Coronavirus outbreak

[Rocky]

First direct impact on me - my GP surgery has moved to dial-a-doc.

I was due in tomorrow, but that will now be on the phone.

I've no big problem with that, but the doctor's first language is not English which means it's easier to communicate with him face to face.

Part of my appointment is to give the doctor the box from a style of bandages given to me at the hospital so that he can prescribe the correct type.

I will now have to hand that in at the reception.

Again, no worries, but I'm tempted to go there at appointment time and ring him for my consultation from the waiting area.

The Prof has been working all weekend on guidance and protocols for telephone and video GP consultations for NHSE and the Royal College of GPs. It sounds like your GP is ahead of the curve with this. The Prof suggests you take a photo of the bandage box and see if you can email or upload it to the practice’s EMIS patient access system. Do let us know how the consultation goes!!

 

[pawl]

I have no faith in any of the sound bites from random people at Westminster whose honesty has been brought in to question on so many topics in past months. Instead I'm placing my faith in the words of Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director who speaks clearly and confidently and is medically qualified. There is new stuff coming up all the time from BBC Scotland on it's own website and via Twitter. Here's a link from yesterday. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51898288

There is not a UK nationwide policy as this extract of a report in The Telegraph makes clear, so utterings from Westmister may not apply throughout the UK.........
"People aged over 70 face up to four months in self-isolation and the public risk being taken into custody or being given a £1,000 fine if they refuse to be tested or quarantined for suspected coronavirus.
The emergency powers, expected to be announced this week, allow police in England and Wales to use "reasonable force" to detain people who are at risk of infecting others."

Spain has already introduced fines bit also possibly prison sentence of up to twelve months for people who do not adhere to the emergency laws.

 

[Pale Rider]

The Prof has been working all weekend on guidance and protocols for telephone and video GP consultations for NHSE and the Royal College of GPs. It sounds like your GP is ahead of the curve with this. The Prof suggests you take a photo of the bandage box and see if you can email or upload it to the practice’s EMIS patient access system. Do let us know how the consultation goes!!

Thanks for taking an interest in my doc dealings.

As with most officialdom, if you want a good result, how you go about dealing with them is almost more important than what you want them to deal with.

A little bit of knowledge and understanding of their side is invaluable.

Taking a pic of the bandage box is a good idea, but happily it's no bother for me to drop it off at the surgery reception.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks for taking an interest in my doc dealings.

As with most officialdom, if you want a good result, how you go about dealing with them is almost more important than what you want them to deal with.

A little bit of knowledge and understanding of their side is invaluable.

Taking a pic of the bandage box is a good idea, but happily it's no bother for me to drop it off at the surgery reception.

Agreed!! The Prof is very interested in the patient as well as the professional perspective. If it doesn't work for patients, it isn't going to work.....a view that isn't always shared by some medics. She also has written widely on the support staff's role - much repeat prescribing, for example, is processed by the reception/admin team - with the GPs having a cursory glance before adding their signatures to the prescription. I suspect the admin team are going to be even more important at this current time.

No 2 son currently has a couple of fingers splinted following a sports injury. This precludes him from frontline A&E work because he can't wash his hands properly and the latex gloves won't fit. He, however, is ideally suited for video/telephone consultations for patients who are being advised to keep away from surgeries/clinics.

 

[Proto]

Just spoken to a manufacturing director mate at a medical equipment company, who produce very sophisticated and complex surgical instruments. They’ve been approached about making ventilators. So to have Rolls Royce and JCB, apparently, which he thought hilarious.
Having studied a ventilator, how it works and what it does, they reckon it wouldn't be at all difficult. They have in house design, electronics (they design and make their own pcb’s), rapid prototyping, clean room assembly and a small army of very switched on sub contractors.
So, chill out, we’ll be fine**. 😄

**as long as you can hang on a couple of months

 

[Buck]

Taking a pic of the bandage box is a good idea, but happily it's no bother for me to drop it off at the surgery reception.

Can I strongly advise to take a photo and email or link it via your EMIS or SystmOne on line app to prevent any risk to you or others by physically attending.

 

[vickster]

GP Surgery just cancelled my non urgent appointment for later in week.

Blood donor centre still want me to attend on Thursday (although waiting on them to confirm that I can actually donate)

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Watching the press conference, it’s getting scary. Can’t believe they’re not legally enforcing their measures because they trust the public to be “grown up and do the right thing”.

 

[Rocky]

Watching the press conference, it’s getting scary. Can’t believe they’re not legally enforcing their measures because they trust the public to be “grown up and do the right thing”.

Switzerland tried that last week. It didn’t work. My friend tells me that it is compulsory lockdown from midnight.

 

[carlosfandangus]

TT has just been cancelled because of corona, no positive tests here yet

 

[nickyboy]

Watching the press conference, it’s getting scary. Can’t believe they’re not legally enforcing their measures because they trust the public to be “grown up and do the right thing”.

Yes I would have preferred to see them closed down. I guess it's suck it and see. Pubs and restaurants will close naturally as they won't have enough customers to justify opening. If people are idiots and places are still rammed then they will be closed down legally I guess, like they were in Ireland

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Can’t believe they’re not legally enforcing their measures

I’m sure they will when the need arises and I expect they anticipate doing so before very long.

However, I feel they are taking the (correct, in my view) approach of getting the majority of the sensible and law-abiding public on board with voluntary compliance. This way there should be widespread peer pressure to comply and only when that fails will they resort to enforcement.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Did I pick it up right that he said near the start, people who are particularly vulnerable will be told later this week to self-isolate for 12 weeks?

 

[vickster]

Did I pick it up right that he said near the start, people who are particularly vulnerable will be told later this week to self-isolate for 12 weeks?

broadly yes

From BBC ... Mr Johnson said that by next weekend, those with the most serious health conditions must be "largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks".

 

[flake99please]

Did I pick it up right that he said near the start, people who are particularly vulnerable will be told later this week to self-isolate for 12 weeks?

That’s how I thought heard it too. We both could be wrong though.