{"id":856,"date":"2021-07-01T10:21:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T09:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/covid-19-gps-urge-government-to-clear-up-confusion-over-symptoms\/"},"modified":"2021-07-01T10:21:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T09:21:05","slug":"covid-19-gps-urge-government-to-clear-up-confusion-over-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/covid-19-gps-urge-government-to-clear-up-confusion-over-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"DAUK in the BMJ: “Covid-19: GPs urge government to clear up confusion over symptoms”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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GPs have called on the government to update the official list of covid-19 symptoms after seeing patients shun tests to check their infection status because they don\u2019t believe they have been infected by SARS-CoV-2. They also said that a public communication campaign was needed to inform the public about the limitations of lateral flow tests and vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The website of the Covid Symptoms Study being run by the health science company ZOE and King\u2019s College London said the most commonly reported covid-19 symptoms were now headache, runny nose, and sore throat and not fever, cough, and loss of sense of smell or taste, as listed by the government.1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lack of information about this changing profile of symptoms is making dealing with patients difficult and could thwart efforts to control the pandemic, GPs have told The BMJ<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cumbria GP Ellen Welch said, \u201cI work entirely remotely, both in and out of hours, and the vast majority of people contacting out-of-hours services with coughs or fevers still express surprise and frustration when a covid-19 test is mentioned. People \u2018know\u2019 it\u2019s not covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we end up referring people on for face-to-face appointments via out-of-hours [services] or NHS 111 we ask the standard covid questions about any symptoms, and I would say almost every single person responds to the \u2018do you have any covid-19 symptoms\u2019 question . . . with, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve had both my vaccinations,\u2019 as if this means it doesn\u2019t apply to them any more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nottinghamshire GP Prakash Kachhala said, \u201cI\u2019m struggling to recall anyone I have spoken to at an urgent appointment having done or arranged a PCR test. We saw this even before delta with straightforward coughs and fevers, but obviously it\u2019s more complex with delta and broader symptoms. While access to testing is much better than last year, it seems that fewer people who contact the GP are doing it. Lateral flow tests don\u2019t help, and I wonder if access to them is reducing those going for PCR.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lateral flow tests, which are now available to the public for twice weekly testing, are supposed to be used to identify asymptomatic cases. This means that a negative result does not rule out infection. However, the communication about the use of these tests has been poor. A BMJ<\/em> investigation found that only one third of local authorities that rolled out these tests made their limitations clear to the public.2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hertfordshire GP Neena Jha also said she had seen such problems at her practice. \u201cI don\u2019t think the blame is with the patients at all. I think it\u2019s poor public health messaging, and patients have misunderstood the role of the lateral flow tests and what the results mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Jha said that some patients became angry when they were advised to get a PCR test. \u201cI think there is this backlog of frustration and misunderstanding,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich I think has been driven by some of the media outlets that have [spread] this rhetoric that GPs have been closed and we\u2019re using covid-19 as an excuse not to see patients, which couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe set up covid community hot sites, we\u2019ve been seeing covid and non-covid [patients] face to face throughout. There has just been a tele- or remote appointment first [policy], and that was at the direction of NHS England. But the way it\u2019s been spun has been really damaging. And we\u2019ve seen a huge increase in aggression from patients since then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GPs now want to see a public communication campaign, led by the government, to tackle these misunderstandings around symptoms, testing, and vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GPs have called on the government to update the official list of covid-19 symptoms after seeing patients shun tests to check their infection status because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[154,44,38,435,301,324,33,34],"class_list":["post-856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-practice","tag-bmj","tag-covid-19","tag-dauk","tag-dauk-news","tag-dauks-gp-committee","tag-dr-ellen-welch","tag-press","tag-press-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}