Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England: longitudinal trends study 2015–2020

Kimberley A Foley; Edward J Maile; Alex Bottle; Francesca K Neale; Russell M Viner; Simon E Kenny; Azeem Majeed; Dougal S Hargreaves; Sonia Saxena

doi:10.3399/BJGP.2021.0643

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Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England - context please
Kimberley A. Foley, Sonia K. Saxena, Azeem Majeed and Dougal S. Hargreaves

Published on: 13 June 2022
Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England - context please
Peter Smith

Published on: 07 June 2022

Published on: (13 June 2022)
Page navigation anchor for Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England - context please
Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England - context please
Kimberley A. Foley, Research associate, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London
Other Contributors:
Sonia K. Saxena, Professor of primary care, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London

Azeem Majeed, Professor of primary care and public health, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London

Dougal S. Hargreaves, Clinical reader, Mohn Centre for Children’s Health and Wellbeing, Imperial College London
Dear Dr Smith,

Our article does not “chastise” primary care. We fully understand the pressures that NHS primary care is currently under.¹ 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.²

References

1. Hodes S, Mair F, Majeed A. GPs should not be made scapegoats...
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Dear Dr Smith,

Our article does not “chastise” primary care. We fully understand the pressures that NHS primary care is currently under.¹ 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.²

References

1. Hodes S, Mair F, Majeed A. GPs should not be made scapegoats for the political failings, underfunding, and shortages of essential staff. https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/09/21/gps-should-not-be-made-scapegoats-for-the-political-failings-under-funding-and-shortages-of-essential-staff.

2. Majeed A, Maile EJ, Bindman AB. The primary care response to COVID-19 in England’s National Health Service. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2020;113(6):208-210. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0141076820931452.
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (7 June 2022)
Page navigation anchor for Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England - context please
Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England - context please
Peter Smith, GP, East Kent Hospitals
Your article lacks the context of these figures with no mention of the direction that was suggested to primary care by NHS England and indeed the government.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/gps-told-to-switch-to-remote-consultations-to-combat-covid-19

www.england.nhs.uk/2020/05/millions-of-patients-benefiting-from-remote-consultations-as-family-doctors-respond-to-covid-19/

You also fail to mention this was also during times when no vaccination was available and some high-risk colleagues could not see patients physically. Do not forget the lack of PPE and deaths to healthcare staff as a result of the pandemic was ever present.

I am disappointed your article only shows figures with absolutely no context at all and meant to further chastise primary care.

Competing Interests: None declared.