TY - JOUR T1 - Five principles for pandemic preparedness: lessons from the Australian COVID-19 primary care response JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 316 LP - 317 DO - 10.3399/bjgp20X710765 VL - 70 IS - 696 AU - Michael R Kidd Y1 - 2020/07/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/70/696/316.abstract N2 - The Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)1 was activated on 27 February 2020, in response to the evolving global crisis. The national COVID-19 primary care response was then initiated.2 The approach took a broad view of the primary healthcare sector and included general practice, community nursing and allied health, mental health, aged care, disability care, home care, and Indigenous health workers. The primary care response included specific strategies to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services, palliative care services, and services for people with disability.3–5 There was also close alignment with strategies developed for aged care services, both in the home and in residential aged care facilities, recognising the role played by general practice and other primary care providers in these services. The primary care response was developed in partnership with representatives of general practice and the wider primary healthcare sector, and continued to be refined through regular engagement with over 30 peak national organisations.Australia’s primary care response to COVID-19 acknowledged the strength of the nation’s primary healthcare system and assigned key roles to general practice and the wider primary healthcare sector in responding to the pandemic, based on the essential first contact role of primary care and lessons drawn from previous epidemics and pandemics.6–8 It also placed general practice … ER -