www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/they-have-no-idea-government-failing-on-coronavirus-say-gps?CMP=share_btn_tw
'They have no idea': government failing on coronavirus, say GPs
Doctors say NHS 111 giving wrong advice and not enough patients being tested for virus
NHS doctors have told the Guardian of their experiences of the government’s handling of coronavirus, warning that they have concerns about how patients who may have been infected are being managed.
James*, a GP in Derbyshire, where one of the latest British coronavirus cases is thought to have been located, described the Department of Health’s response to the virus as “ridiculous” and “negligent”.
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Despite his surgery website and posters clearly instructing people who have travelled to affected regions in recent weeks not to enter the GP practice, James said some patients have “breezed past our bright yellow posters suggesting they stay at home”.
“There seems to be an attitude of: ‘We don’t care if we infect a whole GP surgery full of people,’” he said.
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While many patients had followed Public Health England’s advice to stay at home and call the NHS helpline 111 after returning from affected areas, “some had been told to go into the GP practice”, James said.
“The helpline later claimed this advice was given in error, saying that the patient must have selected the wrong telephone answering choice,” he added.
Online bookings were proving a further obstacle in the practice’s attempts to prevent the spread of the virus.
James’s GP surgery is contractually obliged to offer online booking services, which means they cannot prevent those with symptoms from getting appointments at the practice.
James and his colleagues contacted Derbyshire’s clinical commissioning group to try to stop online bookings until after the outbreak had passed, but were told they could not do so until a coronavirus case had been confirmed in the region. It is unclear how Thursday’s confirmed case will impact the practice.
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“It’s a catch 22,” said Sarah. “The government aren’t doing one thing or the other. They’re not containing it, like they did in China, and they’re not testing for it. They have no idea of the problem.”
“It’s the worst of both worlds, and they’re causing panic,” she added.
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Emma*, a doctor at a hospital in London, recently returned from a holiday near northern Italy, where the coronavirus has broken out.
Her daughter, Alice*, developed symptoms of the virus, and she called the 111 helpline three times. They eventually told her to attend her GP surgery – advice that contradicts Public Health England’s guidance to stay at home.
The GP instructed them to visit A&E, but the hospital where Emma works refused to test Alice for the virus because their holiday destination fell just 50 miles outside of the affected area. Alice eventually tested positive for the flu, but Emma fears their reluctance to test for coronavirus could facilitate its spread.
Thus proving 111 is a call centre full of people who can't even read off a script and lack any common sense what so ever.