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Covid vaccine: HIV clinics to make confidential referrals

People living with HIV in England and Wales can now choose to have their Covid vaccine through specialist clinics, without notifying their GP.

NHS England has updated its guidance for people not comfortable with sharing their status. 

Everyone with HIV should be in vaccine priority groups four or six, and offered a jab by mid-April at the latest. But campaigners worried stigma would cause some to miss out.

The updated guidance, obtained by the i newspaper, follows the lead of NHS Wales which put the same measures in place last week.

Head of leading HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, Ian Green, said: "Some may be surprised to hear that a significant number of people living with HIV feel unable to talk to their GP about their HIV status, but this underlines how much stigma still surrounds the virus even in 2021."

"This is great news and the right decision from the NHS as it means people living with HIV will be able to take up the potentially life-saving Covid-19 vaccine at their earliest opportunity. We are working towards a society where everyone living with HIV feels comfortable sharing their status with their doctor and other health professionals, but we're not there yet and we welcome this fast, pragmatic action."

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Source: BBC News, 22 February 2021

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Covid vaccine: 72% of black people unlikely to have jab, UK survey finds

Advisers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have raised fresh concerns over Covid vaccine uptake among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities (BAME) as research showed up to 72% of black people said they were unlikely to have the jab.

Historical issues of unethical healthcare research, and structural and institutional racism and discrimination, are key reasons for lower levels of trust in the vaccination programme, a report from Sage said.

The figures come from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, which conducts annual interviews to gain a long-term perspective on British people’s lives.

In late November, the researchers contacted 12,035 participants to investigate the prevalence of coronavirus vaccine hesitancy in the UK, and whether certain subgroups were more likely to be affected by it. Overall, the study found high levels of willingness to be vaccinated, with 82% of people saying they were likely or very likely to have the jab – rising to 96% among people over the age of 75.

Women, younger people and those with lower levels of education were less willing, but hesitancy was particularly high among people from black groups, where 72% said they were unlikely or very unlikely to be vaccinated. Among Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups this figure was 42%. Eastern European groups were also less willing.

“Trust is particularly important for black communities that have low trust in healthcare organisations and research findings due to historical issues of unethical healthcare research,” said the Sage experts.

“Trust is also undermined by structural and institutional racism and discrimination. Minority ethnic groups have historically been underrepresented within health research, including vaccines trials, which can influence trust in a particular vaccine being perceived as appropriate and safe, and concerns that immunisation research is not ethnically heterogenous.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 January 2021

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Covid vaccine priority for 'severe' asthma

People previously admitted to hospital or needing "continuous or repeated" steroid use because of asthma are to be prioritised for the Covid vaccine.

The most severe cases will fall into priority-group four, the "clinically extremely vulnerable", who should have received a letter advising they shield.

And the government has now confirmed the rest who meet the above category will be included in group six, the clinically "at risk", including some but not all those usually eligible for a free flu jab.

It follows patients' calls for clarity.

The government said it was following independent experts' advice.

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Source: BBC News, 11 February 2021

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Covid threat being ignored in England for ideological reasons, say NHS leaders

Ministers should reconsider England’s “living with Covid” plans, health leaders have said, while accusing the government of ignoring the ongoing threat for ideological reasons.

The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, has accused No 10 of having “abandoned any interest” in the pandemic, despite a new Omicron surge putting pressure on an already overstretched NHS.

“The brutal reality for staff and patients is that this Easter in the NHS is as bad as any winter,” said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation.

"We do not have a living-with-Covid plan, we have a living-without-restrictions ideology.

“But instead of the understanding and support NHS staff received during 2020 and 2021, we have a government that seems to want to wash its hands of responsibility for what is occurring in plain sight in local services up and down the country. No 10 has seemingly abandoned any interest in Covid whatsoever.

“NHS leaders and their teams feel abandoned by the government and they deserve better.”

Taylor later told BBC Breakfast: “In our view, we do not have a ‘living with Covid’ plan, we have a ‘living without restrictions’ ideology, which is different. We need to put in place the measures that are necessary to try to alleviate the pressures on our health service while this virus continues to affect [it].”

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Source: BBC News, 11 April 2022

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Covid testing scaled back further in England

Covid testing is being scaled back even further in England from April.

It is part of the "living with Covid" approach that relies on vaccines to keep people safe.

Most staff and patients in hospitals and care homes will no longer be given swab tests, even if they have symptoms.

Some will though, such as staff working with severely immunocompromised patients or if there is an outbreak on a ward or in a hospice or prison, for example.

The long-running Office for National Statistics Covid infection survey that estimated how many people in the community had the virus each week - based on nose and throat swabs from volunteers - has already come to an end.

The final one suggested 1.7 million people - about one out of every 35 (2.7%) - had Covid in the week ending 13 March, a14% rise on the previous week.

But the UK Health Security Agency says thanks to the continuing success of the vaccination programme, testing in England can now become more like the approach used for other common respiratory infections such as flu.

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Source: BBC News, 30 March 2023

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Covid test lab suspended over wrong results

Around 43,000 people in England may have been wrongly told their Covid-19 test was negative because of errors at a lab.

Testing at the Wolverhampton laboratory has been suspended following an investigation by NHS Test and Trace.

It is now contacting those affected, mainly in the south west region, to ask them to take another Covid test.

Concerns were raised when people had positive lateral flow tests but negative PCR results from the lab.

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Source: BBC News, 15 October 2021

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Covid test errors may have led to 23 extra deaths

Staff mistakes in a private laboratory may have caused 23 extra deaths from Covid-19.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) made the claim in a report into errors at the Immensa lab in Wolverhampton.

It said as many as 39,000 positive results were wrongly reported as negative in September and October 2021.

The mistakes led to "increased numbers of [hospital] admissions and deaths", the report, published on Tuesday, concluded.

Thousands of people, many in the South West, were wrongly told to stop testing after their results were processed by Immensa.

The Wolverhampton laboratory was used for additional testing capacity for NHS Test and Trace from early September 2021, but testing was suspended on 12 October following reports of inaccurate results.

Experts said high case rates in some areas were down to people unwittingly infecting others when they should have been isolating.

UKHSA experts said the mistakes could have led to as many as 55,000 additional infections in areas where the false negatives were reported.

"Each incorrect negative test likely led to just over two additional infections," the report said.

"In those same geographical areas, our results also suggest an increased number of admissions and deaths."

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Source: BBC News, 29 November 2022

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Covid survivors say ‘brain fog’ has impaired their ability to function normally

After contracting COVID-19 in March, Michael Reagan lost all memory of his 12-day vacation in Paris even though the trip was just a few weeks earlier.

Several weeks after Erica Taylor recovered from her coronavirus symptoms of nausea and cough, she became confused and forgetful, failing to even recognise her own car, the only Toyota Prius in her apartment complex’s parking lot.

Lisa Mizelle, a veteran nurse practitioner at an urgent care clinic who fell ill with the virus in July, finds herself forgetting routine treatments and lab tests, and has to ask colleagues about terminology she used to know automatically.

It is becoming known as Covid “brain fog”: troubling cognitive symptoms that can include memory loss, confusion, difficulty focusing, dizziness and grasping for everyday words. Increasingly Covid survivors say brain fog is impairing their ability to work and function normally.

“There are thousands of people who have that,” said Dr Igor Koralnik, chief of neuro-infectious disease at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, who has already seen hundreds of survivors at a post-Covid clinic he leads. The effect on the workforce that is affected is going to be significant, he added.

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Source: The Irish Times, 18 October 2020

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Covid sparks boom in digital hospital outpatient appointments

Tens of thousands of outpatient video consultations have been carried out by NHS trusts following the national rollout of a digital platform to support the coronavirus response.

Digital healthcare service Attend Anywhere was introduced across the country at the end of March after NHSX chief clinical information officer Simon Eccles called for its rapid expansion.

There has been a major push to boost digital healthcare services across the country in order to support the national response to coronavirus. Much of primary care has already switched to working virtually. Undertaking hospital outpatient appointments digitally has been identified as a way of keeping patients safe by removing their need to travel.

There have now been more than 79,000 consultations with Attend Anywhere. The number of consultations started at around 200 per day, but has rapidly increased to more than 6,000 per day.

Data released by NHS Digital showed that GPs moved swiftly to change their practice model in the face of COVID-19. The proportion of appointments conducted face-to-face nearly halved and the proportion of telephone appointments increased by over 600 per cent from 1 March to 31 March as GPs moved to keep patients out of surgeries except when absolutely necessary.

However, concerns have been raised over the limitation of remote appointments, particularly in mental health services. Royal College of GPs chair Martin Marshall raised concerns that video appointments could make it difficult for doctors to diagnose and manage patients’ conditions during the pandemic.

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Source: HSJ, 11 May 2020

 

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Covid smear-test delays prompt calls for home HPV tests

Smear-test delays during lockdown have prompted calls for home-screening kits.

Cervical cancer screening has restarted across the UK - but some women say they will not attend their appointments for fear of catching Covid.

Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust is urging "faster action" on home tests for HPV, which causes 99% of cervical cancers.

An NHS official said GP practices should continue screening throughout lockdown, and "anyone invited for a cervical smear test should attend".

Cancer Research UK said it was not yet known how effective and accurate self-sampling could be in cervical screening.

A survey by gynaecological cancer charity the Eve Appeal indicates nearly one in three missed smear tests are the result of people being "put off" by coronavirus. And a Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust survey during the pandemic suggests the same proportion would prefer to take their own human-papillomavirus (HPV) test rather than go to a GP.

Acting chief executive Rebecca Shoosmith said coronavirus had added "more barriers" to going for a smear test. "Sadly those who found it difficult before are likely to be no closer to getting tested," she said. "Self-sampling would be a game-changer."

Both charities emphasise smear tests are for "women and anyone with a cervix" and transgender and non-binary people may have additional barriers to going.

Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust said DIY tests could also help people who had been sexually assaulted and those with disabilities or from backgrounds where smear tests were taboo.

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Source: BBC News, 21 January 2021

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Covid Scotland: Patient numbers soar amid 'out of control' A&E crisis

New data has revealed the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is climbing rapidly, even before the latest surge in infections. These figures highlight the immense pressure the NHS is currently facing, and according to this data, there are now 585 people in hospital with the virus, up from 312 just eleven days ago, showing it to be the highest figure since early March.

Health Secretary Huma Yousaf said the situation in A&E is being closely monitored. "Hospitals are reporting increased levels of people attending A&E who are much sicker and require higher levels of care. Weekly performance is impacted due to a range of challenges including high attendances, staffing pressures due to isolation and annual leave and the continued requirement for infection control precautions that is affecting the time people need to spend in A&E."

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Source: The Herald, 01 September 2021

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Covid rule changes leave clinically vulnerable as ‘collateral damage’, charities warn

Leading charities have spoken out against the government’s scrapping of COVID-19 measures warning that clinically vulnerable people have been made “collateral damage for political considerations.”

Those representing thousands of clinically vulnerable people have warned the government’s decisions to scrap COVID-19 restrictions leaves people “marginalised” and warned there was a risk to 5-11 year old vulnerable children who are yet to be vaccinated.

The removal of COVID-19 restrictions next week will mean masks are no longer mandatory and the government will no longer ask people to work from home. Blood Cancer UK has called for the government to do more to support immunocompromised people such as giving them priority testing.

Alzheimer's Society has said it is too early to drop basic measures, such as mask wearing, which help protect vulnerable members of society.

Charlotte Augst, chief executive for the charity National Voices said clinically vulnerable people had now become “collateral damage in political considerations.”

She said: “The pandemic has obviously been difficult for everyone, but it’s been the most difficult for people who are vulnerable to the virus, and some of these people have never really come out of 22 months of lockdowns.

“There are obviously infection control measures that are harmful to society and lockdown is one of them - it causes harm. But there are some infection control measures which are not and which enable people to get on with their lives - wearing masks, improving ventilation.

“Why would we not do this? When we understood that dirty water caused illness, we cleaned up the water. It cannot be a political statement to say we should clean up the air this is just fact-based decision making, but the situation] has now become all about politics.

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Source: The Independent. 21 January 2022

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Covid returns to top 10 causes of death

According to reports, Covid-19 was the 9th biggest cause of death in England in July, and the 26th most common in June, with data showing it was the 22nd leading cause of death in Wales.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of deaths was 7.6% higher than average in England and 10.4% higher in Wales.

However, when there isn't a pandemic, the top causes of death are usually heart disease and dementia, but in the months when Covid-19 has been dominant, it has been the leading cause by a long way. 

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Source: BBC News, 23 August 2021

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Covid restrictions have 'closed door' on NHS appointments

Patients are finding it increasingly hard to see their GPs, with warnings that pandemic restrictions have too often “closed the door” on NHS treatment, a report warns. 

The Patients’ Association survey comes as an investigation reveals that almost 100 GP surgeries closed down or merged with other practices last year.

In total, almost 2.5 million patients were forced to switch to a new surgery because of 788 such closures since 2013, the freedom of information disclosures reveal .

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients’ Association, said the findings from its survey were “worrying” and show “clear dissatisfaction” from the public.

The report said: “It is increasingly clear that many patients have found that new methods for arranging appointments do not work for them, or simply that they do not understand how to go about it. GPs are the front door to the NHS, and patients are increasingly perceiving that that door is closed to them.”

Roughly half of those who had telephone consultations said the experience was worse than a traditional appointment, with three times as many saying they were unhappy about their experience, compared with those offering praise. 

The report warns: “The data does not show a ringing endorsement of new or remote methods for accessing NHS care; indeed, in most cases patients rated these methods worse than traditional contact.”

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Source: The Telegraph, 30 April 2021

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Covid response ‘one of UK’s worst ever public health failures’

Britain’s early handling of the coronavirus pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in UK history, with ministers and scientists taking a “fatalistic” approach that exacerbated the death toll, a landmark inquiry has found.

“Groupthink”, evidence of British exceptionalism and a deliberately “slow and gradualist” approach meant the UK fared “significantly worse” than other countries, according to the 151-page “Coronavirus: lessons learned to date” report led by two former Conservative ministers.

The crisis exposed “major deficiencies in the machinery of government”, with public bodies unable to share vital information and scientific advice impaired by a lack of transparency, input from international experts and meaningful challenge.

Despite being one of the first countries to develop a test for Covid in January 2020, the UK “squandered” its lead and “converted it into one of permanent crisis”. The consequences were profound, the report says. “For a country with a world-class expertise in data analysis, to face the biggest health crisis in 100 years with virtually no data to analyse was an almost unimaginable setback.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 October 2021

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Covid reinfection: Man gets Covid twice and second hit 'more severe'

A man in the United States has caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report.

The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body.

Reinfections remain rare and he has now recovered. However, the study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases raises questions about how much immunity can be built up to the virus.

The man from Nevada had no known health problems or immune defects that would make him particularly vulnerable to Covid.

Scientists say the patient caught coronavirus twice, rather than the original infection becoming dormant and then bouncing back. A comparison of the genetic codes of the virus taken during each bout of symptoms showed they were too distinct to be caused by the same infection.

"Our findings signal that a previous infection may not necessarily protect against future infection," said Dr Mark Pandori, from the University of Nevada.

"The possibility of reinfections could have significant implications for our understanding of COVID-19 immunity."

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Source: BBC News, 13 October 2020

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Covid redeployment ‘wrong’ and ‘will never be repeated’

Redeployment of community staff to other services – meaning visits for babies and parents were missed – was the “wrong decision” and would “never be repeated”, a provider has stated.

Nikki Lawrence, the head of public health nursing at Sirona Care and Health, which provides community services for Bristol and the surrounding area, appeared to blame the government for about 70% of its health visiting staff being redeployed to adult services, leaving around 30% to care for new families at the height of the pandemic.

Health visitors take over from midwives to monitor the health of children and parents for a period after the baby is born, including to guard against safeguarding threats.

Ms Lawrence said: “The national learning about redeployment – we have reflected on it, the government has reflected on it and they have agreed it was the wrong decision to make.

“We basically abandoned families at a time of need, and that decision will never, ever be taken again, from what I’ve been told. In hindsight it was the wrong decision to make, and… it did have a detrimental impact on families and we really regret that, but it was out of our hands.”

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Source: HSJ, 16 August 2022

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Covid pressure forces cancellation of most operations

Planned operations including ”priority two” procedures were postponed at short notice at one of England’s largest hospital trusts earlier this week due to rising covid compounding other operational pressures, HSJ understands.

Several sources said Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust cancelled the large majority of elective operations scheduled for Tuesday 2 November due to rising occupancy in intensive care and throughout the trust, particularly linked to increasing numbers of covid patients.

The postponed operations included ‘priority two’ cases, which must be undertaken within one month to avoid further harm and deterioration, a well placed source told HSJ.

The trust said it did not, however, cancel ‘priority one’ urgent operations, which must be performed within 72 hours. It said most elective operations resumed on Wednesday as pressure had “eased a little” since Tuesday. Some daycase surgery was also postponed, it said, as areas had to be repurposed for emergency care.

One concerned family member of a Leeds patient whose operation was cancelled, who contacted HSJ, said: ”My relative is on the cardiology list and might not be fit enough for the op if there are further delays — that could be fatal.”

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Source: HSJ, 4 November 2021

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Covid Pfizer vaccine approved for use next week in UK

The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.

British regulator, the MHRA, says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against COVID-19 illness, is safe for rollout next week. Immunisations could start within days for those who need it the most, such as elderly, vulnerable patients.

The UK has already ordered 40m doses - enough to vaccinate 20m people.

Around 10m doses should be available soon, with the first 800,000 arriving in the UK in the coming days.

It is the fastest ever vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only 10 months to follow the same developmental steps that normally span a decade.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted "It's the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC Breakfast that people will be contacted by the NHS when it is their turn for the jab.

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Source: BBC News, 1 December 2020

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Covid PCR test market a ‘rip-off jungle’, says ex-chair of competition regulator

The former chairman of the UK competition regulator has condemned the market for PCR tests for travellers, describing it as a “rip-off jungle”.

After the reimposition of the requirement to take the tests on return from abroad, Lord Tyrie accused the government of once again allowing the companies offering PCR tests to manipulate the system by making them available at unrealistic prices.

“For this policy to get into a mess once might be seen as a misfortune but for it to resurface again after all the warnings over the summer would have to be described as carelessness,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “It was a scandal waiting to happen and it’s now happened and it needs very urgent action.”

Last week, the Guardian revealed that a slew of the cheapest deals on PCR tests had been removed from the government website amid concerns travellers were being misled by companies advertising the coronavirus testing service for less than a £1.

Private companies offering day two tests for travellers are listed on a government website for consumers to search. However, most of the deals were found to not be suitable for most travellers as they were often offered in only one location, on limited dates and only available to those who could attend in person.

“It appears that some of the worst practices – misleading online advertisements, overpricing, unacceptably poor service among them – are still widespread,” said Tyrie, the former head of the Competition and Markets Authority, and the ex-chair of the Treasury select committee.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 December 2021

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Covid patients wrongly issued with ‘do not resuscitate’ orders, watchdog finds

Doctors made do-not-resuscitate orders for elderly and disabled patients during the pandemic without the knowledge of their families, breaching their human rights, a parliamentary watchdog has said.

In a new report on breaches of the orders during the pandemic, the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found failings from at least 13 patient complaints.

The research, carried out with the charity Dignity in Dying, found “unacceptable” failures in how end-of-life care conversations are held, and in particular with elderly and disabled patients.

Following a review of complaints in 2019 and 2020 the PHSO found evidence in some cases that doctors did not even inform the patient or their family that a notice had been made and so breached their human rights.

The report calls for health services in Britain to improve the approach by medics in talking about death and end-of-life care.

In examples of cases reviewed, the PHSO revealed the story of 58-year-old Sonia Deleon who had schizophrenia and learning disabilities and a notice which was wrongly applied during the pandemic.

In 2020, she was admitted to Southend University Hospital after contracting Covid-19 at age 58. On three occasions a notice was made but her family were never informed.

Following Sonia’s death her family found out the reasons given by doctors for the DNAR which “included frailty, having a learning disability, poor physiological reserve, schizophrenia and being dependent for daily activities.”

Sonia’s sister Sally-Rose Cyrille said: “I was devastated, shocked and angry. The fact that multiple notices had been placed in Sone’s file without consultation with us, without our knowledge, it was like being hit with a sledgehammer.

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Source: The Independent, 14 March 2024

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Covid patients in critical care are decade younger than in previous waves, data shows

According to new data, those sick with Covid-19 are a decade younger than previous waves, with analysis showing the average age of among 2,889 patients admitted to ICU since May was 49, compared to 59 in the previous surges. However, this has been put down to the effects of vaccine programme as older adults were prioritised. 

Reports have also found hundreds of critically ill patients are having to be moved between hospitals due to the need to remove pressure on beds. 

The chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, said: “Trusts’ experience of Covid-19 has strongly confirmed what we already knew: that the NHS is significantly short of intensive care capacity, both beds and staff. The level of ICU transfers over the last few months, to alleviate pressures in a number of different hospitals, further confirms that."

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Source: The Independent, 10 August 2021

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Covid patients given early warning home oxygen monitors by paramedics

Coronavirus patients who call an ambulance but are not yet sick enough to go to hospital are being given new home oxygen monitoring kits to help spot those who may deteriorate earlier.

Across the Thames Valley region, thousands of patients will be given the kits which include a pulse oximeter device to monitor blood oxygen levels, a diary to track their symptoms and advice on what to do if they become sicker.

South Central Ambulance Service Trust (SCAS) has become the first ambulance service in the country to launch the scheme after research showed a small drop in oxygen levels among some patients could be an early warning sign of serious complications.

Patients with pneumonia and non-Covid lung conditions often experience shortness of breath before a drop in oxygen levels. But with coronavirus, patients can suffer what has been called ‘silent hypoxia’ where their oxygen levels can fall before the patient becomes breathless and calls for help.

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Source: The Independent, 2 February 2021

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Covid patients ‘head to toe’ on trolleys in A&E spark warnings over ‘lethal’ situation

Patients, including those with the coronavirus, are being kept “head to toe” on trolleys in accident and emergency departments in Manchester, with some forced to wait up to 40 hours for a bed.

The “dangerous” situation has sparked warnings from the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine over the “potentially lethal” crowding of patients in A&Es across the country this winter. 

Katherine Henderson said she was “absolutely terrified” by what was happening in some departments. She said she had warned NHS England about the dangers of crowding patients in A&E but that not enough action had been taken.

She told The Independent: “Crowding in A&E is unsafe, but with coronavirus it is potentially lethal. We have said this endlessly to NHS England."

“Everyone agrees crowding is bad, but what they’re not doing is translating that into action.”

After hearing of the situation in Manchester, she added: “Exactly what we said should not happen is happening. I am absolutely terrified by this. What more can I do? I have highlighted this risk everywhere I can over the past few months.”

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Source: The Independent, 11 November 2020

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Covid pandemic sparks steep rise in number of people in UK with long-term illness

More than a third of working-age people in the UK now suffer from a long-term illness, with new figures showing a dramatic rise since the pandemic began. Post-Covid conditions, including Long Covid, breathing difficulties and mental-health problems, are among the causes, according to disability charities and health campaigners.

An Observer analysis of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) labour market status of disabled people figures shows that nearly 14.2 million people in the UK aged 16 to 64 said they had a health condition lasting for at least 12 months in 2021 – a rise of 1.2 million during the two years of the pandemic.

Levels of long-term ill-health had been rising more slowly before the emergence of Covid, at an annual average of about 275,000 cases a year between 2014 and 2018, but the rapid increase over the last two years highlights the health problems facing the UK, says the disability charity Scope.

About 800,000 more people suffered from mental-health problems in 2020-21 than did so in 2018-19, Scope said, and the number of people with chest and breathing problems had grown by about 570,000 over the same period.

James Taylor, Scope’s director of strategy, said: “These figures show the ongoing shock waves of the past two years continue to affect lives today. We’re concerned things will continue to get worse as time goes on."

Long Covid is another factor. The latest ONS long Covid report estimates that 1.5 million have had Covid symptoms for more than four weeks, and 685,000 people had symptoms that had lasted more than a year.

Further analysis by Long Covid Kids shows that people with pre-existing conditions are more likely to suffer long Covid than those without. Those whose activity is limited are, on average, more than three times as likely to suffer long Covid as those with no pre-existing conditions.

Dr Susannah Thompson was infected in April 2020 while working as a GP in her local hospital’s urgent care centre in north-west England. She made a “slow, gradual recovery” over the next months and was involved in setting up the GP-led vaccination programme until she had a “massive relapse” in January 2021.

“It feels like we’re ignoring Long Covid,” Thompson said. “People in the middle of their lives are getting robbed of their livelihoods, at risk of losing their homes. I can’t fathom why we don’t try to prevent it. But we’re not.”

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Source: The Guardian, 5 March 2022

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