40,000 patients treated at Covid assessment centres in one year
First facility opened in Belfast in March 2020
Health chiefs are praising the work of community Covid-19 assessment centres, one year since they first became operational in Northern Ireland.
The first facility opened in Belfast in March 2020, in response to rising levels of infection across the province.
There are now ten more centres in Belfast, Dungannon, Banbridge, Antrim, Coleraine, Newtownards, Lisburn, Downpatrick, Enniskillen and Londonderry.
They help GP practices separate Covid-19 and non covid patients, ensuring safe care.
It is thought around 40,000 patients have been seen at these centres since they opened, 15% of which were then transferred to secondary care for further treatment or assessment.
Dr Laurence Dorman, Chair of RCGPNI praised the work of the centres:
"As frontline healthcare workers, GPs stepped up to the challenge and quickly established, staffed and managed the Covid-19 Assessment Centres.
"This work, based on WHO principles of separating Covid from non-Covid, ensured practices could continue to care for patients in their surgeries and protected staff.
"The data from the centres was of huge importance nationally in mapping of the spread of the pandemic, affording senior decision makers an insight into the prevalence of the disease in the community.
"The centres also had an important role in medical research and provided an essential place for GP investigators to assess and examine participants in the Novovax vaccine trial."