Delving into
diuretics In his regular column for Emphasis, Consultant Pharmacist Neil Hamilton explains the role of ‘water tablets’ in managing PH.
After what has been a difficult time for everyone, I hope that we are all able to look forward to the new world of ‘living with’, rather than in fear of, COVID-19. Most of the British public have now been vaccinated and optimistically, as I write, it seems as though case numbers are falling from the peak of the third wave. With schools and university students back, shops and restaurants bedding into the ‘new normal’ and crowd events such as football and music concerts restarting, life is steadily getting back to how it was before the pandemic. I hope that
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being fully vaccinated gives enough reassurance to the most clinically vulnerable, because time is precious, and we all need to get back to living life to the full. The PH centres have continued to see patients, albeit in very different ways to before, throughout the pandemic. We had to prioritise our face-to-face appointments to those most in need. This recognised the limitations we faced in terms of distancing, stretched staffing resources and securing our patients from transmission. However, the PHA UK’s
research also clearly described the huge anxiety amongst some of our patients about attending any appointments (or even leaving their homes for any reason) - however important they were. Telephone, and sometimes video, appointments were quickly brought in across all the PH centres for us to keep in touch with all our patients. This has undoubtedly been successful and will continue in the future to bridge the gap between less frequent clinic attendances.
