Primary Care: A month in review
Vaccines, remote care and lockdowns
It has been a monumental 6 weeks for Primary Care and the NHS. Dominated largely by vaccine logistics, remote appointments and lockdowns.
Despite everything, Primary Care has remained open throughout to serve communities all over the UK. We’ve been pretty busy at Menlo Park too!
We round-up of the past 6 weeks in Primary Care:
December
1st December 2020
The start of December signified the end of a tremendous participation in Movember by everyone here at Menlo Park. We were very happy to have raised nearly £1,400 as a result of the teams magnificent moustaches and wonderful walking.
Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine
2nd December 2020
The UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with vaccinations scheduled to start the very next week. This was felt like the first sign of a light at the end of a tunnel; to end what has been one of the most extraordinary years in modern times.
5th December 2020
Public Health England release their priority ordering for the Covid-19 vaccine. Care home residents and health care workers were listed as being at the front of the queue.
Vaccination begins
8th December 2020
Margaret Keenan (90), and William Shakespeare (81), became the first two people to receive the first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. This marked the start of the UK’s vaccine delivery programme via Hospitals.
8th December 2020
Our annual ‘Salary Survey’, comprising of UK-wide data from GPs outlining working hours, commute, pay and more, was released. There were some interesting trends in here, compared to 2019’s survey, well worth a read!
16th December 2020
This day marked the start of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout via GP practices, as the first doses were delivered. On the first day of rollout, Primary Care delivered a hugely impressive 138,000 doses of the vaccine to their most vulnerable patients across the UK.
16th December 2020
The team at Menlo Park had a premature, socially-distanced, visit from Santa himself. Armed with Hunter wellies, a beard for a mask, and a transit van full of hampers, he was ready to spread some Christmas cheer to the office.
NICE Guidelines for long COVID
18th December 2020
New NICE guidelines are announced, suggesting that GPs should consider long Covid referral after just four weeks. Little is still known about long Covid at this point, and less so about how to deal with it.
23rd December 2020
At Menlo Park, we signed off for the Christmas break. Last year was an incredibly difficult but rewarding year for the team. However, despite restrictions, splitting work between home and the office; we helped hundreds of GP practices ensure they had sufficient staffing levels to meet the extraordinary demands placed upon them.
January
New Years Honours list
4th January 2021
The annual Queen’s New Years’ honours list was announced. With GPs among those recognised for their efforts and dedication.
4th January 2021
Brian Pinker (81), a dialysis patient, becomes the first person in the UK to receive a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. A monumental day for the UK and Primary Care. The Oxford vaccine doesn’t require storage at very low temperatures, meaning easier logistics for Practices everywhere.
8th January 2021
GPs favour retaining remote consultations despite concerns. A topic that has split opinions since it’s forced introduction into mainstream working. On one hand, this is a much safer and seemingly efficient way of working. However, there can be issues reaching certain demographics with a lot of GPs also missing the ‘personal touch’ of seeing patients in person.
UK Population Vaccine plans
11th January 2021
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, pledges that the UK population will all be offered the Covid vaccine by Autumn. Certainly a bold claim; but with Primary Care vaccine capacity and efficiency ramping up, this was described as ‘the keystone of our exit out of the pandemic’.
12th January 2021
Primary Care is now administering 210,000 doses of the vaccine per day, less than 4 weeks on from the first dose being delivered…
14th January 2021
Public Health England releases data on vaccine doses given linked to geography. As a result, the North-East and Yorkshire come out on top, having vaccinated 43.8% of their over-80 patients, as opposed to the national average of 34.6%.
18th January 2021
The Covid vaccination plan widens to now start vaccinating over-70s and clinically vulnerable. Certainly made possible by the incredible efforts in Primary Care to get through the first three tiers of priority patients.