Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance has been issued to community health NHS trusts on the treatment of suspected Covid-19 patients at home.

Public Health England has published guidance for primary and secondary care professionals that outlines infection prevention and control advice for healthcare providers assessing, testing and caring for possible cases of COVID-2019. This guidance should be used in conjunction with local policies and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/wuhan-novel-coronavirus

Additional guidance for primary care professionals can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wn-cov-guidance-for-primary-care

Currently, all suspected cases are assessed by NHS 111 and if COVID-19 is considered a possibility then they are advised to self-isolate and the testing arrangements are clarified. The history and test result are then used by clinicians and local health protection teams to determine next steps. Some community health National Health Service trusts may be involved in the testing of suspected cases and they will be working to an agreed local protocol.