Sexual Healthcare
Feature
SEXUAL HEALTHCARE IN IRELAND DURING A PANDEMIC Nicola Cochrane, a GP based in Wicklow, highlights how sexual healthcare has adapted in general practice since the emergence of Covid-19 As the Covid-19 pandemic began, few of us could have envisaged the dramatic changes to our working world in general practice during 2020. Provision of sexual healthcare was not an immediate priority for most practices as the move to telemedicine and community assessment hubs evolved in March
and April this year. However, people contacting GP practices during lockdown increasingly asked about menopause, contraception, symptoms of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies. In Ireland GPs with a special interest in sexual and reproductive health very quickly connected with
our UK colleagues in the Faculty of Reproductive and Sexual Health and devised guidance for doctors. It was an opportunity to adopt a robust evidence based approach to prescribing regarding review intervals, what aspects of clinical examination are essential and red flag symptoms suggestive of reproduc-
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