Like strokes or heart attacks, covid-19 is a time-sensitive condition.
The sooner a healthcare professional gets to covid-19 patients with the right treatments and admits them to hospital, the better the patients’ chances of recovery.
But catching people early cannot be hospital-led. Catching people early happens in the community, while the patient is still at home.
And that depends on monitoring done by GPs, care homes and community health services. The NHS England guidance for these groups has now been aligned so that everyone working in these services are all working to the same criteria for silent hypoxia and detecting deterioration.
And it is why patients need to have the tools and the knowledge at their disposal to monitor themselves and the backup of clinical support so that they can be escalated for treatment as soon as they start deteriorating.