SensNews June 2020

19 Sensor100 2020 About GP Practice General practitioners broadly see four classes of patients: Infants, either for well baby checks or for the variety of health prob- lems which afflict children in their early years Patients with chronic lifetime health issues like diabetes and asthma as well as mental health issues Patients who develop worrying symptoms which require a doctor's assessment e.g. lumps, fevers, pain, etc. Elderly patients who present with a variety of long term health issues like COPD, heart failure, osteoarthritis. Infants and those with acute symptoms are possibly not good candidates for consultations via telephone/email/video; most of the other groups probably are, although the elderly are unlikely to have email/smartphones and are historically conditioned to see GPs in person and may even "de- mand" home visits. Although discouraged, it has long been customary in the UK for patients unable to get a GP appointment to go to a hospital A&E department, which has a statutory obligation to treat. Under Covid-19 rules this has no longer been possible, and GPs have turned to telemedicine to deal with the increased demands on their services. Both GPs and their patients will need to adapt, and time will tell how this evolves in the future. 8 health tests that could save your life We all worry about our health as we get older. But by undergoing routine health checks, which take just minutes to perform, you can spot any problems in the early stages when they are easier to treat. Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening Blood pressure tests Bowel cancer screening Breast screening Cervical screening Cholesterol tests NHS health check Skin checks