The Black Country's new Community Outbreak Response Service (CORS) is designed to support the management and prevent the spread of infectious diseases in our community.  

Patients who have been exposed to or diagnosed with a communicable disease, will be referred to CORS by the relevant healthcare professionals (see pathway below for the referral process).

The service is available to all patients registered with a Black Country GP, including those in care homes, their own homes, educational settings, migrant and homeless populations. The service will operate Monday to Friday, from 08:00hrs - 18:00hrs, including Bank Holidays, ensuring swift action within 24 hours of receiving a referral (if a referral is received after the hours of 18:00hrs on a Friday or at any time over the weekend, this should be enacted at the earliest opportunity on the next service operational day). 

Diseases managed by the service include (this is not an exhaustive list, Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z

  • Seasonal and Avian Influenza 
  • Measles
  • Mpox
  • Scabies 
  • Hepatitis A, B, and C 
  • And many more 

The Black Country Community Outbreak Response Service – Referral Pathway

Implementation of the Black Country Community Outbreak Response Service (CORS) aims to ensure there is one centralised pathway in place for the management of communicable disease outbreaks within the community settings. 

Please see the updated Referral Pathway providing some context including inclusions, exclusions, High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) such as Mpox Clade I which is not covered by the Service and an updated Service Provider email address.  

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