Read on Twitter
Public service announcement thread:
1- If asked when contacting your GP Practice if you have any respiratory/infection symptoms (cough, fever congestion etc), please don’t say no and then tell the GP about them when you’re in their office.
Covid is still around and you are 1/
1- If asked when contacting your GP Practice if you have any respiratory/infection symptoms (cough, fever congestion etc), please don’t say no and then tell the GP about them when you’re in their office.
Covid is still around and you are 1/
putting other patients (potentially vulnerable), staff and GPs at risk- we are risk-assessing by asking you screening questions to decide on level of PPE required or whether better to do phone consult to minimise risk- this is the new normal and will get worse as winter comes 2/
2- Self isolate as soon as you develop ANY symptoms of respiratory tract infections (even a cold) - suspected simple sinus infections have turned out to be Covid when sent for screening, even in the past week - this is the new normal and will get worse as winter comes. 3/
3- If you have any respiratory symptoms, don’t delay contacting the GP for 3-4 days, you could be spreading Covid in the community.
4. Expect to be referred for testing. If your GP wants to refer you for testing, please don’t argue with them about it, public health guidance 4/
4. Expect to be referred for testing. If your GP wants to refer you for testing, please don’t argue with them about it, public health guidance 4/
is being followed to test, test, test any potential cases.
5. If contacted by public health for contact tracing testing, please do it. Whilst you may be fine, undetected COVID-19 infection could spread rapidly and prove disastrous for others , including friends and family. 5/
5. If contacted by public health for contact tracing testing, please do it. Whilst you may be fine, undetected COVID-19 infection could spread rapidly and prove disastrous for others , including friends and family. 5/
6. Phone/video consults are encouraged to minimise risk of transmission. Please work with your GP practice to understand the rationale, GPs closing due to Covid infection would be disastrous for their patients. Stop and think do you really need to see the GP or would phonecall 6/
suffice. We can do maybe 70% of our work remotely and can always bring you in to examine if we need to later on.
7. Everyone in GP practices are working to keep service running smoothly in new normal-all our staff deserve to be able to work without being abused or shouted at 7/
7. Everyone in GP practices are working to keep service running smoothly in new normal-all our staff deserve to be able to work without being abused or shouted at 7/
during their day. They’ve enough to be dealing with already putting up with us GPs.
8. Please arrive on time for appointments. Please be mindful that if you want to discuss 8 issues, few if any can be resolved to any detail - realistically 2-3 max are ok- we need to run to 8/
8. Please arrive on time for appointments. Please be mindful that if you want to discuss 8 issues, few if any can be resolved to any detail - realistically 2-3 max are ok- we need to run to 8/
time to avoid queues in waiting rooms now more than ever. There’ll be a maximum number allowed in waiting rooms so please don’t arrive early, just on time. Don’t bring anyone in who doesn’t need to be there.
9.Some practices (ours included) require a mask to be worn when 9/
9.Some practices (ours included) require a mask to be worn when 9/
in the surgery. We’ll be wearing them too to protect you -we are in a healthcare setting after all.
This the new normal in general practice and things will only get worse as winter comes. We really need patients to work with us to help things run smoothly. 10/
This the new normal in general practice and things will only get worse as winter comes. We really need patients to work with us to help things run smoothly. 10/
@ICGPnews @gpbuddy @IMO_IRL @DonnellyStephen @MichealMartinTD @LeoVaradkar @susmitchellSBP @MedEdHead @darachociardha @docox100 @FoyFintan @rosablackgp @WalleyRay @DrZeroCraic @ronan_glynn @roinnslainte @MedisecIreland @med_indonews @mike0callaghan @paulreiddublin
One final note, if this thread wasn’t long enough:
These are not pie in the sky/theoretical issues, all of the above issues have happened or been a problem in our own practice over the past couple of weeks. Anecdotally, we are not alone in experiencing them as GPs
These are not pie in the sky/theoretical issues, all of the above issues have happened or been a problem in our own practice over the past couple of weeks. Anecdotally, we are not alone in experiencing them as GPs
