North Yorkshire GP tells of the effects of coronavirus pandemic on local practices
Dr Charles Parker, a GP Partner at Topcliffe Surgery near Thirsk, said: “In General Practice, we’ve been spared the heaviest toll that comes with front-line exposure to this pandemic. But we are certainly not spared the grief. Every person who dies belongs to a GP surgery. They are not just a number that makes up a grim daily statistic. They are our patients. Friends. Even family. They are faces who are familiar to us and we’ve been there for, through thick and thin. And when news reaches us they have died from Covid-19 – many before their time – we mourn their loss.
“Yes, I’m grateful that NHS England has not put General Practice on the front line in the fight against coronavirus, but this terrible pandemic is touching us all, right across the health and care system.”
Dr Parker, the Clinical Chair of NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), revealed his thoughts in a new CCG blog called ‘Doctor Diaries’.
He said: “As GPs, we’ve had to adapt the way we work and how we ‘see’ patients in ways I would have thought scarcely possible a year ago. And I’ve had to re-evaluate some of my own perceptions along the way.
“Over the last three months I have developed a deep gratitude for the work of NHS 111 and the responsibility its staff have shouldered. I have also surprised myself with how much I approve of NHS 111 online.
“I have always been proud of the access to a GP that we have been able to maintain at my surgery in Topcliffe. It has always been “do today’s work today” and not push appointments forward if possible. So, making the decision to shut and lock the patients out was very difficult.
“And we did have to lock them out. At first we put up a six-foot banner in the doorway, asking them not to attend the surgery without an invite, but people just squeezed past it, so Chubb was put into action. That is just one of the changes that happened in days rather than the normal months or years. And the changes keep on happening.”
Making the decision to shut and lock the patients out was very difficult.
Dr Parker explained: “At the end of March the practice moved to a system of ‘total triage’. This has worked really well, with patients being spoken to on the phone or via a video app. The real difference is the speed in the response to patients, mostly within 30 minutes.
“Reduced demand has helped. The speed of our response has caught a lot of patients by surprise, so they were unable to take the call. It is now possible to pre-book a call with a GP. This is how it has been, with problems being identified and rapid solutions or revisions being applied. It has been an excellent time for the “Plan, Act, Study, Do” cycle to come into its own.”
Dr Parker was optimistic despite the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus and the impact on communities and local health and care systems. He said: “As we begin to fire up the boilers of the NHS and start bringing back on stream the services we had to pause, we’re in a much more mature place than we were three months ago and I’m incredibly hopeful that some of the changes that have taken place, borne out of necessity, have improved the way we look after patients and will be here to stay.
“In the meantime, the partnership working across the whole system has shown itself to be a formidable force and in NHS North Yorkshire CCG and primary care we remain alert and ready to support our front-line colleagues in health and social care.”
