Dear Member / clinic owner,
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PPE
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The All of Government briefing today included this in the ‘new advice’ section:
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“The Ministry is watching very closely for advice from the WHO and CDC around whether or not people should wear face masks in public.”
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CDC latest advice recommends mask wearing in public (see new forum topic Mask use in public and reuse of PPE - CDC), and is in line with longstanding advice on masks given by east Asian health authorities.
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Ministry of Health teleconference
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We’re organising a teleconference with the MoH to discuss concerns and suggestions raised by the College and its members.
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In advance of this, we’ve had feedback from some members as follows:
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- Some clinics are being referred patients for face-to-face consultations more than usual, with or even without cold or flu symptoms.
- Some patients are delaying presentation and presenting late with complications of an injury or illness.
If you have any comments on these reports, or any other matters of concern, please reply.
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Telehealth
We’ve had requests for more information on telehealth in urgent care, and a College statement.
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The Executive Committee discussed this and agreed RNZCUC is broadly in favour of the use of telehealth during the Covid19 pandemic, with the caveat that each member must use clinical judgement in each case to decide if the benefits of avoiding potential Covid-19 transmission by having a telehealth consultation outweigh the benefits of having a face-to-face consultation.
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Members are already using telehealth for all or part of some consultations where telehealth carries a low clinical risk, and RNZCUC supports this.
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We’ll prepare and publish a full College statement on telehealth, with additional guidance specific to urgent care, for use both during and outside a pandemic.
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David Gollogly, Jasmine Mackay, Richard Chen
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Pandemic Response Committee
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