A hospital trust has warned unvaccinaated patients that they should expect to complete Covid tests if they are called to appointments in certain areas.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) said not all patients will be required to do Covid tests, but those who are not vaccinated will be asked to take a lateral flow before entering a "green zone".

A spokesperson for BHRUT said any testing is to protect "vulnerable patients and staff" as Covid rates across the country are increasing, including in BHRUT hospitals.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Covid infections jumped by more than 30 per cent in just one week in the UK.

The warning comes after a Harold Wood man says he was initially refused an appointment because he did not want to take a Covid test.

Philip, who does not want his last name disclosed, said he was refused a biopsy appointment in December last year at King George Hospital in Goodmayes because he didn't want to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

The issue has now been resolved.

It comes after NHS staff protested mandatory vaccinations outside Queen’s Hospital at the start of this year.

Information patients need to know before procedures will be provided ahead of appointments, BHRUT said.