Royal college of general practitioners

Background: Covid-19 has accelerated remote healthcare provision in primary care, with changes potentially permanent. The implementation of remote provision of health care needs to be informed by vulnerable populations, such as people living with dementia. AIM: To understand the remote healthcare experiences of patients living with dementia and their family carers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Background: Family caregivers of former intensive care unit (ICU) patients may suffer from physical and mental problems owing to ICU hospitalisation of their loved ones. These problems can have a major impact on their daily lives. Little is known about experienced consequences of ICU hospitalisation on caregivers in general practice. Aim: To explore health problems in family caregivers of former ICU patients and the consequences in their daily lives.

Background: Family caregivers to patients who are severely ill have high use of primary health care and psychotropic medication. However, it remains sparsely investigated whether healthcare services target the most vulnerable caregivers. Aim: This study aimed to examine associations between family caregivers' grief trajectories of persistent high- grief symptom level (high- grief trajectory) versus persistent low- grief symptom level (low- grief trajectory), as well as early contacts with GPs or psychologists and the use of psychotropic medication.

A working list of things to be aware of/ consider in supporting informal carers (family and friends who support patients in an unpaid role) impacted by COVID-19. This is partly evidence-based and partly grounded in our combined experience of working in applied research on informal carer support needs

Darling et al discusses the UK's Children and Families Act 2014, Section 96 which defines a young carer as a person under 18 who provides or intends to provide care for another person. A survey in 2018 asking 925 children in England to outline if they provide care, and to describe the care provided and to whom, reveals the extent of caring by children is much higher than previous estimates.

This toolkit provides links to a range of resources to support GP practices and health professionals in ensuring patients nearing the end of life, and those close to them, receive the highest quality of care and support. It includes tools, guidance, current best practice policy, and legislation for healthcare professionals. It also provides links to training resources to help with continuing professional development and audit tools to evaluate practice. A section providing information for patients, informal carers, and those close to someone nearing the end of life is also included.

The editorial on child maltreatment in the September issue of the BJGP prompted me to think again about young carers. It talked about the fact that many maltreated and vulnerable children do not have an administratively competent carer and that often parents have health issues such as alcohol misuse or physical or mental health problems that can affect their children. In general practice it is not uncommon for us to see the parents but not see the young people themselves.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects at least 1% of the population. There is an urgent need to improve healthcare of people with autism. Research shows that autistic people die on average 16 years earlier than the general population and this increases if they also have learning disabilities. This Autism Toolkit aims to be a 'one stop shop', a user-friendly guide to autism for primary care professionals, people affected by autism, clinical commissioning groups, as well as interested members of the general public.