Safety implications of remote assessments for suspected COVID-19: qualitative study in UK primary care (8 March 2022)

Summary

The introduction of remote triage and assessment early in the pandemic raised questions about patient safety. Wieringa et al.

sought to capture patients and clinicians’ experiences of the management of suspected acute COVID-19 and generate wider lessons to inform safer care.

Lessons from the pandemic suggest three key strategies are needed to prevent avoidable deaths and inequalities in the next crisis: (1) strengthen system resilience (including improved resourcing and staffing; support of new tools and processes; and recognising primary care’s role as the ‘risk sink’ of the healthcare system); (2) develop evidence-based triage and scoring systems; and (3) address social vulnerability.