DOCTOR URGES MARRIED COUPLES TO SELF ISOLATE AS CRISIS HITS HOME
A GP in one of the county’s biggest medical practises has advised married couples to self isolate from each other by using different bedrooms and bathrooms where possible, saying he believes the coronavirus is active within the community.
Dr Mark Walsh has been a GP for five decades and works out of the Northgate Medical Centre in New Ross.
Today the gates to the busy practise are half closed to encourage patients to park across the road or nearby and wait prior to being called in for an appointment.
He said: ‘It’s unprecedented; it’s almost like a nuclear winter. We have triaged so many people on phone-calls. In the locality probably some people will have it. If you look at the statistics if they don’t have it now they certainly will have it in the next few days. But if you have it and you are the first person in New Ross to have it, it doesn’t mean you’re an awful person. It’s not the Black Death. It will happen. The prediction is that we are going to see more cases here but the containment will hopefully minimise that in the short term and there is some encouragement from what has been happening in China where the curve is not increasing.’
He said couples are eating two metres apart and are sleeping in different rooms, advising all married couples to do this, where possible.
The sight of patients waiting in their cars outside GP practices, to be called in for their appointment, has become the new normal and will continue as the National Public Health Emergency Team continue to guide people during this containment period of Covid-19.
Dr Walsh said: ‘ We try to accommodate everyone and to have them phone before coming here.’
With 18 staff, and four doctors, Dr Walsh says the practise is well staffed, adding that if a spike in cases of Covid-19 occurs within the community it is the hospitals and Intensive Care Units which will be hardest hit.
‘ What is going to happen is that testing will increase a bit. That might include mobile testing.’
He said it is a pity that GPs don’t get Covid-19 test results back, adding that he welcomes the introduction of the online healthcare system for testing, which, he feels, will free up doctors to do their every day work, meaning they won’t have to be waiting on the phone for up to an hour to process a triage test.
He said GPs are being equipped to speed up testing, adding that the practise has been inundated with calls over recent weeks.
‘It has been a gradual thing over the last two to three weeks ever since the first case was announced (in Ireland). We all knew this Covid-19 was initiated in Italy (in Europe) and Northern Italy became a hotbed. People are watching the news and are getting more anxious. They have come in here to me today and told me the supermarkets are thronged and there are queues all around them. It’s like people are expecting a nuclear winter. It is difficult and the scenario is changing all of the time. Some people are of the view that quite a few people are going to get it and up to 60 per cent of the population may be affected by it at some stage.’
He said most people will suffer from a mild illness.
‘ We are getting calls from people who would be vulnerable, We are trying to organise it ourselves. As GPs we are the first port of call for most things that happen to people. Obviously this is infectious and it seems to be quite infectious and people can transmit it before they have symptoms.’
He said GPs have to keep their practise as free of patients as possible. ‘Someone who breaks their leg and people who require terminal care can be seen. People have been very good in phoning the surgery first. If they have a respiratory illness we have a protocol for dealing with that and we are using the guidance of the national emergency committee who are doing trojan work.’
He said employees of the national ambulance service have been doing testing, adding that GPs don’t have the time or resources to do testing, other than an initial triage.
‘ We are at the pin of our collar at the moment. Testing would involve gowning up and taking samples and we wouldn’t have the equipment for that. We got four (protective) suits. We haven’t used any of them yet but it will happen. We have triaged people and if people have a significant respiratory issue we get people in very early on as we want to try and minimise the spread.’
He said GP practices are cleaned out thoroughly. ‘ We have everything cleaned out and decontaminated. If someone meets the criteria for testing we triage them. There was lady in contact with us by phone who may fit the criteria as she has symptoms and would have been abroad was it as risk.’
The case was referred up the line for a decision as to whether or not hospitalisation was required.
‘ We are asking people to phone first of all and the most important thing people can do is personal care through using spirit gels and following washing and coughing etiquette, and by disposing of tissues straight away and staying two metres away from people, especially if they have a respiratory problem. That is why schools and creches had to close. People are going to self isolate at different levels. I would hope we can get a handle on this but people do need to take individual responsibility; not just for themselves but for their families, neighbours and society, Just go out for the essentials.’
He said his practise, like many others across the county in all likelihood, have had to think on their feet and devise ways to treat people using face-masks and aprons, while waiting for more medical wear supplies to be delivered.
‘ We have to protect ourselves. It sounds dramatic but society is grinding to a halt.’
Dr Walsh said for anyone experiencing mild symptoms there is plenty of information on the HSE website.
He said everyone is reacting to the pandemic in different ways, ‘ We are all human. We all have a different threshold of what we can tolerate. Some people have a very low threshold.’
He said panic buying is selfish, urging people to be mindful of others.
‘Here at the practise we have to protect our staff from the coronavirus. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we had to close the surgery for a fortnight from prescriptions to check-ups. I think people, themselves, individual people need to take responsibility for themselves. That is the ultimate response and I think people and business owners will gradually conform to that. It happens that other countries have been stricter and I wouldn’t be surprised if we go that way ourselves.’
Dr Walsh said people aged under 20 are not being badly affected by the coronavirus.
He said there is a backlog in testing, adding that the results are often, academic.
‘It may be some time before people get test results back. The advice is for people to self isolate and if they get too ill they go to hospital. To some extent it’s all academic as the management (of the illness) will be the same. There will be even more testing but the same advice applies: take paracetamol, drink fluids.’