The Irish College of General Practitioners has alerted GPs of revised arrangements for testing for COVID-19 from today 25th March 2020.

PEOPLE WITH SYMPTOMS WHO ARE UNTESTED AND NOT IN NEW CATEGORIES MUST STILL SELF-ISOLATE for 14 days. Their household contacts must restrict their movements.

What do GPs advise people who were referred for testing prior to and including Tuesday the 24th March ?

All those referred for testing prior to and including Tuesday 24th March who have not been tested or do not have an appointment will not now receive an appointment. 

Patients who have been given an appointment for testing should attend for same. If you have been tested (i.e. a swab taken) you will receive the result either by text or phone call from a public health doctor. 

If you have not received an appointment for testing and you feel you meet the new criteria you need to ring your GP to discuss if you need a new referral for testing. 

NEW CASE DEFINITION /CRITERIA 

Those needing testing from now on must display two major symptoms – 

  • A fever
  • A cough OR shortness of breath.

They must also belong to a PRIORITY GROUP for testing:

  • Symptomatic close contacts of a confirmed case of COVID-19;
  • Symptomatic healthcare staff;
  • Symptomatic patients in a vulnerable group (e.g persons with chronic illness, residents in a long term care facility, smokers, etc.

General practitioners acknowledge that the new arrangements may cause some confusion with the public and would ask for their patience. 

GPs are continuing to triage and do telephone consultations with anyone who feels they may have symptoms even if they do not fall into the above categories. People who do not meet the new case definition will not now be tested but will be required to self-isolate at home.

The ICGP has stressed that the household contacts of those with symptoms must now follow restricted movements for 14 days. Details of self-isolation and restricted movements can be found at www.hse.ie

Dr Mary Favier, President of the ICGP said “We appreciate this is a difficult time for a lot of people and there have been delays in ordering and doing testing. The new criteria mean that only those in the priority groups will receive a test. But it is important to stress that those who get symptoms and are not in the priority groups must self-isolate in their homes, away from other household members. This in some ways is more important than the test.”

Dr Favier also said that the revised testing protocol has created considerable additional strain for GPs and their staff.  “At this time of national emergency, decisions by Public Health are being made in all our best interest and at very short notice.  The GP Community is under great strain and as President I wish to acknowledge the wonderful work they and their staff are doing and to thank them for same.”

Dr Nuala O’Connor, ICGP Lead Adviser on Covid-19 said “The key to stopping the spread of the virus continues to be regular handwashing, good cough etiquette and social distancing. If you now do not meet the criteria for testing this means you are in a low risk category so we expect you to have a relatively mild illness. The test is neither an intervention or treatment.” 

She added: “What we are trying to do is to prevent anyone with COVID-19 infection, even mild infection, from spreading to others in their own home or wider circle. The treatment for COVID-19 is rest, fluids, paracetamol if you have a fever. While we understand you would like to know for definite whether you have COVID-19 we now need to focus on testing those who are at risk of the more severe form of COVID-19 so we can monitor them carefully.”

What is the advice for patients who are waiting test results?

They will receive their results by text if they are negative and by phone if they are positive from a public health doctor. 

Your GP is not able to check when your test results will be available. You will be the first person to know your results. 

In general it is the norm that where a GP orders any test for a patient the GP is responsible to give them the result.

For COVID-19 testing the HSE has decided that it is more important for the public health doctors to communicate the result to you so they can start the process of contact tracing. 

We would ask that you be patient and wait for the text or phone call from public health doctors.

Remember the advice is the same until you know the results of the test. Continue self-isolation at home for 14 days. People in the household will also need to restrict their movements for 14 days as per www.hse.ie

Dr Favier said: “GPs will continue to look after our regular patients who have ongoing and acute illness, and we will continue to do so with the assistance of our dedicated staff.”

The best source of information for the public on all aspects of coronavirus is the HSE website,  www.hse.ie.

Further information available on the HSE website:

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html#Protect-yourself

ENDS

ISSUED BY: Aileen O’Meara, Communications Consultant ICGP. Tel. 01 2542984 / 087 2239830

Email: media@icgp.ie

 MEDIA INTERVIEWS: The ICGP has a number of GPs available for media interviews who are fully informed on the latest developments regarding the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) in Ireland.

There are GPs available at regional and national level.

We request media outlets to use informed GP sources in their coverage at this time of national emergency.