11 May 2020 BANT’s Advice Following the Prime Ministers Speech Relating to Face-to-Face Consultations

Following on from the Prime Minister’s speech last night, BANT has become aware that some of its members are planning to return to face-to-face practice in the very near future.

Government announcements have made it clear that only essential or emergency services should be delivered face-to-face.

BANT’s clear recommendation is that its members continue working remotely from home for the foreseeable future and to heed the government advice to continue to stay home and protect lives.

Most, if not all, of our members have transitioned their practice online, for those who have found this transition challenging we empathise, but strongly believe that the COVID-19 era will be with us for the foreseeable future.  Whilst cases are decreasing in the UK they are still at high levels. Deconfinement in China and Germany have both resulted in an increase in new cases. Indeed Wuhan registered its first infection in a month, yesterday.  BANT recommends that its members consider online work as the new normal for now. Please see our COVID-19 Bulletins for links to materials BANT has made available to assist their members to transition online – https://bant.org.uk/category/covid-19/).

We also urge each member to follow the Government updates: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus