Abstract
During the start of the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, two family physicians in Tshwane, South Africa, reviewed the people at high-risk within their Health Catchment Area. The largest residential mental health care facility in Gauteng fell under their care, and they were responsible for providing care and support to this facility. Family physicians have to lead the primary care team and simultaneously take care of the well-being of their team members. This report discusses how these family physicians used digital platforms and virtual care to successfully coordinate and manage the response to an outbreak of COVID-19 at this mental healthcare facility.
Highlights
The concept of Health Catchment Areas (HCA), as a defined geographic portion of the Health District, has been used by the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Pretoria (UP) to divide Tshwane District into manageable areas governed by family physicians in primary care
The support to the Paul Jungnickel Home (PJH) represents one of the many contributions that family physicians in primary care made during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tshwane District
Assistance with planning, co-ordinating clinical care and responsiveness led to an excellent outcome during the COVID-19 outbreak and affirms the importance of the different roles that family physicians play in the South African health context
Summary
The concept of Health Catchment Areas (HCA), as a defined geographic portion of the Health District, has been used by the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Pretoria (UP) to divide Tshwane District into manageable areas governed by family physicians in primary care. The family physician takes responsibility for all primary care facilities, old age homes, special needs facilities and health related activities in this area. The family physician previously fulfilled all their different roles through being physically present and moving around the HCA. As a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the key roles of the Family Physician (clinician, consultant, capacity-builder, clinical trainer, leader of clinical governance, and champion of community orientated primary care [COPC]) had to be applied in a new context.[1]
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