Welcome to this new weekly column all to do with Covid-19 which comes to you from Dr Thilan Bartholomeuz, local GP and clinical leader for Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP

In this time of numerous changes I wanted to reassure you of all the hard work that you may not see but is going on around you.

The situation with Coronavirus is changing all the time and we need to limit its spread in our community to protect our vulnerable. This means we are having to adapt and things may look at little different to normal. Please be assured that the vital services you need from the NHS and councils are still there, it’s just you may need to access them differently.

Your GP surgery will be changing appointments to telephone consultations to minimise face-to-face contact. You can also use the NHS App to order repeat prescriptions among many other helpful tasks like booking a telephone consultation. If you have a smartphone you can download the app now.

Another example is the online isolation notes service which means employees don’t need to visit the GP to get a note to show they have been off work due to having symptoms of coronavirus or living with someone who has symptoms. This can be accessed through the NHS website and NHS 111 online.

But the key message still remains that you should stay at home if you have either:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital but use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.

And everyone else should try to limit the social interaction as much as possible so we can reduce the spread of coronavirus.

If we all do our bit individually, then together we will prevent people getting sick from Coronavirus and this will reduce the amount of people who die. Thank you to everyone making sacrifices at home and at work.

Follow @careinMidNotts for the latest updates across Mid Nottinghamshire. For the latest national guidance go to nhs.uk/coronavirus