New ‘Respiratory Symptoms’ Guidelines - from 13/12/21
From Monday 13th December, practices across Scotland are being asked to change how we deal with patients who present with possible Covid-19 and other respiratory infections. These new rules are being introduced in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19 as well as a range of other respiratory infections which can cause people to become unwell over the winter period. The new guidance moves away from Covid-19/Non-Covid-19 pathways to a Respiratory Pathway which encompasses all potential respiratory infections.
On Islay, this means that there will be some further changes to how we offer appointments and deal with requests in our dispensing practices, as it means that all patients who enter the practice buildings must be screened for potential respiratory infection. When telephoning any of the practices to request face to face appointment with any of the healthcare staff, you will be asked a list of questions before an appointment can be made.
These questions will be the following:
Have you, or any members of your family or household, been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 14 days?
Do you, or any members of your family or household, have suspected Covid-19 and are waiting on test results?
Have you had contact with, or been in isolation with, anybody with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in the past 14 days?
Do you have any of the following symptoms:
Cough
Fever (temperature above 37.8C)
Loss of taste or smell
Runny nose
Nasal or sinus congestion
Sore throat
Sneezing
If the answers to ALL the questions above is 'No', you will be able to book a face to face appointment, but you will be reminded that if the answers to any of these questions change prior to your appointment, you must contact the practice and DO NOT COME to your appointment, but telephone the practice for further guidance.
If the answer is 'Yes' to any of these questions, you will not be able to book a face to face appointment until your symptoms/isolation period have finished. If the reason for booking the appointment is non-urgent, you will be asked to call back once you can answer 'No' to all the questions. If you need medical care urgently, you will be offered a telephone appointment in the first instance, and one of the GPs will call you to assess your problem first. If you then need to be seen face to face, this will be arranged with you - either in the Covid Assessment Centre (if you or any household member have had a positive PCR or lateral flow or are isolating pending swab results), or in the practices in a dedicated 'respiratory pathway' room which has been identified in each practice building. These appointments will be at the end of the clinics when the surgeries are less busy, and you will be taken straight to the room to wait for the doctor/nurse rather than waiting in the waiting room.
If you come in to either of the dispensing practices in person for any reason, you will be asked the above list of questions (which will also be posted on the front door to all practices) - if the answer is 'Yes' to any questions and the situation is not a medical emergency, you will be asked to return to your vehicle/home and to phone the surgery for further guidance. If you need to collect medication and have any of the symptoms listed above, the staff will bring your medication out to you rather than have you come into the practice.
We appreciate that this brings yet another level of complexity and complication to accessing medical attention, and it may feel that this system is rather obstructive - these guidelines have come from the government and we have no choice in the implementation of them. We will try to make things as smooth as possible while endeavouring to keep all our staff and patients safe and minimize the spread of illness and the likelihood of isolation due to contact tracing. Please bear with us as we get used to yet another change to the way we work - we are grateful for your support and understanding.