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Pregnant nurse who died of COVID-19 felt ‘pressured’ to work, inquest hears

A pregnant nurse who died with COVID-19 felt "pressurised" to return to work despite being "very worried" for her health, an inquest heard.

Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, died after giving birth at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where she also worked. Her widower Ernest Boateng told the inquest that "due to high demand at the hospital she had to continue working".

A senior colleague said she had no knowledge of Ms Agyapong being pressured to return or remain at work.

The inquest in Bedfordshire heard Ms Agyapong was signed off on 12 March 2020, initially for back problems, and died on 12 April. She was admitted to hospital with breathing problems on 5 April and discharged the same day.

Giving evidence, Mr Boateng said: "Mary continued to work during this time [the start of the coronavirus outbreak], but she was very concerned about the situation involving Covid-19, so much so that when she came home from work she would take her clothes off at the front door and take a shower immediately."

"She was very worried about bringing Covid into the home."

Mr Boateng told the inquest his wife had worked "on some COVID-19 wards". 

"I wanted her to stay at home," said Mr Boateng. "But due to high demand at the hospital, she had to continue working. She tried to reassure me that everything would be OK but I could understand she was anxious and panicking deep down."

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Source: BBC News, 23 March 2021

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Solace calls for all forms of domestic abuse as defined in the Domestic Abuse Bill to be mandatory for social work qualifications

The House of Lords Public Services Select Committee is conducting an inquiry into whether reforming public services can address the growing child vulnerability crisis. 

Based on Solace's work with children and young people, they have submitted a response calling for better understanding and coordination from public services that intervene and support survivors of domestic abuse.  

Key recommendations:

  • Training on all forms of domestic abuse as defined in the Domestic Abuse Bill should be mandatory for social work qualifications, and periodically updated through continuing professional development.  Domestic abuse is the most common factor identified in assessments of children in need of children’s social care services but training is variable and can lead to social workers putting children at risk because they do not understand perpetrator behaviour.  
  • Safeguarding training for schools should also include mandatory training on domestic abuse and safeguarding designates should be informed of children’s social care safeguarding cases. Safeguarding training, which is statutory, does not have to include training on domestic abuse yet teachers can (and often do) play a crucial role in identifying the signs of abuse and intervening. Operation Encompass is an improvement on communication between the police and schools, but most domestic abuse is not reported to the police.  
  • NHS trusts should ensure staff in maternity units receive regular training on routine enquiry and support for domestic abuse survivors. Domestic violence is the leading cause of foetal death. Maternity services are required to make routine enquiries but we know from our service users that mandatory routine enquiry is still not being done correctly. 
  • Commissioners of domestic abuse services should budget for specialist support for children and young people in those services. We supported 1,392 children in our services in 2019/20. Of the nearly 200 children in our refuges in December 2020, around 30% had children’s services involvement. Upon leaving refuge, many of those mothers had increased their parenting capacity and increased their understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on parenting as a result of parenting workshops they had accessed in the refuge.  
  • Agencies should base their ways of working, communication and data-sharing for children assessed as in need and early help on how they approach children with protection plans. When children are on a child protection plan the coordination between responsible agencies tends to be much better than when children are assessed as being in need, though practice varies. The Government should make clear that sharing information in order to safeguard children is always legitimate within the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).  

Read Solace's full response

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CQC to expand inspection programme from April

More Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections will take place from next month as pressures from COVID-19 continue to ease.

Board papers published ahead of a meeting on Wednesday have revealed the CQC will return to inspecting and rating NHS trusts and independent healthcare services which are rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement”, alongside those where new risks have come to light. 

From April, the CQC also plans to carry out well-led inspections of NHS and private mental healthcare providers, and programmes of focused inspections on the safety of maternity departments and providers’ infection prevention processes. Focused inspections into emergency departments, which the CQC began in February, will continue.

Inspections into GP services rated “requires improvement” and “inadequate” will also resume in April, focusing on safety, effectiveness and leadership.

Finally, the papers said the watchdog would prioritise inspections of “high-risk” independent healthcare services, such as ambulances, cosmetic surgery or where closed cultures may exist. 

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Source: HSJ, 24 March 2021

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Safety probe launched into NHS 111 Covid triage service

Long delays for coronavirus patients to get through to NHS 111 call handlers while other seriously ill patients were told to stay at home have prompted a safety watchdog to launch an investigation of the phone triage service.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched an inquiry into the handling of coronavirus calls by NHS 111 – the first port of call for patients when they become unwell.

During the pandemic the NHS 111 service set up a dedicated COVID-19 Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS) but concerns over the safety of advice given to patients saw nurses and non-medical staff stopped from taking patient calls in August last year.

Now concerns from a number of patients and families have led the independent HSIB to launch a review of the service and to identify any learning and improvements.

HSIB told The Independent the investigation was at an early stage and it was not yet certain of any direct link to patient harm.

It said the number of patient cases could grow but that it had initial family concerns related to difficulties getting through to NHS 111, long delays in getting clinical call backs after an initial triage call and concerns that some patients were told to stay at home when they were seriously ill.

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Source: The Independent, 23 March 2021

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Ministers accused of ‘knowingly exposing’ patients to risk after partial response to Paterson scandal

Ministers have been accused of “knowingly exposing” NHS and private patients to safety risks after delaying again a full response to the inquiry into the Ian Paterson scandal.

Victims of rogue surgeon Ian Paterson, who was jailed in 2017 for carrying out unnecessary surgery on patients, told The Independent there was a “clear and present danger” of similar crimes being committed without urgent action being taken.

On Tuesday, the government released a partial response to an independent inquiry, led by Reverend Graham James, which reported in February last year. It revealed Paterson was able to carry out unnecessary surgery on more than 1,000 patients over a 14 year period due to a “dysfunctional” health system and the wilful blindness of managers.

The government response addressed only three recommendations directly with ministers promising a full response later this year.

David Rowland, director at the Centre for Health and the Public Interest criticised the lack of action as the NHS sends more patients to private hospitals in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Source: The Independent, 23 March 2021

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NHS hit by Covid disruption as cancer referrals plunge

The Covid pandemic is casting a wide shadow over the nation’s health, according to new data revealing a dramatic drop in urgent referrals for suspected cancers in England, and a plummeting quality of life among patients awaiting hip and knee surgery in the UK.

The crisis has caused huge disruption to healthcare services: in November NHS England revealed that the number of people waiting more than a year for surgery had reached its highest level since 2008, while patients have reported that their procedures, from cancer surgery to hip replacements, have been repeatedly cancelled.

It has also been linked to a fall in MRI and CT scans, while among other consequences breast screening programmes were paused last year. Experts have warned the pandemic may also have led to people avoiding GPs and hospitals, meaning they may have missed out on crucial care.

Now an analysis of NHS England data by Cancer Research UK has found that the number of people urgently referred for suspected lung cancer fell by 34% between March 2020 and January 2021 compared with the same time period in 2019/2020 – adjusted for working days. That, they say, equates to about 20,300 fewer people being urgently referred.

Declines were also found for other suspected cancers including urological cancer and gynaecological cancer, with about 51,000 fewer patients urgently referred for the former, a 25% drop, and 19,800 fewer patients urgently referred for the latter, a 10% drop, compared with the year before.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 March 2021

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Daughter 'made to wait as mother died alone'

An elderly woman died alone in a care home while her daughter was left waiting in a nearby room, an ombudsman says.

When the daughter went into her mother's room at the Puttenham Hill House Care Home in Guildford, Surrey, she found she had died.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the care home had not protected the woman's dignity. Surrey County Council has apologised to the family for the distress caused.

The council had arranged and funded the woman's care at the Bupa-run home.

A Bupa spokesman said it had apologised to the family and introduced "comprehensive measures" to prevent such a situation happening again.

The woman's daughter had complained she had been called too late to the care home when her condition deteriorated in August 2019.

When she arrived she was left in a waiting area and not told her mother was seriously ill, the ombudsman said. When she went into her mother's room 15 minutes later it was apparent her mother had died, and she found dried blood on the floor and oxygen pipes in her mother's nose.

The agency nurse looking after the woman never spoke to the daughter, the ombudsman said.

An inquest found the woman died from a brain haemorrhage, which would have been difficult to spot.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: "The daughter was not able to be with her mother as she died and her mother should not have been alone in the final moments of her life."

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Source: BBC News, 23 March 2021

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A new population-wide health data resource to accelerate research on COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease in England

For the first time, a new linked health data resource covering 54.4 million people – over 96% of the English population – is now available for researchers from across the UK to collaborate in NHS Digital’s secure research environment. This resource will enable vital research to take place into COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease, with the aim of improving treatments and care for patients.

This work has been led by the CVD-COVID-UK consortium in partnership with NHS Digital. The new resource links health data from GP records, hospital data, death records, COVID-19 laboratory test data and data on medications dispensed from pharmacies, and is accessible to CVD-COVID-UK consortium researchers in NHS Digital’s Trusted Research Environment (TRE) Service for England.

The CVD-COVID-UK consortium is a collaborative group of more than 130 members across 40 institutions working to understand the relationship between COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases. The consortium is managed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre, led by Health Data Research UK.

The ability to link different types of health data from almost the entire population of England provides a more complete and accurate picture of the impact of COVID-19 on patients with diseases of the heart and circulation than has been possible before now. It will also provide the data to understand whether patients with COVID-19 are more likely to go on to develop diseases of the heart and circulation, such as heart attack and stroke.

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Source: HDRUK, 24 February 2021

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Phased return to work for staff with Long Covid must be supported, says BMA

Managers must provide support for NHS staff returning to work with Long Covid, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

In their report the BMA said that ‘a phased return to work must be supported if appropriate’ for staff affected by long term symptoms from the virus.

It added that this should follow ‘an assessment by an occupational health (OH) team (recognising access to OH teams is not available to all staff, particularly those working in primary care)’.

The report also said that existing arrangements for full pay for staff off sick with Covid should remain in place ‘for as long as necessary, with financial support for employers to enable this provision’.

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Source: Management in Practice, 19 March 2021

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Care home workers in England face mandatory Covid jabs under plans

Care home workers in England could be legally required to have a COVID-19 vaccination under plans being considered by the government.

According to details of a paper submitted to the COVID-19 operations cabinet subcommittee last week and leaked to the Telegraph, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, have agreed to the proposal in order to protect vulnerable residents.

The move would prove highly controversial and could result in legal challenges. The cabinet subcommittee paper warned a large number of social care workers may quit if the change is made, and said that lawsuits on human rights grounds could be possible. A government spokesman insisted “no final decisions have been made” but did not rule out jabs being made compulsory for care workers. The government is also reviewing the introduction of vaccination passports.

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Source: The Guardian, 22 March 2021

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Maternity scandal trust was warned over staffing six years ago, report reveals

A trust being investigated over maternity care failings was urged six years ago to strengthen its neonatal staffing, HSJ can reveal.

An external review into East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust — conducted in 2015 and kept under wraps until now — said it had insufficient staffing, and that medical consultants felt a lack of engagement with senior managers.

The trust released the review yesterday after its existence became public for the first time earlier this month.

Last year, the trust was heavily criticised at the inquest of baby Harry Richford, who died seven days after he was born at the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Hospital in Thanet. The Care Quality Commission is taking the trust to court over the case, and is the subject of an external inquiry.

Among the recommendations of the review, carried out by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, were that consultants and junior doctors covering the neonatal intensive care unit “should have responsibilities solely to that specialty”. Such a move would improve the quality and safety of the service, the review suggests. 

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Source: HSJ, 22 March 2021

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‘No capacity anywhere’ to deal with unprecedented surge in children’s mental health demand

There is ‘no capacity anywhere’ to deal with an unprecedented surge in admissions of children with mental health problems, a senior clinician has told HSJ.

Last week, multiple children with eating disorders were understood to have been left on children’s wards in general acute hospitals, due to specialist mental health units across England being full.

This appears to be a deterioration from the situation last month, when several areas of the country were reporting an extreme shortage of specialist beds.

Rory Conn, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ children and adolescent mental health division, told HSJ that specialist inpatient beds were full nationally.

He added: “We are seeing a greater number of children restricting [their food and drink] intake for a variety of reasons, often to extreme degrees.

“Some are stopping eating and drinking entirely, in a clinical pattern that we haven’t traditionally seen. For example, they might not have an identified eating disorder like anorexia, but their restriction seems to be a response to their uncertain social environment during the pandemic.

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Source: HSJ, 23 March 2021

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Hospitals across Europe scramble to replace millions of IV kits amid fear of infections

Hospitals across Europe, including Britain, as well as the Middle East and Africa are scrambling to replace millions of pieces of equipment used to treat patients, as fears grow that they could cause infections after a company was discovered to have falsified sterilisation records for more than a decade.

The Independent has learned the problem affects more than 230 different types of infusion lines, connectors and associated kit, along with six infusion pumps used to deliver medicine and fluids into patients’ veins.

Medical devices company Becton Dickinson, or BD, has issued a recall of six of its Alaris infusion pumps as well as related tubing and kit after an investigation found a company it uses was intentionally falsifying sterilisation records, meaning BD could not be certain the tubing and pumps were free from contamination.

Hospitals across the UK have been given until the end of this month to stop using the pumps and quarantine any of the affected equipment. Any NHS trusts struggling with a lack of supply have been told to seek “mutual aid” from neighbouring trusts.

Public Health England told The Independent it had not identified any large scale infections linked to the IV lines but said it could not rule out smaller isolated infections.

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Source: The Independent, 22 March 2021

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Doctors ignored concerns over seriously ill girl

Doctors ignored the concerns of a seriously ill girl's parents before reducing her pain medication, an inquest has heard.

Melody Driscoll, from Croydon, died aged 11 at King's College Hospital (KCH) in July 2018.

Her mother Karina Driscoll and stepfather Nigel alleged the actions of KCH reduced Melody's quality of life. She told Southwark Coroner's Court that a reduction in painkillers also contributed to her daughter's death.

The family had been in dispute with KCH over the treatment given to Melody, who had several conditions including Rett syndrome, a rare and life-limiting genetic disorder that causes mental and physical disability.

Doctors wanted to wean Melody off painkillers, but her parents objected because the plan went against the treatment regime she had previously been prescribed at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

The court heard Melody suffered from very severe pain, requiring continuous relief, including morphine, for much of her life.

In a written statement read out by barrister Patricia Woodcock QC, Mrs Driscoll said although her daughter could not speak, she made recognisable signs when she was in pain, including tensing her muscles. However, she claimed staff at KCH had a "we know best attitude" and did not listen to her concerns.

"I would say that KCH took a very negative view about Melody, and us as a family, from an early age and, for example, started to believe that Melody's pain behaviours were not in fact expressions of pain but her simply 'acting out'," Mrs Driscoll said.

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Source: BBC News, 22 March 2021

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Victims of contaminated blood scandal denied financial support by arbitrary cut-off date

A woman infected with hepatitis C from contaminated blood has launched legal action after the government denied her financial support available to other victims despite accepting she was made sick by tainted blood.

Carolyn Challis told The Independent her life had been dramatically affected by the virus, which left her with debilitating fatigue and other symptoms meaning she couldn’t work and was left to look after three children.

With the help of lawyers from Leigh Day, she is bringing a judicial review against the Department of Health and Social Care, challenging what she believes is an arbitrary cut-off date for victims of the contaminated blood scandal to receive financial support including payments of a £20,000 sum and ongoing help.

The government has said only patients infected before September 1991 are eligible for the payments, but Ms Challis was infected at some stage between February 1992 and 1993 following three blood transfusions and a bone marrow transplant to treat Hodgkin’s Disease, a form of blood cancer.

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Source: The Independent, 21 March 2021

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Infections linked to Glasgow child cancer hospital deaths

An infection "probably" linked to Glasgow's children's hospital was the "primary cause of death" of a young cancer patient, the BBC has learned.

Infections from contaminated water at the hospital were also found to have been an "important contributory factor" in another child's death.

A review looked into the cases of 84 children who developed infections while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

It found that a third of infections "probably" originated in the hospital and the rest were "possibly" acquired there.

The authors of the "case note review", which should be published next week, said they recognised that some families would be disappointed that they could not have "greater certainty" about the links between their child's infection and the hospital environment.

They said this was down to the limits of a retrospective review but also criticised the shortcomings in the data provided by the health board.

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Source: BBC News, 20 March 2021

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Some long-haul COVID-19 patients say their symptoms are subsiding after getting vaccines

Arianna Eisenberg endured long-haul COVID-19 for eight months, a recurring nightmare of soaking sweats, crushing fatigue, insomnia, brain fog and muscle pain.

But Eisenberg’s tale has a happy ending that neither she nor current medical science can explain. Thirty-six hours after her second shot of coronavirus vaccine last month, her symptoms were gone, and they haven’t returned.

“I really felt back to myself,” the 34-year-old Brooklyn therapist said, “to a way that I didn’t think was possible when I was really sick.”

Some people who have spent months suffering from long-haul COVID-19 are taking to social media to report their delight at seeing their symptoms disappear after their vaccinations, leaving experts chasing yet another puzzling clinical development surrounding the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“The only thing that we can safely assume is that an unknown proportion of people who acquire SARS-CoV-2 have long-term symptoms,” said Steven Deeks, an infectious-disease physician at the University of California at San Francisco. “We know the questions. We have no answers. Hard stop.”

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Source: The Washington Post, 16 March 2021

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Harmless vaccine side effect could mimic cancer in mammograms

One consequence of an active immune response can be an enlarged lymph node. And, because coronavirus vaccines activate the immune system, some people have swollen nodes in the days following a vaccine.

These are harmless if uncomfortable side effects – but they can be misleading when scanned by a radiologist, including during a mammogram.

After vaccination, a swollen lymph node may appear as a lump in the armpit. These glands are hotbeds of immune activity, filtering pathogens and storing germ-fighting cells. If you’ve had a sore throat or a cold, there’s a chance you’ve felt a swollen node in your neck. The post-vaccine node may be palpable, too.

Any swelling should resolve within days, and if it does, it isn’t a cause for concern. However, should it persist for multiple weeks, then it’s not a bad idea to notify your doctor.

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Source: The Independent, 21 March 2021

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Some housebound people in UK are yet to be given Covid vaccine

Some of the country’s most clinically vulnerable people have yet to receive the coronavirus vaccination, Guardian analysis shows.

Ministers had said all clinically extremely vulnerable adults would be offered a vaccination by 15 February, but more than a month later some people who are housebound because of health problems have yet to be offered a jab they can actually access.

People whose disability or age means that they are unable to get to one of the mass vaccine centres around the country were meant to be visited by a “mobile health worker” at home, similar to that offered to care home residents. However, while government figures suggest that nearly nine in 10 people who are clinically extremely vulnerable have received a first dose, a number who are housebound are missing out, with some being expected to travel miles to a vaccine centre.

Kim Liddell, 49, from Cheshire, is housebound because of the nerve condition cauda equina syndrome, and is still waiting for a home visit. “I’ve spoken to my GP practice and all I have been told is they are in the process of setting up clinics,” she said. “The worst part of this is my father died from Covid three weeks ago. And I am at massive risk as my son, who lives with me, is a teacher, doesn’t drive [and has gone] back to face-to-face teaching. I’m absolutely petrified.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 March 2021

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AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, find clot reviews

There is no evidence the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine causes blood clots, say UK and EU regulators after a "thorough and careful review".

The MHRA and the EMA say people can have confidence in the vaccine's benefits and should get immunised, despite some countries pausing use.

But anyone with a headache lasting more than four days after vaccination should seek medical advice, as a precaution. The same advice applies if someone develops unusual bruising. That is because the regulators have received a very small number of reports of an extremely rare form of blood clot occurring in the brain.

It is this type of clot that triggered some European countries to pause rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

In the UK, five cases of cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT), among 11 million people who have received the vaccine, occurred in men aged between 19 and 59. One of these was fatal. The EMA has received an additional 13 reports of CSVT.

CSVT can occur naturally and no link to the vaccine has been established. The patients also had low blood platelet counts - cells involved with clotting. Covid infection can make clots more likely.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said regulators would continue to closely monitor the situation and people should have the vaccine when it is their turn: "The public can have every confidence in the thoroughness of our review."

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Source: BBC News, 18 March 2021

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Doctors suggest COVID-19 could cause diabetes

A cohort of scientists from across the world believe that there is a growing body of evidence that COVID-19 can cause diabetes in some patients.

Prof Francesco Rubino, from King’s College London, is leading the call for a full investigation into a possible link between the two diseases. Having seen a rise in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in people who have caught coronavirus, some doctors are even considering the possibility that the virus ‒ by disrupting sugar metabolism ‒ could be inducing an entirely new form of diabetes.

Rubino and others set up a registry to start pooling and analysing reports of cases. The principal investigators of the registry which has received reports from more than 350 individual clinicians who suspect they have encountered one or more cases of Covid-induced diabetes — have said the numbers were hard to ignore.

“Over the last few months, we’ve seen more cases of patients that had either developed diabetes during the Covid-19 experience, or shortly after that. We are now starting to think the link is probably true – there is an ability of the virus to cause a malfunctioning of sugar metabolism,” said Rubino.

If there was a biological link, it would be difficult to prove without a substantial database, he noted. “We said it’s worth embarking on an investigation because this – especially given the size of the pandemic – could be a significant problem.”

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Source: The Guardian, 19 March 2021

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Trust chiefs predict ‘massive problem’ if centre starts elective recovery next month

The NHS should start off the next financial year focusing on staff recovery and postpone ratcheting up elective recovery efforts and other long-term priorities until the second quarter, senior figures have warned.

One trust chief executive said if there is an expectation from the centre that “April is the start point [for elective recovery], that will cause a massive problem”.

It comes with the government and NHS England still apparently locked in negotiation over NHS funding for the financial year from 1 April, and deciding what the NHS will be asked to deliver.

The CEO said: “It’s hard to think that 1 April signals a new year for the NHS. [There needs to be] a gradual decompression of our staff over the next three months as the country opens up.

“If the planning guidance gets announced in the next couple of weeks with an expectation that April is the start point, that will cause a massive problem. Staff have not recovered, the vaccine programme is still ongoing, [and] there are still covid patients in all of our beds.”

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Source: HSJ, 18 March 2021

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Hospital operating theatres plagued by racist, sexist and homophobic abuse

Racism, sexism, and homophobia is widespread in hospital operating theatres across England, according to an independent report.

In a damning verdict on the atmosphere in some surgical teams, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said the ‘old boys’ network of alpha male surgeons was preventing some doctors from rising to the top and had fuelled an oppressive environment for women, ethnic minorities and trainee surgeons.

The report was commissioned by the Royal College of Surgeons and lays bare the "discrimination and unacceptable behaviour" taking place in some surgical teams.

Baroness Kennedy told The Telegraph the field of surgery was "lagging behind" society, adding: "It is driven by an ethos which is very much alpha male, where white female surgeons are often assumed to be nurses and black women surgeons mistaken for the cleaner. And this is by the management.

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Source: The Independent, 18 March 2021

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'Gross failure in care' of baby starved of oxygen

There was a "gross failure in basic care" which led to a baby being starved of oxygen during birth, a coroner said.

Zak Ezra Carter died at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, two days after being born in July 2018 at Ystrad Fawr Hospital in Caerphilly county.

Gwent coroner Caroline Saunders said the monitoring of Zak and his mother Adele Thomas fell "well below the standards expected". She said she was reassured the health board had taken steps to improve care.

Ms Thomas told the Newport hearing she felt "scared" and staff "didn't care" when she arrived to give birth on 20 July 2018. In a statement to the inquest she described being turned away from the centre after going into labour on three occasions, before being admitted on the fourth.

Ms Thomas said she was initially offered paracetamol as pain relief at the midwife-led centre.

She described "a lot of arguing between nurses", one of whom was "bolshie and rude and rough handled me", adding the midwives "did not appear to be in any rush". 

When Zak was born, he was described as being "white and pale" and without a heartbeat. He did not cry and was taken away to a room for resuscitation. Zak was transferred to the Royal Gwent Hospital where he died two days later.

During the first stage of labour, Prof Sanders said "everything was progressing at a normal healthy rate and the fetal heart rate was recorded as completely normal". But she said it was "highly unusual" for the heart rate to not be documented contemporaneously, and the midwives had not been able to explain why they had not done so.

Recording a narrative conclusion, Ms Saunders said the monitoring of Ms Thomas and her baby had "fallen well below the standards expected", leading to a "gross failure in basic care" of them in the later stages of labour.

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Source: BBC News, 18 March 2021

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NHS chiefs fear collision course with ministers over Covid backlog

Hospital bosses are bracing themselves for a clash with ministers over how quickly they can clear the backlog of NHS care that built up during the pandemic.

They are warning that it will take “years” to treat all those whose care was cancelled because Covid disrupted so many hospital services, particularly surgery and diagnostic tests.

Staff shortages, exhaustion among frontline personnel after tackling the pandemic and their need to have a break mean that progress will be slower than the government expects, NHS trust chiefs say.

“We can’t say with certainty how long it will take to tackle the backlog of planned operations because we don’t really know how big that backlog will end up being,” said Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers.

“The NHS will obviously go as fast as it can, as we always do. But it’s already apparent that clearing the entire backlog will take years rather than months.”

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Source: The Guardian, 18 March 2021

 

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