NHS Tayside has reassured locals that their doctors’ surgeries remain open despite the worsening coronavirus pandemic.
The health board issued a statement on Thursday morning confirming that “screening systems” are in place at GP practices across the area.
Patients are being asked to call in advance to be assessed by a doctor before attending for an appointment, if it is required. Open access surgeries have been stopped.
And NHS Tayside’s associate medical director for primary care Dr Jane Bruce said local pharmacies may close for longer than normal at lunch times to allow staff to catch up with dispensing and cleaning duties.
She added: “Patients should be reassured that GP practices across Tayside are not closed but for patient safety they are operating screening systems for people attending with coronavirus symptoms.
“This means that patients are being asked to call practices to be reviewed by practice staff via telephone. Then if they need to be seen by a GP, they will be given a time to go to their surgery.
“To protect patients and staff, Tayside GP practices have also stopped open access surgeries, which allow patients to turn up to a surgery without an appointment.”
She said: “All patients should be reassured that they will still have access to the care they require.”
Dr Bruce also warned patients to “only order the medicines that you need”.
She said: “GPs are receiving lots of requests for repeat medication. We would ask people to check which medicines you have at home before ordering more.
“Don’t tick everything on the repeat prescription unless you do need all the items.
“Our colleagues in pharmacies have been working extremely hard to support us during this challenging time and are dealing with a significantly increased workload.
“As a result of this, you may now see pharmacies closing for a longer lunch than usual to allow pharmacy staff to catch up with dispensing and to complete the cleaning that is needed during these circumstances.
“I would also like to thank voluntary organisations across Tayside who are supporting primary care and our patients by carrying out a range of helpful tasks. We are very grateful for their assistance in these challenging times.”
On Wednesday NHS Tayside banned visiting across all of its hospitals.
It comes after there was a third death in Scotland linked to covid-19.
As of Wednesday, there were 227 confirmed positive covid-19 cases across the country – a rise of 32 from Tuesday.
The figure for Tayside is up by four to 24 and has risen from seven to eight in Fife.
A total of 6,091 Scottish tests have been carried out with 5,864 of them confirmed as negative.
There are 2,626 confirmed covid-19 cases across the UK.
