SURREY County Council is setting up a coronavirus helpline for residents needing more support from the community, to relieve pressure on the NHS.

It is hoped this will also be a way of directing those who want to volunteer in their communities to the charities and voluntary organisations that need extra hands.

Council leader Tim Oliver announced the measures it was taking on Tuesday at what could be the council’s last public meeting held in-person as it looks for ways to hold meetings online.

He said: “We are setting up an emergency helpline number for concerned residents and are working closely with the district and boroughs, the local resilience forum, to ensure we coordinate in the most effective way the voluntary and charitable sector.”

This would not be a medical helpline, but one to offer practical help in the community. 

He said the council is a public service and it remains on high alert with teams working “tirelessly” to support schools, care homes and health partners. 

Cllr Oliver added: “Our priorities at this time are to ensure that we do everything we can to reduce the pressure on the NHS, to protect our most vulnerable communities and support our staff and residents.”

There were 34 of the 81 council members absent from the meeting at Surrey County Hall on Tuesday. 

Cllr Paul Deach said on Twitter he was self-isolating and Cllr Peter Martin, who was at the meeting, said he would also now be self-isolating. 

The council had to vote through changes to its constitution to allow future decisions to be made by a delegated cabinet member or council officer. 

Protocol around other democratic procedures such as questions to the council and petitions is being developed. 

Staff are looking at how to hold meetings online. 

Cllr Oliver said they were committed to meeting their public duty as a council.

He added: “The challenges being brought by coronavirus are not going to go away any time soon, we will be tested further in the coming weeks and months almost certainly, but it is during times like these that we must all pull together. 

“Our residents must be assured that we will continue to deliver the vital services they rely on.”

Details of the helpline are being finalised as SCC makes sure it has staff in place to operate it and will be announced later this week. 

Anyone looking for medical advice or information from public health must still go to nhs.uk.coronavirus or call 111 if they are suffering from severe symptoms. The advice is not to call 111 if you have mild symptoms but to go online instead.

Hampshire County Council has emphasised its priority will be on providing critical services for Hampshire residents during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Keith Mans, said: “We have been working on our business continuity plans for some weeks now, alongside our partners, to help prepare us for what we know will be a long and difficult period.

"Therefore, our focus must be on how we can deliver frontline services, on behalf of the residents of Hampshire, especially to those who need us most – over a sustained period.

"Our planning considers how we will ensure sufficient levels of staffing to keep things running and to maximise all available resource to meet demand.

“I understand that many people are concerned about how best to protect themselves and their families – we continue to promote the Government’s important and updated messages on social distancing and hygiene."We recognise that the volunteering community will play an increasingly important role as more people self-isolate. We’re working closely with our Voluntary and Community Sector partners to help co-ordinate and mobilise those efforts, together with Hampshire district, parish and town councils.

“I would also like to reassure residents that, as the Public Health Authority for Hampshire, we are working closely with Public Health England, and all of our partners to ensure we remain in a good position to respond rapidly to changing advice from Government.

"Whatever happens, our focus is to ensure critical local services to Hampshire residents are maintained."

For more information, visit: www.hants.gov.uk/coronavirus

All GP practices across the area are also being encouraged to move to online consulting or telephone consulting wherever possible, to minimise footfall and protect staff and patients.

Jenny Partridge, practice manager at Farnham Dene Medical Practice, told the Herald: "Each practice is managing this slightly differently, at Farnham Dene we are using online consulting for all patients requesting a routine GP appointment and this is triaged and then dealt with by the GP either by text, phone or face to face appointment if needed.

"If people can’t access the internet the receptionist is completing a triage form for them which the GP reviews. Urgent medical problems are being phoned by a GP first and then coming in to be seen where absolutely necessary.

"We are still seeing patients for other essential services including wound care and immunisation. Each practice will have updates on their website.

"The key message to patients is don’t come to a GP practice if you have any symptoms of coronavirus – a high temperature of 37.8 degrees centigrade or higher or a new continuous cough.

"We already have a number of staff off sick or self-isolating so we do ask patients to only contact us if absolutely necessary. The NHS 111 website provides up to date information on coronavirus and how to self care. https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19?"

The Herald understands a number of schools across the area, including Bohunt in Liphook, have partially closed because of staff shortages. The latest information can be found on the relevant county council websites.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Surrey and Hampshire increased to 99 on Tuesday, according to the latest Public Health England statistics.

A total of 69 people have now tested positive for the virus in Hampshire as of 9am on March 17, up 14 on a day earlier, making Hampshire the most affected county in England.

In neighbouring Surrey, 30 people have now tested positive – up five on a day earlier.

Nationwide, 1,950 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the UK – with an additional 407 contracting COVID-19 on Sunday.

To-date, 60 deaths in the UK have been linked to the virus, while 65 patients have already made a full recovery after contracting the virus.

On Tuesday, the Herald teamed up with Farnham Town Council and the Farnham Maltings to form the ’Farnham COVID-19 Co-operation Group’.

The Maltings, which closed to the public on Tuesday, and town council will redeploy staff and facilities to the relief effort as needed in coming weeks and months, as well as backing local groups set up to support those in self-isolation.

Further details will be posted in due course on each partners’ websites and in the Herald.

We are also supporting relief efforts elsewhere in the area, and have also teamed up with Alton Town Council to ensure copies of the Herald – complete with the latest information, advice and contacts, as well as the usual mix of local news – are distributed direct to doorsteps.

It comes after The Herald launched its #HelpingHand appeal, seeking to keep those self-isolating connected with the community, and to promote agencies offering door-to-door support.

In coming weeks and months, the Herald will be actively supporting community groups both new and pre-existing, offering support to anyone quarantining themselves over the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Relief efforts are still being finalised across the area, and few single points of contact for those willing to offer help exist. But we will post the latest updates online, and in the meantime are calling on any organisation willing to offer support to those in quarantine to get in touch by emailing [email protected] or call 01252 899221, including details of what support is offered, and how people can access it.

We are also encouraging readers to set up their own local networks, perhaps aided by mobile phone messaging apps such as WhatsApp, and this week’s paper, on sale Thursday, will also carry a form for readers to cut out, fill in with their details and post through vulnerable neighbours’ doors, offering a ’helping hand’.

We are also appealing for readers to get in touch with any stories of kindness and good neighbourly acts, and for agencies wishing to publicise their support, to again email [email protected] or call 01252 899221.