NATIONAL: Guides for patient management during coronavirus pandemic
Clinical guide for the management of acute diabetes patients during the coronavirus pandemic
16 March 2020 Version 1
…and there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopaedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us…
Dr Daniele Macchine, Bergamo, Italy. 9 March 2020
As doctors we all have general responsibilities in relation to CORONAVIRUS-19 and for these we should seek and act on national and local guidelines. We also have a specific responsibility to ensure that essential diabetes care continues with the minimum burden on the NHS.
We must engage with those planning our local response. We may also need to work outside our specific areas of training and expertise, and the General Medical Council (GMC) has already indicated its support for this in the exceptional circumstances we may face:
www.gmc-uk.org/news/news-archive/how-we-will-continue-to-regulate-in-light-of-novel-coronavirus
Diabetes may not seem to be in the frontline with coronavirus but we do have a key role to play and this must be planned. In response to pressures on the NHS, the elective component of our work may be curtailed. We should seek the best local solutions to continue the proper management of diabetic patients while protecting resources for the response to coronavirus.