Nursing in Practice May/June 2020 (issue 114) | Page 23

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Senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust Dr Rebecca Rosen
expects the use of remote consultations to rise after the
coronavirus outbreak. Dr Rosen, also a GP in Greenwich,
south London, and an accredited public health specialist,
says ‘they have been rising steadily already, but clearly
we’ve seen a dramatic rise in recent weeks, and I’m sure
a significant portion of it will be retained.’
General practice should embrace remote work, Dr Rosen
adds. ‘This is not just about video and email technologies.
We need to start harnessing remote biometric
measurements.’ Patients could take their own blood
pressure, oxygen levels or heart rate at home and send the
results in digitally, she suggests.
Dr Rosen hopes the Covid-19 crisis will lead to patients
feeling more confident about self-care, if appropriate. ‘I want
to see greater resilience in people’s thinking that they have
the ability to self-care,’ she says. ‘People need to learn from
the experiences of using the symptom checker, and to wait
and see before coming to the doctor.’
Amanda Cecil, a practice nurse in the West Midlands,
echoes this: ‘People might think twice in the future before
coming in after the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.
As well as boosting patients’ confidence and independence,
seeing patients manage their own care also provides me with
the reassurance that they can look after themselves if we
have to prioritise what we book on a certain day.’
Sticking together
‘Hot hubs represent a great collaborative approach,’ says
Ann Gregory, a clinical nurse adviser for primary care digital
transformation at NHSX, who has previously worked in a hot
hub. Organised by local health bodies, including primary care
networks and CCGs, they have enabled suspected or
confirmed Covid-19 patients to safely access face-to-face
appointments, taking pressure off acute care. These hot
hubs are staffed by multiple local practices, often on a rota.
In Sheffield, where Ms Gregory is based, any patient from
the primary care network can be booked into the hot hub. ‘It
was a very unknown way of working for me and the GP,’ she
says. ‘It felt like an excellent collaboration of practices,
working together to reduce the pressures on secondary care
and provide care for the local population who are suspected
of having Covid-19.’
Sally Hirst, a health visitor in Northampton, says: ‘We’ve
checked in with each other a lot more as a team. We have
a virtual phone call each day where we see each other – it’s
been really supportive.’
Paula Spooner, a practice nurse consultant and advanced
nurse practitioner at NHS Wakefield CCG, remarks on the
‘huge barrier breakdowns’. Practices in her CCG that are fully
staffed and don’t have too much work support district
nursing teams. Nurses have also stepped up to
support social care with managing hospital
discharges.
Everybody has ‘chipped in’ to find solutions
to issues, such as the lack of PPE and
staffing problems because of self-isolation
and sickness, Ms Spooner explains. She
believes medical professionals will continue
working closely after the pandemic is over.
Covid-19 will change nursing for ever.
It could mean greater burnout and more
nurses leaving the profession. But it could
also modernise the sector and foster better
collaborative working. Spooner explains: ‘It’s
an awful situation, but it’s amazing to think
that all these changes we’ve been trying to
push through for years have happened in
a week. Practice nurses have embraced this
change – and will continue to do so if it proves
beneficial.’
ALAMY