Community Assessment Hubs for Covid-19 cases
Community Assessment Hubs for Covid-19 cases
IMO says hubs can play important role in assessing Covid-19 patients
Monday 6th April 2020. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said that the new Community Assessment Hubs being established by the HSE around the country should allow a safe environment for Covid 19 patients to be physically assessed should that be required. Many people will not need a clinical assessment but for those whose condition is deteriorating these centres which will be staffed by GPs, Nurses, Other Healthcare Professionals and Administrators , will provide for a GP assessment of the patient’s condition and determine if they are well enough to go home or if they need referral into a hospital setting.
The IMO says:
- The use of Hubs will increase the ability of GPs to manage Covid-19 patients in the community outside of the GP Surgery thus allowing the surgeries to manage non Covid patients more effectively
Dr. Padraig McGarry, President of the IMO and a GP in Longford, said; “Assessment Hubs are a more appropriate setting for GPs to engage with Covid-19 patients and should improve our ability to physically assess those patients who need to be seen. This crisis has put a particular burden on GPs who are the first point of contact for most patients and we hope that the Assessment Hubs will ease that burden.”
Dr. Denis McCauley from Donegal, Chairman of the IMO GP Committee, “these Hubs will also free GPs to work with patients who do not have Covid-19 cases but who still need care, advice and support. Otherwise we are storing up huge problems down the line for these patients whose conditions will deteriorate and become much more serious it they are ignored. ”