Dear Colleagues,

We finally have full-on spring! This coincides with Ontario starting to re-open and there is that yearning for a return to “normal”. We know, though, that we need to remain vigilant, and that there will be a new normal. We need to consider what our practices will look like – and importantly, ensure that all family physicians can thrive in this new reality. 

 As with all things COVID, evidence evolves and the OCFP is doing its best to bring you what is new, and what is on the horizon. 

Our website has been renewed for your ease of use! My earlier messages are posted there along with sections on clinical care, office readiness, special populations, emerging evidence and more.

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 Ramping up primary care for safe in-person visits

We have provided guidance for in-person visits that still holds as we start to increase the number of people we are seeing in our offices. Ultimately, as family doctors, you are in the best position to determine when an in-person visit with a patient is warranted and safe to do so. Your own clinical context will result in solutions that best suit your patient needs and practice realities. 

What are the next clinical priorities for in-person visits? The OCFP is working to inform this process, to be able to offer some guidance for our members based on best practices and emerging evidence. We will be working with the SGFP and Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, and we are in touch with the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the PEER evidence group. Stay tuned!

UPDATED Ministry of Health Guidance for Primary Care Providers in a Community Setting

• COVID-19 testing guidelines. Further, Additional Direction on Testing Strategy (May 24) makes testing available to people with at least one COVID-19 symptom, and asymptomatic, risk-based testing – for those concerned they have been exposed to COVID-19 and those at risk for exposure through their employment. Refer to your local testing centre. (see locator from the Centre for Effective Practice).
• Screening questions for your reception.
• Expanded guidance on in-person care for essential visits (page 2).
• Chart summarizing required personal protective equipment (PPE) precautions (page 8)
• Infection prevention and control fundamentals from Public Health Ontario. Additional resources available on the OCFP's Clinical Care - Office Readiness webpage. 

 Personal Protective Equipment – PPE

• The SGFP has secured a deal with Surgo Surgical Supply for a limited quantity – learn more from the SGFP community page of the OMA website.
• OMA PPE inventory and large shipment coming in for community doctors – from OMA May 20 update: “The OMA is expecting a large shipment of surgical masks and reusable face shields soon from ConquerCovid. We plan to distribute them to community-based physicians who have completed the OMA’s PPE Inventory Tool.”
• Your Regional Ontario Health table using the Personal Protective Equipment Intake Form - this is for clinicians with less than seven days of PPE on hand and who have exhausted all available supply chain options. 

 Centre for Effective Practice COVID Tool

• Recent updates to the CEP’s COVID-19 Resource Centre, which compiles the latest evidence, policies and recommendations into a single source of guidance for primary care providers, include a revised outpatient management and resolution section with self-management criteria and co-morbid considerations. 

 Community of Practice – Sharing our solutions!

• Every 2 weeks, we co-host a one-hour webinar with UofT Department of Family and Community Medicine, hearing solutions from colleagues in different practice types around Ontario. The next session, on May 29 at 8 to 9 a.m. ET, is about virtual care: Register | Access recordings and materials from previous sessions.

 Community Resources (see OCFP website for more)

• Supporting vulnerable Ontarians – the Ontario Community Support Association has partnered with the Ontario Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility to help isolated, low-income seniors and people with disabilities and chronic medical conditions across Ontario get meals, groceries, medicine and other essentials to stay safe at home during COVID-19. You can learn more and sign up for services at ontariocommunitysupport.ca or call 211 (Toll Free: 1-877-330-3213; TTY: 1-888-340-1001).
• Call Auntie: Indigenous COVID Pathways Hotline (Greater Toronto Area only) – this hotline connects Toronto’s Indigenous people with culturally safe health information, referrals, Indigenous midwives and doctors. Call with questions on screening and self-assessment, testing and follow up, COVID financial benefits, and more. Available by calling 437-703-8703, from 4 to 9 p.m. daily.

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 I know that we have been called upon to step up and to make huge changes during the pandemic; it hasn’t been easy for many, and we won’t be able to go back to what was. The OCFP is committed to supporting you, and to working with partners so our voice for family medicine and primary care is stronger. We are the backbone of the health care system.

We must be connected to one another and the system must connect to us. 

All the best to you as you walk carefully into the next phase of COVID. In the words of Dr. Bonnie Henry (Provincial Health Officer of BC), “Be kind, be calm, be safe”. 

Jennifer