Wessex LMC has been working closely with one of our local Paediatricians, Dr Sanjay Patel a Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at University Hospital Southampton, he has been working with the The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) they are keen to get the following message not only to general practice but also to your patients with children.
Sadly the RCPCH have received information about a number of cases where delayed presentation of unwell children by parents may have contributed to significant adverse events (includes deaths from sepsis, appendicitis etc).
There have also been reports of increasing rates of non-accidental injury associated with this period of lock-down.
It is really important for all healthcare professionals to appreciate that COVID-19 is extremely unlikely to cause severe illness in a child (data from China, Italy, UK) – most children exhibit very few or no symptoms when infected with SARS-COV2 so one cannot assume that an unwell child or a child with fever >5 days has COVID-19 and an alternative diagnosis must be considered. It is essential also that this message gets to parents and that if they have an unwell child they must continue to seek healthcare support. Please read the attached and if possible send the SMS message to your patients who have children.