Respiratory Illnesses Update - 10/9/20

Whilst we are still declared to be in this pandemic, our current practice is to not assess any potentially infectious patients with a respiratory illness inside our practices. We will assist our patients with respiratory illnesses via Telehealth and car-park consultations, and in some instances by referral to GP-Led Respiratory Clinics. In the first instance, you will receive a phone consult with your doctor or another doctor at our practice to determine the appropriate actions to be taken.

We have a responsibility to all our patients that attend our practices in person to keep our practices safe for them; even patients that do not have COVID but have respiratory illnesses can spread this to some of our vulnerable patients that may end up with a more severe illness.

We have a responsibility to our team to keep them healthy and provide a safe work environment. When one of our team is unwell with respiratory symptoms, even with a negative COVID test, they are required to not return to work until their symptoms have gone. This puts additional pressures on our team at this time.

We also have a limited amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). SA Health have set up GP-Led Respiratory Clinics that have adequate PPE to assess patients with respiratory symptoms and to take pressure off other GP practices. These clinics assess anyone experiencing mild to moderate respiratory conditions and patients will receive GP-led assessment of their symptoms and initial advice for any condition diagnosed during the appointment.

If respiratory symptoms are determined by our GPs to not be contagious (e.g. a cough from asthma) then we will assess these patients in our practices.

We expect our GPs to be able to determine from the Telehealth consult whether care that is more urgent is required and what follow up will be necessary. In you have a medical emergency please call SA Ambulance Services on 000.

We appreciate your understanding whilst we remain in this pandemic.