Update from the Medical Practice 31st March 2020
Things have changed a lot for everyone since our last message. It is great to see the effort being made on Tiree to follow advice and keep as distant as possible from one another.
Probably the hardest place for everyone to keep their distance from those around them is the COOP, but we all need to eat. We are really grateful to all the staff at the COOP for their continued efforts to make distancing possible whilst shopping.
At the surgery, we are doing as many consultations as we possibly can by telephone. We are grateful for your co-operation with this and with the new arrangements for picking up medication. We now have a temporary Assessment Room beside the Dentists Surgery, which will be for assessing people with symptoms that could be Covid-19. This will allow us to prevent the virus being passed on to patients or staff at the surgery building.
We have prepared a temporary ward at Baugh Church. This will allow us to look after anyone unwell with the virus, who cannot manage at home. We hope we do not have to use it, but we need to be prepared. We will be contacting those who have volunteered to be staff at the ward this week.
We have heard more about the ambulance services arrangements for anyone who needs to be evacuated with Covid-19. There will now be an air ambulance service using the fixed wing aircraft.
We are seeing a few people with cough and fever symptoms, but as time goes by, it is becoming clearer that some people with coronavirus do not always have both of these. If you feel unwell and have any cold, cough or fever type symptoms, please let us know. We may not always need to see you face to face, but we would like to hear from you please.
You have probably heard talk of Covid-19 testing in the news. Unfortunately, we still do not have access to testing except for front line health care workers, in order to get them back to work if they are suspected of having the virus.
There is a huge amount of effort going in from people across the community, be it helping move equipment, building partitions for the Ward at Baugh Church, making uniforms for volunteers at the Ward, plumbing and electrics installation for the Assessment Room, helping those more vulnerable to Covid-19 infection to isolate by doing their shopping or administrative and organisational work. It’s a long list and we are really grateful to everyone who is helping to hold back the spread of the virus, and make preparations for whatever it may bring.
Tiree Medical Practice
