Praise was given on Monday to East Surrey GP practices who have worked extra hard over the busy winter period, in an email sent to practices by Joe McGilligan, ESyDoc chairman.
During unprecedented bad weather and with snow disrupting everyone's lives, staff have strived to keep practices running as usual. Although flu has not reaches the pandemic levels of last year, patients have ongoing anxieties created by the almost 500 deaths related to swine flu last winter and the high uptake of the seasonal flu jab has created additional pressures. With the absence of last year’s ‘flu line’, flu and queries relating to it have added significantly to everyone's workload. With no additional financial incentives, this extra work has been taken on with goodwill alone.
Dr McGilligan said that everyone should receive thanks and recognition for going that extra mile: “I can safely say that in East Surrey we have a fantastic primary care team including all the receptionists, office staff and community teams. It is at times of crisis that the true value of the NHS comes to the fore with the Dunkirk spirit alive and well!”
