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Your recent focus on Long COVID in this month’s BJGP (November 2021) is timely and relevant.
While much research has been done to investigate the SARS-CoV2 virus, the new emergence of Post Covid Syndrome (‘Long Covid’) poses significant fundamental questions for our profession. Every patient with this condition will be based in primary care, either having been discharged from hospital, or having never required admission.
Time and again, patient accounts of their experience indicate that they felt healthcare professionals did not fully understand their condition. Whilst this is improving as we understand more, the RCGP is leading the way to empower GPs and their teams to recognise this disease, undertake appropriate investigations to rule out other causes for their symptoms and then treat it, based on the newly updated NICE/SIGN/RCGP guidelines published on 11/11/21.1
In addition, the RCGP has produced multiple resources for colleagues (to learn more, which are free of charge and open to any health care professional across the world.2 We also continue to hold monthly educational sessions in collaboration with Project ECHO (https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/), the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) and patient advocate group Long covid SOS (www.longcovidsos.org). These take place on the first Thursday every month at 7pm when GPs from across all four nations of the UK come together to participate in this new, online interactive way of learning.
Expert presenters focus on one of the symptoms or clusters of symptoms that are part of Post COVID Syndrome (‘Long Covid’) followed by a discussion with a patient with lived experience. Break out rooms of small groups of GPs then spend time discussing the case and formulating a treatment plan, based on their available local services (which varies greatly across the UK). A larger group discussion then follows including the expert, the GP voice and most importantly the patient with lived experience to ensure we learn from each other, sharing best practice and ensuring it is valid to our specific patient populations.
The next session will be on December 2nd at 7pm, with the remaining three on 6/1/22, 3/2/22 and 3/3/22. We look forwards to warmly welcoming you there, as we learn together how best to manage patients with post covid syndrome. Register for free here to attend: https://echonorthernireland.co.uk/rcgp-post-covid/
References 1. NICE. COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19. NG188. 2020. www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng188. 2. RCGP Learning. Post-COVID syndrome. 2021. https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/page/view.php?id=11512.
