This GOV.UK page (3 June) details

Coronavirus (COVID-19): travellers exempt from English border rules

In this advice, it states “Healthcare professionals exempt from the 14 day quarantine:

• a registered health or care professional travelling to the UK to provide essential healthcare, including where this is not related to coronavirus

BUT, as Medical Director Dr Harvey Pynn points out:

“I think the professional bodies would take a dim view of medical folk taking advantage of this when returning from family holidays. However, good to know that people can still engage in NGO activity etc. without the requirement for a 14 day self isolation period on return. 

And all WMT alumni are strongly advised to read the small print of their travel insurance before venturing outside the UK given the FCO advises against all but essential foreign travel……..”

In the May 2020 Newsletter we’ve focused on directing readers to our online back catalogue of learning material. Links to selected blog posts, Medical Director’s Bulletins and Wilderness Medical Case Reports have been chosen to keep you informed, encouraged and – crucially – mindful that at some point we’ll be able to travel again. Read the Newsletter here.

The Wessex Global Health Network website is packed with information, news and links including a section on WORKING ABROAD that will be of interest to many WMT readers. Subscribe to their newsletter here.

Travel Health Pro has issued useful advice to those planning to travel to help afflicted countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the bulletin here.

Read this British Mountaineering Council report of how outdoor brands around the world are sharing their wealth or using their expertise and production facilities to make equipment, such as PPE, to combat Covid-19. Some companies are now offering huge discounts on outdoor clothing and gear to frontline workers in the UK. Read more. VF (who owns Smartwool, The North Face and other brands) is also matching donations to its Covid-19 Relief Fund 2 to 1 (donate £1 and they’ll match it with £2). Donate here.

Read the latest CASE REPORT by Dr Duncan Gray who writes candidly about a self-inflicted machete wound.

Extract: A self-inflicted machete wound to the left knee was sustained by the author when alone in a remote area of rainforest in Guyana in January 2020. Medical kit to hand was limited. The author was not the official trip medic. With concerns about a knee joint infection developing, evacuation was arranged to a small rural hospital many hours distant. The treatment there proved to be very basic. This case explores classic wilderness medicine issues including difficult decision making, balancing the various risks involved, psychological aspects and insurance failings.

Read Travel Health Pro’s advice on obtaining medicines if stranded abroad. Two of their take home messages are to beware of falsified “fake” or substandard medicines available abroad and don’t wait until your stocks run low before trying to replenish meds (including malaria chemoprophylaxis).

Travel Health Pro is a credible source of information and is the website comprising the travel health resources of the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC). On 18th March they published this advice
https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/news/499/covid-19-coronavirus-general-advice-for-travellers

Congratulations to delegates Dr S Huang, Dr H Guyver, Dr B Hillam and Dr H Gibbard who attended Expedition Medicine in Chamonix last week and won the poster competition with this thoughtful poster titled Is it safe to approach? Medics and laypeople alike will find this content interesting and useful.