Red rooms being set up at medical practices as GP hails 'phenomenal' community response
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NEW red rooms – isolated units used for assessing patients with suspected coronavirus symptoms – are being set up at three medical practices in Caithness.
Thurso-based Dr Alison Brooks said that the town's Princes Street Surgery had taken delivery of the portable building which is now being used as a separate space for patients at higher risk of having Covid-19.
Red rooms, which can be easily disinfected, have also been put in place at Canisbay Surgery and Wick Medical Centre, thanks to North Coast Entertainments and Dounreay.
Dr Brooks was delighted with the "phenomenal" community response.
"We phoned Dounreay from Princes Street on the Monday morning and by the Thursday morning Simpson's crane was delivering our unit," she said.
"Caithness really is the wind beneath our wings. I am just so delighted.
"Caithness is just phenomenal – the support, the good messages, the things people have done for us have just been unbelievable.
"You send an email and within hours you have something in place to try and help us fight this Covid-19."
The surgery has kept a list of all those who have helped and will thank them all.
Caithness really is the wind beneath our wings. I am just so delighted.
Highlighting how hard all the staff are working, Dr Brooks said: "It is seven days a week and through the night you are thinking about the next step – it is exhausting.
"You hear the cheering and clapping going around Thurso on Thursday night, it is just fantastic. You think that is why we do it.
"Our staff are all doing very well and we have fantastic management. Our practice manager Christine Tait has got the team very upbeat – she is absolutely amazing.
"We are keeping in touch with the other practice managers. It is incredible how cohesive everything has been.
"We have really good communication with Caithness General Hospital as well."
The red rooms – all event welfare cabins from North Coast Entertainments – are coming into operation following the opening of the Covid-19 assessment centre at the hospital in Wick.
Dr Brooks explained that some hospital patients – those with an additional medical condition not related to the virus – would be referred back to their medical centres, which was why it was important to have special designated areas in place.
Prior to the establishment of the new dedicated unit, patients at Princes Street who were showing symptoms of Covid-19 or those with respiratory problems had been using a separate side door into the surgery as a precaution.
The doctor pointed out that these people are being seen by staff with full personal protective equipment to minimise risks and the separate room is keeping everyone safer.
She added: "One of our concerns is that patients are trying to do the right thing at the moment and trying not to bother us.
"We are concerned there are people out there who need help but trying to avoid surgeries and trying to protect us by not giving us too much work."
Dr Brooks said that the new red rooms hopefully would make people feel safer about attending the medical centres and avoid a build-up of numbers following the end of the crisis.
The container unit has been put in place behind the surgery in Princes Street thanks to the generosity of a neighbour who has allowed the use of her ground.
Wick Medical Centre has also been delivered a container unit from Dounreay and it is in the process of being set up.
Dr Ewen Pearson explained that initially they had to see people with suspected coronavirus symptoms in their cars but as things developed they were able to use the chiropody section of the centre without fear of contaminating the whole building.
He said: "The portable cabin idea gives us another option and more space. It is very useful."
Dr Pearson pointed out that the new Covid-19 assessment centre had been set up in the former medical centre building behind the hospital where the mental health services were situated.
"It has been renovated very quickly by the estates team and lots of different staff have been redeployed to help out," he said
"All patients should phone 111 or NHS 24 and anyone with severe symptoms can be seen there. We are still trying to be very cautious. That is where the red rooms come in as a very useful resource."
He added: "Everyone is working very hard. It is pretty much been overwhelming the support – there have been so many little acts of kindness that have been fantastic."
