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CQC to assess equality issues arising from Covid under new human rights agreement

The CQC will consider equality and human rights policy issues that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic under an agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

In a statement published on the new memorandum of understanding (MoU), the CQC and the EHRC confirmed they will work together on five ‘key areas of focus’.

These also include looking at how leadership can reduce inequalities in patients’ access to – and outcomes from care – in local areas, and ‘collaborating for better leadership on equality for staff working in the NHS and social care’, the regulator said.

In a separate blog on the agreement, Ted Baker, CQC’s chief inspector for hospitals, said: ‘We will continue to work together to respond to the equality and human rights issues that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the EHRC contributing to our work on use of DNACPR and CQC supporting the dissemination of key findings relating to health and social care from EHRC key reports and briefings.’

The memorandum, which applies to all providers regulated by the CQC, also outlines how both organisations will share information on human rights issues.

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Source: Management in Practice, 15 March 2021

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Flagship death review programme had ‘unclear and limited’ impact

A flagship government programme to improve care for people with learning disabilities has had an ‘unclear’ and ‘limited’ impact after six years, an NHS England report has found.

A report into the national learning disability mortality review programme (LeDer) has criticised it for failing to impact improvement of services both nationally and locally.

The national LeDer programme was launched in 2015 after high profile failures by Southern Health Foundation Trust to investigate the deaths of patients with learning disabilities. Since its launch, the programme has consistently struggled to carry out the number of reviews required, with the backlog growing to 3,800 last year.

The news follows a year of increasing concern over the disproportionate death rate for those with learning disabilities during the pandemic.

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Source: HSJ, 24 March 2021

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Probe into hospital oxygen shortage finds staff missed safety meetings

Doctors and nurses were absent from crucial meetings about oxygen supplies to hospital wards in the run up to the coronavirus crisis, a safety watchdog has warned.

At one hospital trust, which was forced to declare a major incident during the second wave of the crisis, doctors had not attended the hospital’s medical gas committee (MGC) since 2014.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) said it had discovered a similar lack of input at other NHS trusts and also warned that none of the urgent alerts and guidance from NHS England ahead of the Covid surge had been discussed at the committee.

HSIB has launched an investigation into the failure of oxygen piping systems during the Covid surge after a number of hospitals were forced to declare major incidents and divert patients to other hospitals.

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Source: The Independent, 24 March 2021

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'She did not get the anorexia help she needed'

People living with an eating disorder and their families should be offered greater support, according to a aScottish government review of services.

The clinicians and psychologists who led the review said that seven of Scotland's health boards had been an 86% increase in referrals for eating disorders over the last year. Figures also showed a 220% jump in paediatric admissions at two regional adolescent in-patient units.

Their report made 15 recommendations including self-help packages, peer support networks and emotional and practical support for families and carers as well.

Christine Reid's daughter Madeline Wallace died from anorexia in January 2018.

The 18-year-old from Peterborough had been studying medicine at Edinburgh University when she became gravely unwell. An inquest into her death found that she "rapidly lost weight" during her first weeks as a student.

"It was very strange," Ms Reid says. "It was almost like watching someone disintegrating from the inside out. It is a horrible illness."

"She got this illness and she really didn't want to have it but she couldn't see a way to recover from it," Ms Reid says.

"She just didn't feel like she got the help she needed."

An independent review in to Maddy's death made 14 recommendations for changes to eating disorder care at a national and regional level including advice for GPs on anorexia complications.

"It feels like if lots of different decisions had gone different ways it could have been avoided and that is hard to take," her mother says.

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Source: BBC News, 24 March 2021

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Previously secret report into scandal hospital reveals safety concerns dating back years

A previously secret report into children’s services at a scandal-hit NHS hospital has revealed concerns over the safety of services including care of seriously ill babies were raised with managers back in 2015.

A report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) raised serious concerns over children’s services at East Kent Hospitals University Trust in 2015 including senior consultants refusing to work beyond 5pm and a shortage of nurses and junior doctors.

It also found the neonatal intensive care unit was being staffed by general paediatric doctors instead of specialist neonatal consultants.

The confidential report was given to The Independent and posted on the trust’s website this week after being mentioned in the terms of reference for an independent inquiry examining dozens of baby deaths at the trust.

It had never been published by the trust, which three years later had its children’s services rated inadequate. A second major report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2016 highlighted concerns that were not acted on and later featured in the avoidable death of baby Harry Richford, in 2017 which sparked the scandal into dozens more deaths and brain injuries.

Bill Kirkup, who is leading the inquiry into East Kent’s maternity services, previously recommended Royal College reviews be registered with the CQC and shared openly by NHS trusts.

In its report, the RCPCH said there was “resistance from some consultants to work extended hours” across the trust’s different services with signs of clinicians worked in silos at the different hospitals run by the trust.

It warned that paediatric consultants were “spread too thinly across the service” and consultants were providing specialist clinics based on their interests rather than local need.

There was “insufficient middle grade doctors to cover both sites” and there were “too few skilled nurses on the wards.”

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Source: The Independent, 24 March 2021

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Middle-aged women 'worst affected by long Covid', studies find

Middle-aged women experience the most severe, long-lasting symptoms after being treated in hospital for COVID-19, two UK studies suggest.

Five months on, 70% of patients studied were still affected by everything from anxiety to breathlessness, fatigue, muscle pain and "brain fog".

But the researchers say there is no obvious link with how ill people originally became.

How women's bodies fight off illness could explain their poorer recovery.

The larger study - led by the University of Leicester - which is yet to be peer-reviewed, followed up more than 1,000 patients who had been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the UK last year. It found that up to 70% had not fully recovered, an average of five months after leaving hospital, with women most affected.

A separate smaller pre-print study, led by University of Glasgow, found women under 50 were seven times more likely to be more breathless, and twice as likely to report worse fatigue than men of the same age who had had the illness, seven months after hospital treatment.

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Source: BBC News, 25 March 2021

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“9 years of suffering" says victim of Boston Scientific Implant as new mesh class action is filed in Australia

Deborah Stanford is one of many women who have received a Boston Scientific implant and suffered complications. She has joined Shine Lawyers’ class action, which was filed today in the Australian Federal Court, to hold the manufacturers to account for the continuous pain she has endured since the Obtryx sling was implanted on 12 September 2012.

Ms Stanford’s bladder was sitting in the birth canal and the sling was placed, on medical advice, to reposition her bladder.

“It has been 9 years of suffering."

“If I knew how hard this was going to be, I never would have gone through it,” said Ms. Stanford.

Boston Scientific is the third pelvic mesh manufacturer to face a class action over their range of prolapse mesh and incontinence sling implants. Shine Lawyers has filed all three actions against Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon and American Medical Systems (AMS).

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Source: Shine Lawyers, 22 March 2021

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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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