COVID-19 Update 27 March 2020 – Reflecting on this past week

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An empty waiting room on a Monday morning. Phones ringing off the hook.

If , last Friday, anyone had the described the week we have just had no-one would have believed it. Late Saturday afternoon we heard that the way General Practice had to operate would drastically change from Monday morning. Fortunately the Government sensed the same urgency and promptly escalated the alert level to 3 and then 4.

Patients socially distanced and being triaged from a safe distance by Jackie Morris

We had Sunday to prepare and communicate the changes and with the incredible cooperation and understanding of the people of Kawerau coped with this drastic change. Unable to use our waiting room all patients that called had to be called back by a clinical staff member and triaged as to whether a face to face visit was required or whether the issue could be managed with a virtual consult. Over a 100 patients were managed and 6 times the normal number of prescriptions were done despite the internet going down and the phone lines and cellular system being overloaded. This continued on Tuesday and Wednesday before tapering down on Thursday and Friday as the lockdown took effect.

Dr. Aidan Williams phone triaging a patient for a virtual consult or practice visit.
Makeshift barriers to keep reception staff a safe distance from patients in the waiting room

In the midst of this we started to run influenza vaccination clinics. These were entirely dependent on deliveries of vaccine orders but we managed to administer around 60 on Tuesday and Wednesday and almost 200 on Friday.

Nurse Shannin Howe administering an influenza vaccine in the car park

History was made today with Dr. Beth Walsh doing the first two video consultations from the Tarawera Medical Centre. This had been set up and tested on Wednesday and Thursday and used for 2 consultations on Friday. This allowed patients to be seen and assessed in their homes while under lockdown.

Well spaced patients waiting for a influenza vaccination

This week has been a steep and stressful learning curve for us but the amazing team at the Tarawera Medical Centre have done an incredible job with many doing extra hours and days at times at very short notice. New skills have had to be learnt fast and all have stepped up and made rapid progress. This effort has been made easy by the incredibly understanding, supportive and appreciative feedback of our patients.

A well spaced queue down Onslow St waiting for influenza vaccinations

It is easy to underestimate the importance of this lockdown. We have one chance to starve the coronavirus of the opportunity to spread. If we don’t take it seriously and do the job right we will pay a price we would rather not. Stay home and stay safe.