Our article does not ‘chastise’ primary care.1 We fully understand the pressures that NHS primary care is currently under.2 We have included the appropriate context for our figures showing falls in GP contacts with children. Our article begins by mentioning NHS England directives to protect patients and healthcare workers from COVID-19, describing that the NHS recommended remote triaging before any face-to-face contact to reduce infection risk. We also state that the public were advised to stay at home to limit transmission of COVID-19 to reduce pressures on the NHS, and that GPs were asked to prioritise consultations for urgent and serious conditions, and suspend routine appointments for planned or preventive care. Throughout our discussion, we provide suitable context for our figures by explaining that at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic remote consultations provided practical solutions for GP appointments for those shielding or self-isolating.
Hence, our message is that GPs were able to manage children and young people safely during the most challenging period of this pandemic. This was a time when there were shortages in protective equipment, and when the risk to healthcare workers was highest. All those working in primary care should be proud of how they rose to meet these challenges at the start of the pandemic.3
- © British Journal of General Practice 2022
