European Commission Framework Programme 6, UK National Institute for Health Research, Barcelona Ciberde Enfermedades Respiratorias, and Research Foundation Flanders.

Background: Primary care has a crucial role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic as the first point of patient care and gatekeeper to secondary care. Qualitative studies exploring the experiences of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic have mainly focused on secondary care. Aim: To understand the experiences of European PCPs working during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design and Setting: An exploratory qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews in primary care in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Greece and Sweden, between April and July 2020. Method: Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using a combination of inductive and deductive thematic analysis techniques. Results: Eighty interviews were conducted with PCPs. PCPs had to make their own decisions on how to rapidly transform services in relation to COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 care. Despite being overwhelmed with guidance, they often lacked access to practical training. Consequently, PCPs turned to their colleagues for moral support and information to try to quickly adjust to new ways of working, including remote care, and deal with uncertainty. Conclusion: PCPs rapidly transformed primary care delivery despite a number of challenges. Representation of primary care at policy level and engagement with local primary care champions will facilitate easy and coordinated access to practical information on how to adapt services, ongoing training and access to appropriate mental health support services for PCPs. Preservation of autonomy and responsiveness of primary care are critical to preserve the ability for rapid transformation in any future crisis of care delivery.

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Background: Patient satisfaction is a complex and difficult concept to measure, thus precluding the use of exclusively quantitative methods for its description. The purpose of this survey was firstly to identify particular healthcare dimensions that determine a patient's satisfaction or dissatisfaction; and secondly to attempt to typologise the patients' responses based on their evaluation of healthcare.

Telemedicine is a convenient tool for providing medical care remotely. It is routinely offered as an alternative to face-to-face consultations in healthcare settings all over the world. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increased use of telemedicine in everyday clinical practice, the effectiveness of this modality and patient satisfaction with telemedicine is a subject of growing concern. PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched. Papers published between January 2020 and August 2021 which met inclusion and exclusion criteria were analyzed. During the COVID-19 pandemic patients have found telemedicine a beneficial tool for consulting healthcare providers. A high level of satisfaction with telehealth was observed in each study across every medical specialty. Telemedicine is undoubtedly a convenient tool that has helped ensure continuity of medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to its considerable potential. In particular situations, telehealth may adequately replace face-to-face consultation. Regular patients’ feedback is necessary to improve the use of telemedicine in the future.