Page 23 - July 2020

THE COVID-19 STORY
were impaired whilst driving during lockdown you were easier to spot! In contrast, the hospital corridors were eerily quiet. In part this was due to an almost complete shut- down of non-essential hospital services.
For me, it has been a period in which I have had to learn a lot about the clinical presentation of the disease and about its treatment. It has been a very fast moving scene, but the task has been made much easier by the many online presentations provided by medical groups such as the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal College of Pathologists. The new found knowledge has led to discussions with manufacturers of re-purposed drugs to treat COVID-19, and with diagnostics companies wanting advice on the validation of test kits to detect antibodies to the virus in samples from patients who have suffered the disease.
There are some signs of hope, but much still hinges on the successful development and distribution of a vaccine before confidence in large public events, of the type we are used to in the Livery movement, can be scheduled again. In the Far East, at least, business has gained sufficient confidence to start planning meetings during Quarter 4 of this year. I have already been asked to lecture during October at symposia in Malaysia and Thailand. Happily, using interactive online presentations, avoiding the necessity to spend hours in the air and, no doubt, countless health checks.
WORKING ON THE FRONTLINE
Rodney Bryant is the brother of Liveryman Bob Bryant. He is an Urgent Care Practitioner and gives us an insight into Primary Care for COVID-19.
David Holt ASI Ltd
The novel coronavirus, SARS- COV-2, which causes COVID-19, has been with us in Great Britain since officially being documented on 28th February 2020. Lockdown started on 23rd March 2020 and at the time of writing this it is the 7th May 2020. 70 days in total and only 46 days of lockdown. It feels like longer, certainly for me!
As we approach the first May Bank Holiday of this year and an apparent phased end to lockdown, I’ll pass on some of my experiences, working as an Urgent Care Practitioner in a combined role, covering a GP practice and an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC). My background is as a registered Paramedic with the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust, covering numerous roles from Clinical to managerial positions. I’ve now served over 25 years in
the NHS, working in emergency and community care, telephone triage and primary care settings. Often seeing at least 30 patients per day, per shift, as an individual practitioner, I’ve seen that number drop as low as 3, at the sad height of the most recorded deaths from COVID-19, during April 2020. However, for the last three weeks it has gradually crept up and is around 10 to 12 patients that I’m seeing. Still far fewer than normal. However, each visit still doesn’t change the feeling of slight worry or anxiety; could the next patient I see have COVID-19? Quite possibly yes, many people are asymptomatic. It’s the not knowing that’s heightened these feelings. But I’m protected, I have personal protective equipment (PPE). I have a basic surgical face mask, one to be worn for the duration of a 12 hour shift. I have to because we’re so low on PPE, as most
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