Health pressure as Northern Ireland Covid rates mean staff miss work

Covid infections are at their highest levels in months but the natural immunity built up throughout the pandemic, combined with the vaccine roll-out, means most of those infected are not developing serious illness.

But the need for health workers to follow stricter guidelines than the general public when it comes to rules around self-isolation has meant GP surgeries and hospitals are coming under increased pressure.

That is according to the chairman of the Royal College of GPs in Northern Ireland Dr Laurence Dorman, and the chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee in Northern Ireland Dr Alan Stout.

Speaking to the News Letter, Dr Dorman said: “The numbers are very high. GPs are community doctors and we are seeing very high levels. There’s a lot of it about, but thankfully most people don’t seem to be as greatly affected.”

He continued: “We’re not seeing as many hospitalisations — there are some but not in the same way as in previous waves. That’s down to vaccinations, and also due to natural immunity from the numbers of people having already had it.

“Covid is affecting our staffing levels. The guidelines for the public are that they can come out of isolation after five days, but because we’re dealing with vulnerable people we have to be much more stringent than that. So quite frequently our teams are getting hit by this which is putting pressure on services.”

He added: “It’s happening righta cross the entire health service, which is stretching our already pressurised services.”

Dr Stout, meanwhile, expressed a similar view: “We are certainly still seeing a lot of infections in primary care and General Practice.

“A lot of it, fortunately, isn’t translating into serious illness with hositalisation and intensive care required as in previous waves. That’s a good thing but we are still seeing it present with less serious symptoms in primary care.”

He added: “The biggest pressure point we have in General Practice, and also in the hospitals, is staff being off. The higher transmissions in the community, the higher the prevalence is, the more likely it is that staff are going to get it. Healthcare staff still have to produce two negative lateral flow tests because we’re dealing with a lot of vulnerable people.”