COVID-19 Practice Statement

Dear Patient/ Carer,

Due to the current COVID-19 crisis and unprecedented demands on General Practice, GPs are having to change the way they work such as patients are being managed over the telephone, eConsultations and video consultations. Non-urgent work is being halted or postponed until it is deemed safer to do so.

The clinician has to make a decision based on their knowledge, experience and skills to determine whether it is safe to manage the patient without physically seeing them or in very rare circumstances if they decide to see the patient in person.

It is imperative that the clinician is allowed to make the decision in the best interests of the patient, their family and also the staff looking after them under extremely difficult circumstances.

In the meantime, please look at the advice on NHS Choices https://www.nhs.uk/ , see information on your practice website, make sure you are following the advice you have been offered, use the online services the surgery offers and limit the amount of contact you have with other people to only when essential.

Please also use our Online features which can be found on our homepage. Using Online Consult which will send your clinical or non-clinical query to the practice. This message will then be triaged by our Clinical Coding team who will pass the information to the relevant staff member.

We aim to reply and action all messages on the day but sometimes, depending on demand this could be the following day.

Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Stay safe.

The Arch Medical Practice