This has been a truly exceptional year for the world, the UK, the NHS and us as healthcare professionals. For me 2020 has been a true year of ups and downs and I mean this personally and professionally. I am sure it's the same for many of you.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact and changed the way we behave in our home life and at work. We are facing a Christmas with restrictions to try and protect our families for 2021. But the predicted second wave of the pandemic is fully with us and with the usual winter pressures the NHS is facing yet another test of its reserve. You are all facing the test and rising to the challenge. Since I wrote to you last I have had COVID-19 and succumbed to a common factor it seems in that I developed atrial fibrillation and hypercoagulopathy and suffered a small stroke. I have been hospitalised, seen as an outpatient and put through many tests and investigations. I'm happy to say I am now convalescing and hope to return to ‘normal’ soon. Throughout all of my time from diagnosis, to treatment and now maintenance I continued to be impressed by the professionals I saw. The services were stretched, the bays were full, the COVID-19 protection measures were in place and this affected all aspects of the way care was delivered. But the quality of care never suffered, and indeed if anything it shone through as an example of how well we can perform, even under pressure. As I participated in a very patient centred consultation at the transient ischemic attack clinic, the advanced nurse practitioner explained all steps in her assessment process and when it came to the decision making on which anticoagulant drug to prescribe I was delighted to be able to discuss relative and absolute risk reduction across four potential prescribing choices with an educated, competent and confident practitioner. I felt truly involved in the process and came away sure that we had made the right choice. I tell my students that the ‘we’ in the consultation is important, as if the patient feels truly involved then compliance to the medication regime is more likely. I experienced first hand just how true this was and it made me very happy.
As we move forward towards the introduction and roll out of a number of effective vaccines, that patient involvement is going to be very important. Most patients are not as able as I am to relate to risk factors and discuss evidence base. Many rely on what the read in the news media and social media. They have been told vaccines take years to develop safely and now they are being faced with vaccine choice much sooner that was predicted. My social media is polarised. There is joy and relief at the prospect of a vaccine, and there is fear and trepidation over the speed of development, storage and production. The professional press is full of the detail of development using previous research along with parallel phases and financial incentives. The tabloid press, where many of our patients get their information is not carrying this. That means we as the healthcare professionals will have to be familiar with the evidence and translate that into lay terms for the people in our care.
There are still challenging times ahead and we still don't know how the vaccine will perform long term but there is optimism, and also hope.
Keep being amazing.