Support and Advice during the COVID pandemic

Covid-19 Vaccination
This weekend is GRAB A JAB weekend.

If you are over 18 and would like your covid vaccination two walk in services are available for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca THIS WEEKEND.

Between Friday 25 June to Monday 28 June 2021 a walk in clinic is being held at Princess Royal Sports Arena, Wyberton 8 am – 7 pm

Peterborough United Football Clinic have a pop up clinic on Saturday and Sunday 26 – 27 June 8 am – 8 pm.


Advice for parents during coronavirus

It can be confusing to know what to do when your child/baby is unwell during the coronavirus pandemic.  Remember that the NHS is still providing safe care.

Advice for Parents/carers of babies less than 3 months old

Advice for Parents/carers during Coronavirus

What to do if your condition has deteriorated, and you are waiting for a hospital appointment about this

Unfortunately, due to COVID, hospital waiting times for procedures and appointments have increased, if you are waiting for a procedure or appointment at the hospital please do not contact the surgery about this, as we do not have access to the hospital appointment or waiting list system. 

If your condition has worsened please contact the outpatient department to enquire when your appointment will be. The details of the outpatient department should be on any correspondence that you have received from the hospital. If you feel that your symptoms are more severe and that the appointment time is too long, then please contact the specialist’s secretary to and ask the specialist secretary to request that the specialist review your referral in light of your new symptoms.

The number and email for the specialist secretary should be on the correspondence which you have received from them. If you are unable to contact outpatients or the specialist secretary then please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

PALS Lincoln: 01522 707071

PALS Boston: 01205 446243

PALS Grantham: 01476 464861

ULHT PALS email: [email protected]

PALS  NLAG: 03033 306518

NLAG PALS email: [email protected]

NWAFT PALS: 01733 673405

NWAFT PALS email: [email protected]


If you are concerned that your new symptoms may not be related to your original condition then you should let us know, and we can assess, advise, and manage your new condition.Lincolnshire GP and Medical Director, Dr Kieron Sharrock has offered advice for patients to determine the difference between the symptoms of a cold and Coronavirus.

The following advice has been provided to help patients and parents distinguish the difference between symptoms of a cold and coronavirus.

Cold v Covid 19 Advice for patients and parentsThe NHS Test and Trace App will be going live on Thursday, 24 September. There is a QR code displayed in our entrance, waiting areas and walkways. Patients are requested to scan the code with their phone. They will then be taken to a secure website where they can enter their contact details. You can download the NHS COVID-19 APP via the App Store and Google Play Store


Should practices provide face-coverings exemption letters?

From 24th July 2020 it will be compulsory for people to wear face coverings when entering shops and other enclosed environments. There are government guidelines on who is exempt from wearing face coverings on public transport, and we suspect similar guidelines will apply to other settings.

It is NOT expected that patients will require a letter of exemption from their GP practices. Practices should NOT have to provide these letters. If patients request exemption letters, practices can decline to provide these. Practices should remind patients that face-coverings are advised to protect both the patient and other people with whom they have contact, and that we encourage the use of face-coverings.

Exemption cards can be downloaded from www.keepsafe.org.uk/mask, further guidance can be obtained from the government website

gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings


COVID-19 vaccine research registry

As you may have seen, the NIHR has today publicly launched the COVID-19 vaccine research registry. This enables people to sign up to register their interest in taking part in vaccine trials into the virus.

The service is available to anyone aged 18 or over, living in the UK. To register, users need to fill in some personal and contact details, and answer a series of basic health screening questions on an NHS.UK website form.

The service is highly secure, with personal data and permissions held in a NHS system managed by NHS Digital.

By registering through the service, users are not signing up to take part in a specific trial or study. Instead, researchers working on vaccine studies supported by the NIHR will be able to search for volunteers who have signed up to the service. Signing up is an individual choice.

You can sign up to the register here, more information about the register can be found here.


Access to NHS Dentistry is currently limited during the pandemic as all dentists has been asked to stop all routine “face-to-face” dental care.

However, if you need urgent dental care, help is at hand.

Call your dental practice: They will give you advice over the telephone and make arrangements for you if you need to be seen.

If you don’t have a dentist, find your nearest dentist and CALL them.

You can search for your nearest dentist at nhs.uk/find-a-dentist

You can also contact NHS 111 or NHS 111 Online

You can ask for a translator if you need one, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Advice for Parents during Coronavirus


Children returning to school effective from 1st June 2020

Please click HERE for important information with regard to the upcoming plans to reopen schools for certain year groups, beginning in June.  

Guidance on Social Distancing for Everyone in the UK


Advice For Self-Isolating

Support Team for Assistance, for delivery of essential item care packages, medication pick ups, local business signposting and emotional support:

Support Requests: Call Keira 07415374095 or Laura 07846612993

Wellbeing Team: Call Laura 0784612993

Care Packages for the Vulnerable: Call April 07960857005 or Nikki 07903688896


Lincolnshire County Council

The council have set up a new COVID-19 support hotline.

If you or a community group want to help people in your community, or you or someone you know needs help they can call 01522 782 189

This number has three options:

  1. need information or support
  2. would like to volunteer
  3. advice for businesses

People can also continue to register for help online here: : https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable

More information can be found here


Isolation Notes for people affected by COVID-19

Isolation notes will provide employees with evidence for their employers that they have been advised to self-isolate due to coronavirus.
For the first seven days off work, employees can self-certify so they don’t need any evidence for their employer. After that, employers may ask for evidence of sickness absence. 

The notes can be accessed through the NHS website and NHS 111 online, as well as via the NHS app.

After answering a few questions, an isolation note will be emailed to the user. If they don’t have an email address, they can have the note sent to a trusted family member or friend, or directly to their employer.

The service can also be used to generate an isolation note on behalf of someone else.
As isolation notes can be obtained without contacting a doctor, this will reduce the pressure on GP surgeries and prevent people needing to leave their homes.


St Barnabas

The charity launched their support helpline on Monday, 27 April 2020 in response to the significant impact of bereavement during the current COVID 19 pandemic.

The helpline is available to the bereaved whether deaths are as a result of coronavirus or from other causes.

Tel: 0300 303 1897

Monday: 9.00 – 20.00
Tuesday: 9.00 – 17.00
Wednesday: 9.00 – 20.00
Thursday: 9.00 – 17.00
Friday: 9.00 – 17.00

It aims to:

  • Provide telephone support for those who are grieving the death of a loved one, family, friend or work colleague who was aged 18+
  • Make available trained volunteers to be a listening ear
  • Share strategies for reducing anxiety related to bereavement especially through COVID 19, loneliness, isolation and increased vulnerability
  • Normalise and offer support for some of the psychological emotional and physical reactions to grief and loss
  • Offer other strategies and ideas to help deal with grief in the current situation for example how to say goodbye when unable to attend a funeral
  • Help people with separation from other family members during bereavement
  • Signpost to other websites and agencies
  • Provide ongoing support via the St Barnabas Bereavement Team where appropriate

Mental Health Helplines

If you’re feeling low, anxious or stressed and you think that talking to another person may help you cope you can call the new mental health helpline in Lincolnshire which is open 24/7. 

The helpline is experiencing a high number of calls at the moment; if you do not get through the first time, please keep trying.

Telephone 0800 001 4331 (Open 24/7)

Steps2Change

Steps2Change provide talking therapies for people 16 years and older experiencing problems with anxiety, depression, stress and offers help with issues like bereavement or the impact of a traumatic event.

If you feel that you would like to access talking therapies you don’t need to make an appointment with your GP or healthcare professional, You can self refer to the service by following this link lpft.nhs.uk

Children and Young People

Call Lincolnshire Here4You line on 01522 309210 for advice and/or self referral to our children and young people mental health/emotional wellbeing services.

Kooth.com

Kooth is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people between the ages of 11-18 years old, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use.

For more information about XenZone, please visit xenzone.com

If you’re a parent looking for more information about Kooth, please email [email protected]

For self-help and COVID 19 related support/resources, please visit lpft.nhs.uk/young-people


Are you safe? Where to get help during the COVID Pandemic

We know that COVID 19 will have a serious impact on the lives of women, children and men who are experiencing domestic abuse.  Please remember you can still call 999 if you or someone else is in danger.

EDAN Lincolnshire  01522 510041  www.edanlincs.org.uk

Worried about somebody else’s safety? Report this to Lincolnshire County Council; call 01522 782111 if you are worried about a child, or 01522 782155 if you are worried about an adult.  www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/safeguarding/report-concern

National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247 www.nationaldahelpine.org.uk

Men’s Advice Line 0808 801 0327  www.mensadviceline.org.uk

National LBGT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline 0800 999 5428 www.galop.org.uk

If you are a child or young person and domestic abuse is happening in your home or relationship, then call Childline on 0800 1111 www.childline.org.uk


There is No Excuse for Abuse…Where to get help during COVID 19 Pandemic

Are you feeling stressed and worried, and concerned that you might take this out on the people you love?

If the coronavirus epidemic is putting pressure on you, and you are worried about your behaviour and the impact it might have on others, get help by calling the Respect Phoneline.

The law still applies, abuse, violence and coercive control are all crimes.

You still have a choice. Choose not to abuse.

The Respect Phoneline is available to help you manage your behaviour.

Respect Phoneline: 0808 802 4040
Opening Times: Monday -Friday 9 am – 5 pm  www.repectphoneline.org.uk

Webchat: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 am – 11 am & 3 pm – 4 pm


Safe Spaces

What is a Safe Space?

During COVID-19, if you are experiencing domestic abuse, we understand that home is not safe.

UK SAYS NO MORE is working with with Boots UK, Superdrug Pharmacies and independent pharmacies that have signed up to the Safe Spaces scheme, to facilitate their pharmacy consultancy rooms as a Safe Space for victims of domestic abuse during COVID-19.

Their consultancy rooms are open, ready for you to use and will display information on how to access specialist domestic abuse services.


Guidedogs – Phoneline Support

A new phone line has been launched to support you during the coronavirus outbreak.

Guide Dogs are providing answers and information for people with sight loss and their families during the coronavirus outbreak. They can help you identify ways to continue living actively, independently and well, refer you to their other services or help you access services by other providers. 

Please call 0800 781 1444; 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

Guide Dogs has changed the way it provides services in response to social distancing, with every channel being used flexibly to give you choice and access to expertise and advice promptly. 

For example, Guide Dogs staff can now arrange to contact you regularly by phone to provide individual support through the social isolation period. 

To access this and other services available, please call 0800 781 1444  between 9am-5pm Monday to Friday or visit www.guidedogs.org.uk/covid19 to find out more.

Deafblind customers who use BSL should contact Guide Dogs via the webpage www.guidedogs.org.uk/covid19 (this link will open in a new window – popups must be allowed), clicking on the SignVideo logo on the right hand side, or through a SignVideo app. This connects you to a SignVideo interpreter who will then connect to the information line.