Doncaster who is co-ordinating the communications lead because there’s the hospital trust, GP practices etc and does everyone know what the instructions are when someone presents themselves with symptoms.

“I’m aware of one case where a GP surgery were unsure in what to do with a woman when she walked into surgery they escorted her to the end of the car park - the systems are much better now if people know what they are but I don’t think everyone does.”

Dr Rupert Suckling, director of public health at DMBC, said: “Currently, while we’re in the assessment phase of a new pandemic, it’s a national response and the identification is led by NHS 111 and the follow up and communication is led by Public Health England.

“As we move into more of a deferral phase, I expect to see the responsibility come locally.

“We have a pandemic plan and a tactical group has already had two meetings to start to plan for the worst and hope for the best - that’s what we are doing.

“We do have single points of contact set up across different departments and public health information lines which we used in the floods which we can call on should we get a surge.

“Social media response will be monitored when we move into local control of response.

“Regular hand-washing really does reduce the peak and the transmission of coronavirus.”