The RCGP Women’s Health project recently launched a Women’s Health Hub containing resources for busy primary care clinicians on reproductive health, menstrual well-being, and menopause and beyond. The hub also has recommendations which will help primary care teams provide contraception and HRT without face-to-face consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Anne Connolly, RCGP Clinical Champion for Women’s Health, explains more.
RCGP is collaborating with Action on Hearing Loss and NHS England and Improvement to develop educational resources to give general practitioners the confidence in recognising the symptoms of hearing loss and appropriately referring patients for a hearing assessment in a timely manner.
RCGP Clinical Champion for Secure Environments, Dr Caroline Watson, outlines the challenges faced by people in prison and other secure environments during the coronavirus pandemic. She shares the latest resources and guidance for clinicians and patients, produced by the RCGP Secure Environments Group.
The RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) is calling on more practices to provide suspected COVID-19 cases to power the PRINCIPLE study. The centre’s network of practices continues to be instrumental in delivering the key national hydroxychloroquine trial, but the study needs to test more patients to deliver its findings.
Keeping physically active can be challenging at the best of times. In a global pandemic, the temptation might be to put physical activity on hold. During the COVID-19 lockdown, it’s important that everyone keeps active for physical and mental wellbeing. Dr Andrew Boyd, RCGP Clinical Champion for Physical Activity and Lifestyle, shares some tips on how clinicians and patients can remain active while staying at home.
The RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre is recruiting more practices to participate in COVID-19 surveillance and is calling on surgeries to use the standard codes for respiratory illnesses and potential cases to help improve surveillance data quality. Practices can also join PRINCIPLE, a large, innovative, clinical trial of potential drug treatments for COVID-19. Find out more information on how to join and contribute.
The RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre has adapted its disease surveillance to meet the requirements of COVID-19 surveillance. This includes improving existing data quality, virology (patient self-swab), serosurveillance (to measure background/”herd” immunity), and trials of medicines that might mitigate the effect of COVID-19. Find out more about how to contribute.
For four years now, the RCGP has partnered with the National Institute for Health Research to recognise general practices and First5 GPs who are active in research with Clinical Research Network Awards. Here, the award winners share the impact their award has had on raising the profile of primary care research in their practice.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre has been working closely with Public Health England (PHE) and other national bodies to closely monitor and plan to deal with any potential outcomes that may develop in the UK. Professor Simon de Lusignan, director of the centre, explains more.
GPs are experts in managing uncertainty, but this is unchartered territory and the College is keen to do everything we can to keep you, your families, and your patients safe in these challenging times.