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CORONAVIRUS AND ITS IMPACT ON DARTMOUTH MEDICAL SERVICES


The South West has seen fewer cases of Covid-19 than the rest of the country but we have still had to change the way we work, learn and play and this may continue for many months to come. During lockdown sections of our society have ceased operating but our health professionals have marched gallantly on - talking to patients face to face, online or on the phone. We spoke to three of them…


Dr Andy Freeman, DARTMOUTH MEDICAL PRACTICE. D


artmouth Medical Practice has been at the forefront during the Coronavirus crisis.


To reduce footfall and transmission of the virus they modified a number of things. They continued to talk to patients on the phone but also started online and video consultations. They also utilised a text message service so they could see photos of any lumps, bumps or lesions; as before, they continued physically to see the sickest patients either in the practice or on home visits. Dr Andy Freeman says Dart- mouth has reacted well: “We are aware that GP practices varied in their responses to Covid-19; our team here was quick to act. Almost overnight we changed our entrance by introducing a new reception hatch and segregated a ‘hot area’ for suspected cases. Thankfully, to-date, we have only dealt with a few confirmed cases.” Their face-to-face appointments


were reduced by around 80-85% during lockdown - each GP was physically seeing a handful of patients, whereas they would usually see and treat around 30. “Pretty much everything could be dealt with virtually and patients have seemed happy with that. In fact, our residents have been great at treating the situation cautious- ly and respecting government guidance, but also being sensible


enough to get in touch with really pressing non-virus related issues.” They are now seeing more patients who have been waiting to contact them about non urgent issues and feel more confident about ventur- ing into the surgery. Andy says things won’t properly


return to normal for quite some time: “We will continue to wear gloves, masks and aprons when assessing patients and people won’t be able


to book a long way in advance. The quick response system we are using is working really well and we will stay with it for the foreseeable future. We also plan to embed some of the text and online systems which have worked so well over the past few months. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone in and around Dart- mouth who has reacted so responsi- bly during this difficult time. We truly appreciate it.”•


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