The Role of Primary Care during COVID-19
24th March 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with the highest death rate in the UK for over 10 years. Where people died also changed. Deaths at home increased by 67% during the first wave of the pandemic. They were 43% above expected during the second wave. There was also a sustained increase of 33% above expected between the two waves.
We know little about the circumstances of these deaths in the community during the pandemic. The World Health Organization recognises palliative care as core to the role of primary care . Primary and community care services deliver the majority of palliative and end of life care for people at home and in care homes. These services adapted rapidly as the numbers of people dying in the community increased. They provided care to people with highly complex needs at home, and to large numbers of care home residents at the end of life. The work has been challenging and associated with emotional distress for clinicians and an increased burden on family carers, particularly the burden of increased responsibility .
However there are opportunities to use the learning from this experience to build and sustain new integrated ways of working. The pandemic changed traditional ways of delivering services. Technological solutions were rapidly adopted for virtual consultations and online team meetings. At a talk given at the Cicely Saunders Institute in March 2022 Dr Sarah Mitchell, a GP from Sheffield, highlighted the importance of building on positive changes, such as online training, and multi-professional partnerships, and that there is a need for “clear, consistent and unified guidance to include all members of the primary care team, not just GPs.”
Mitchell S, Barclay S, Evans C, Sleeman K. Palliative and end-of-life care in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. British Journal of General Practice 2022; 72 (714): 6-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp22X718025