GPs should base decisions on which routine work to resume ‘primarily’ on ‘clinical need’ and capacity, NHS England has said.
At the end of last month, GPs were advised to resume the delivery of ‘routine and preventative work’ including screening.
And last week, NHS England’s medical director for primary care said that practices should resume routine work only if it can be done ‘safely’.
But in the latest GP webinar, Dr Nikki Kanani said: ‘When you think further ahead a lot of us are thinking about how we resume what we described as ‘routine services’.
‘I fully expect us to make decisions primarily on clinical need but also on the capacity of your team and the amount of the team that might be off etc.’
Previously, Dr Kanani encouraged GPs to consider different ways of delivering routine care and come up with ‘creative’ solutions to keep up with ‘vital’ immunisations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It comes as earlier this month GPs were told to focus on hand hygiene and other basic infection prevention, following concerns about their safety as they resume routine work.
Meanwhile, GPs were also told to continue making routine referrals to secondary care, although referrals are still being rejected by secondary care providers in many areas.
And recent data has shown that GP referrals to secondary care were down by nearly a third in March.
