Column
What has your college been doing to get ready for coronavirus?
The safety of GPs and patients is first and foremost, writes RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon.
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon is focused on GP and patient safety.
I know many of you are anxious about what will happen as Australia braces for the impact of coronavirus.
That anxiety is understandable – I have felt it myself.
But we GPs are doing our best to tackle this crisis, while trying to keep our personal risks as low as possible.
I wanted to write to update you on what your college has been doing behind the scenes.
Your safety
We have been focusing our efforts on two fronts: telehealth and better access to personal protective equipment (PPE).
That’s because your safety is the top priority. If Australia’s GPs are safe from the virus, the nation will be better protected.
We have had successes, particularly in telehealth, where our advocacy recently paid off.
We lobbied the Government for telehealth and telephone Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item numbers in order to protect GPs at the front line. Those items are now in place, with many of you already using them.
We also succeeded in making it possible for GPs to be able to use telehealth from their homes if they are self-isolating. That means you can still earn income if you are in self-isolation.
We have also been ceaselessly lobbying for more supplies of PPE. I know the shortage of protective equipment is causing anxiety especially in light of the fact that you often cannot even buy it.
And that is to say nothing of the limited availability hand sanitiser for clinics, given the panic buying going on around the country.
The Federal Government does need to step up and release more PPE from its stockpiles, and/or obtain it from sources we cannot access.
There have been questions over access to coronavirus testing for healthcare workers. Fortunately, changes have been made to allow us access. We will continue to push for fast-tracked testing and results so we can get back to work when possible.
All of us feel a strong obligation to our patients. We want to be able to continue to provide healthcare in the safest way possible.
For some, that will be switching to telehealth wherever possible.
For others, it will be making the decision that your practice is not equipped to deal with possible coronavirus cases and diverting to new fever clinics as they are established.
We have to be practising safely – and that may mean we consult with almost all of our patients who are at risk of having coronavirus by phone or video.
Such measures help to protect GPs and other patients, and saves our scarce resources of PPE.
What’s next?
We will be pushing for much greater access to telehealth so you can move as much care as possible to phone or video calls – if you want to.
The RACGP has consistently been calling for a single, centralised and authoritative source of health information during this outbreak to overcome issues with mixed messages.
Now that we have a national cabinet with the Prime Minister and state premiers, we should see better coordination of information flows to frontline responders, such as GPs.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy is now sending us regular updates, which we are publishing. That, too, is welcome.
Taking this seriously
With recent reports that worried patients are concealing possible exposure or refusing to self-isolate, now is a good time to remind people that, yes, we absolutely must take this seriously.
All of us – GPs and patients – need to take as many steps as we can to decrease our risk of contracting and spreading the virus.
At-risk patients need to act on our advice, self-isolate and wait to be cleared. If people fail to heed this advice, their actions could affect a lot of people around them and spread the virus further.
Social distancing is – for now – our best hope in tackling this pandemic.
For our patients who may be particularly vulnerable to infection, we can also advise them about how to best stay safe at a time when cases are rising. We can tell them about the need to think very hard about whether they actually need to leave the house for anything. Maybe they can ask others less at risk to buy things for them at the shops.
And regarding our own personal communities, now is a time to look for those who might need help and offer it – at a safe distance, of course.
I think it is also worth raising that younger people are not bulletproof. People in their 20s through to their 60s overseas have been dying from this, too. It’s a timely reminder for us and our patients.
Given the fact older people are most at risk, it is also a good time for older GPs or those with medical issues that make them more vulnerable to consider how best to protect themselves. That may be telehealth or diverting cases.
To conclude, let me say that you have the support of your college in this fight against coronavirus.
It may be a long battle. But, working together, we can beat it back – just as other countries have.
The RACGP has more information on coronavirus available on its website.
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