“Hi, I’m Mat, and I’m chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
“First of all, I know that many of you will be worried about COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus, and what this might mean for your treatment at GOSH, or if you are a sibling of a patient, what it means for your brother or sister.
“The most important thing to everyone here at GOSH, is keeping you and your family safe. If you’re a patient who is worried, I want you to know that you won’t be left alone during this time. You can still contact your doctor and nurses for advice through MyGOSH, and by telephone.
“It’s important to me to keep you updated on what we are doing at the hospital. We’ve made the difficult decision to stop some clinic appointments, tests and inpatient stays, but we have only done this if your clinical team say it is safe to do so. We will re-book any appointments we have had to cancel, as soon as we can.
“To help us slow down the spread of Coronavirus and protect our patients and staff, only one carer per patient can visit the hospital and this has to be the same carer. I know how important brothers and sisters are, and I’m sorry that we’ve had to limit the number of visitors to the hospital.
“By following this rule, siblings are playing a really important part in helping all of us at GOSH to reduce the amount that the virus is spreading. I’d like to say a special thank you for that.
“Your doctors and nurses will continue to care for you as best they can even if you can't come into GOSH.
“I promise we will do our very best to keep you updated, as well as to keep you all safe. We will be posting regular updates on our website and on our social media channels too. Please keep checking back there, and let us know if you have any questions so we can do our best to answer them.”