PRIMARY care is not closed, it is busier than ever and patients will not be turned away, it has been confirmed.

At a Health Board meeting on July 15, chairman Mark Polin said one of the biggest concerns is access to GP care.

Gill Harris, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery, told members that staff in care settings are seeing ‘significant’ issues with the need to self-isolate, with 130 staff currently isolating across all services which is proving a challenge with primary care, acute care and the vaccination programme.

She said: “We do have risks around staff availability due to risks of isolation. The Delta variant is very much present in North Wales and the risks are still there.”

Members were told of how they are looking at how to get self-isolating staff back to work sooner but it is a ‘difficult balance’ due to some not displaying any symptoms.

At the meeting, members heard how face-to-face consultations have continued alongside an increase in virtual consultations for GP practices – as much as 20% increase in activity

But practice stability and sustainability challenges have been exacerbated by Covid. There are also challenges for dental and optometry services from space and ventilation, use of virtual consultation, and backlogs in demand for routine care.

Chris Stockport, Executive Director of Primary Care and Community Services, said that there are processes in place to ensure people can still access primary care which is ‘very busy’ and ‘very much open’.

He said: “All the way through the pandemic we’ve had processes in place which require people to contact and be triaged before being provided face-to-face consultations.

“As time moved on the threshold for face-to-face appointments has shifted and all of our GPs in North Wales are aware there’s no justification in anyway to deny the moving the face-to-face where appropriate.

“However it often still isn’t appropriate and still presents a risk to either individuals in the practise which could see the practise being closed due to isolation or to other vulnerable people being seen.”

Mr Stockport said a variety of consultations still occur such as telephone calls or e-consultations, but if face-to-face appointments are required then that ‘will be delivered’.

He told members that primary care has expanded from the traditional model of seeing a GP in the form of pharmacy providers or a ‘raft of different professionals’.

He said this is so when people do see their GP, they can focus on the things ‘only they can do’.

He assured members that there are recruitment programmes in place for GPs as well as other professions but it is ‘really tough’.

Concerns were raised over patients, particularly the elderly, who are reluctant to share details with receptionists carrying out initial recordings of symptoms which could lead to ‘serious things not being addressed’.

Mr Stockport said receptionists do not ‘do the triaging’ however, it does help to divert the enquiry through the triage appointment and can save time.

He urged people to share a ‘reasonable amount of information’ to ensure the process is as ‘short as possible’.

He added: “If people don’t want to share, that’s absolutely fine, what will happen then is that the clinical team will contact them and start the process of triage.

“It may slightly extend that process if they have to move the enquiry onto someone else rather than the receptionist but non-the-less you will still get to the end of place.”