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Coronavirus: Study reveals alarming impact of Covid on care home sector

Nursing homes were put under “constant” pressure to accept patients with coronavirus while being regularly refused treatment from hospitals and GPs for residents who became ill at the height of the Covid crisis, a landmark study has found.

The Queen’s Nursing Institute said homes were told hospitals had blanket “no admissions” policies during April and May while GPs and local managers imposed unlawful do not resuscitate orders on residents.

The findings have emerged in a survey by the QNI, the world’s oldest nursing charity, which surveyed 163 care home nurses and managers working across the country.

Carried out between May and June this year, the study establishes an evidence base of the impact on the sector from coronavirus, in addition to the official figures showing care home death rates.

One nurse said they were under “constant pressure to admit people who were Covid positive” while another said: “The acute sector pushed us to take untested admissions. The two weeks of daily deaths during an outbreak were possibly the two worst weeks of my 35-year nursing career.”

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Source: The Independent, 22 August 2020

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Trust warned after CQC’s ‘serious concerns’ for patients

Safety inspectors have ordered a mental health trust to make immediate improvements after visiting two inpatient wards where three patients died inside six months.

The Care Quality Commission this week warned Devon Partnership Trust it would take “urgent action” over “serious concerns about patients” unless the trust made the required improvements swiftly.

The watchdog inspected the trust’s Delderfield and Moorland wards in June following concerns about three patient deaths in September, October and March, along with “a number of” patient safety incidents - including ligature incidents.

The CQC also highlighted poor patient observation routines and a lack of learning from previous incidents, amid delays in completing investigations into safety incidents.

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Source: HSJ, 21 August 2020

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Coronavirus: Majority of pregnant women who died were ethnic minority background, report finds

A majority of pregnant women who died from coronavirus during the peak of the pandemic were from an ethnic minority background, it has emerged.

A new study of more than a dozen women who died between March and May this year also heavily criticised the reorganisation of NHS services which it said contributed to poor care and the deaths of some of the women.

This included one woman who was twice denied an intensive care bed because there were none available, as well as women treated by inexperienced staff who had been redeployed by hospitals and who made mistakes in their treatment of the women.

The report, by experts at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, based at the University of Oxford, also criticised mental health services after four women died by suicide. The report said women were “bounced” between services which had stopped face-to-face assessments during the crisis.

The report looked at 16 women’s deaths in total. Eight women died from COVID-19, seven of whom had an ethnic minority background. Two women with Covid-19 died from unrelated causes, four died by suicide and two were victims of homicide.

In the report, published on Thursday, the authors concluded improvements in care could have been made in 13 of the deaths they examined. In six cases, improvements in care could have meant they survived.

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Source: The Independent, 21 August 2020

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Millions of women lose access to contraception and abortions amid coronavirus crisis

Millions of women and girls around the world have been left unable to access contraception and abortions amid the coronavirus crisis, a new report has found.

A study by Marie Stopes International, which provides abortion and contraception services worldwide, warns 1.9 million women and girls lost their usual access to its contraception and safe abortion services in the first half of the year as a result of the global public health emergency.

The abortion provider is preparing for 900,000 additional unintended pregnancies, 1.5 million extra unsafe abortions, and 3,100 additional pregnancy-related deaths after the disruption to services in the first half of the year.

Dr Rashmi Ardey, of Marie Stopes, said: “Women’s needs do not suddenly stop or diminish during an emergency – they become greater. And as a doctor, I have seen only too often the drastic action that women and girls take when they are unable to access contraception and safe abortion.

“This pandemic has strained healthcare services all over the world, but sexual and reproductive healthcare was already so under prioritised that once again women are bearing the brunt of this global calamity.”

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Source: The Independent,19 August 2020

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Coronavirus: Study into 'Long COVID' finds 3 in 4 patients suffering symptoms months later

Nearly three-quarters of coronavirus patients admitted to hospital suffer ongoing symptoms three months later, new research suggests.

A total of 81 patients out of 110 discharged from Southmead Hospital in Bristol were still experiencing symptoms from the virus, including breathlessness, excessive fatigue and muscle aches, after 12 weeks.

Many were struggling to carry out daily tasks such as washing, dressing or going back to work, the study found.

The majority of patients reported improvements in the initial symptoms of fever, cough and loss of sense of smell, and most had no evidence of lung scarring or reductions in lung function.

The findings are part of North Bristol NHS Trust's Discover project, which is studying the longer-term effects of coronavirus - so-called Long COVID.

An intensive care doctor, Dr Jake Suett, told Sky News in June that he was still suffering COVID-19 symptoms three months after contracting the disease. Dr Jake Suett, 31, had no underlying health conditions but was still suffering chest pain, breathlessness, blurred vision, memory loss, a high temperature, concentration problems.

Dr Rebecca Smith, from North Bristol NHS Trust, said: "There's still so much we don't know about the long-term effects of coronavirus, but this study has given us vital new insight into what challenges patients may face in their recovery and will help us prepare for those needs."

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Source: Sky News, 20 August 2020

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Hancock extends emergency patient data sharing rules

Matt Hancock has extended four national data sharing orders which allow GPs and NHS organisations to share confidential patient information, as part of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data sharing instructions were initially put in place in March when the pandemic broke out in earnest, and they were due to expire at the end of September.

Under the arrangement GPs, NHS providers, NHS Digital, NHS England/Improvement, local authorities and the UK Biobank can share information about patients’ treatment and medical history - if doing so would help their response to COVID-19.

The data sharing instructions have now been extended until 31 March next year. 

According to the Department of Health and Social Care’s update which notified organisations of the extension, NHS entities can share information for reasons such as helping to support the NHS Test and Trace service, identifying further patients at risk of COVID-19, and understanding information about patient access to health and adult social care services.

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Source: HSJ, 20 August 2020

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COVID-19: Impact of long term symptoms will be profound, warns BMA

A third of doctors have treated patients with long term COVID-19 symptoms, including chronic fatigue and anosmia, a survey conducted by the BMA has found.

Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s GP committee for England, said it was clear that the long term impact of COVID-19 on patients and the NHS would be profound. 

“With more patients presenting with conditions as the result of infection, it’s essential that sufficient capacity is in place to support and treat them,” Vautrey said. “With the growing backlog of non-COVID-19 treatment, the likelihood of a season flu outbreak, and the possibility of a second wave of infections we need to see a more comprehensive long term plan to enable doctors to care for their patients this winter and beyond.”

The survey also asked doctors about their own experiences of COVID-19: 63% said they did not believe they had contracted the virus, 12% had had a diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed by testing, and 14% believed they had been infected with the virus.

David Strain, co-chair of the BMA’s medical academic staff committee, said that the NHS could not afford more failures of quality and supply in personal protective equipment. “Risk assessments should be available to all working in the NHS and appropriate steps should be put in place to mitigate the risk of catching the virus, even in those that have a low risk of a bad outcome from the initial infection,” he said.

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Source: BMJ, 13 August 2020

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Depression in British adults doubles during pandemic, new data shows

The number of adults experiencing depression has almost doubled during the pandemic, according to new figures.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that almost one in five adults (19.2 per cent) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression in June. This had risen from around one in 10 (9.7%) between July 2019 and March 2020, before the imposition of the nationwide lockdown.

Dame Til Wykes, a professor of clinical psychology and rehabilitation at King’s College London, warned of a looming “mental health crisis” once the pandemic passes.

“This study tells us, yet again, that we might have a mental health crisis after this pandemic. The social effects of distancing and isolation for some affects their emotional wellbeing.

Dr Billy Boland, chairman of the General Adult Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the UK’s mental health services would be faced with a “tsunami of referrals” in the coming months.

“Isolation, bereavement and financial insecurity are some of the reasons why the nation’s mental health has deteriorated since the start of the pandemic.

“The government must speed up the investment to mental health services if we are to treat the growing numbers of people living with depression and other mental illnesses.”

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Source: The Independent, 18 August 2020

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Maternity unit death 'lessons not learned'

High-risk women at a maternity unit were not monitored closely enough and there was a "lack of learning" from a mother's death, inspectors found.

A Care Qualtiy Commission (CQC) report rated the unit at Basildon University Hospital as inadequate with "failings" found in six other serious cases. Inspectors carried out unannounced checks in June after a whistleblower voiced fears about patient safety.

The unit was criticised following the deaths of baby Ennis Pecaku in September 2018 and mother Gabriela Pintilie, 36, in February 2019.

The CQC previously carried out an inspection of the department the month Mrs Pintilie died and said the unit, which had once been rated outstanding, required improvement. Inspectors returned for the surprise "focused" inspection after being contacted by an anonymous whistleblower. The report found babies were born in a poor condition and then transferred for cooling therapy, which can be offered for newborn babies with brain injury caused by oxygen shortage during birth.

During their visit, inspectors found:

  • High-risk women giving birth in a low-risk area.
  • Not enough staff with the right skills and experience.
  • "Dysfunctional" working between midwives, doctors and consultants, which had an impact on the "increased number of safety incidents reported".
  • Concerns over foetal heart monitoring.
  • Women being referred to by room numbers instead of their names. 
  • A "lack of response by consultants to emergencies" resulting in delays

The CQC also referred to issues relating to the death of Mrs Pintilie, who was not named in the report, and said five serious incidents "identified the same failings of care".

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Source: BBC News, 18 August 2020

"This demonstrated there had been a lack of learning from previous incidents and actions put in place were not embedded."

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ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) launch new Patient Safety Organization

Leaders of US ECRI and its affiliate, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), announce the launch of a joint Patient Safety Organization (PSO), an important step in making medication, medical devices, and healthcare practices safer for patients across all care settings, now during the COVID-19 pandemic, and into the future. 

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Source: CISION PR Newswire

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Risky business: new changes tying financial allocations and incentives to system-level performance

A quiet revolution in the NHS has happened. After decades of an internal market, NHS England has outlined new changes tying financial allocations and incentives to system-level performance instead. 

Over the past six months, providers had been allocated block funding based on activity from 2019/20 with top-ups and retrospective funding to support covid pressures, ensuring they financially break even during the crisis.

Now, in a letter accompanying funding envelopes for Integrated Care Systems and Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships around the country, NHSE outlined how health service finances will be system managed for the remainder of the year.

Systems will have not only control of the kitty (with all system costs to be met from its allocation) but funding will be linked to the performance of their member organisations, with some incentive payments or penalties for over/under performance at a system level.

Glen Burley, the chief executive of a group of three acute trusts in the West Midlands, branded the move “very risky”  and suggested a more traditional tariff performance would drive performance.

Highlighting another of his concerns he said: “We have very little experience of doing so at system level, so this is a very risky tactic in a very risky year.”

How systems will manage the shortfalls will hinge on elective delivery, system co-ordination, how to reduce forecast costs and recover income, set, of course, against the threat of a second wave of COVID-19.

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Source: HSJ, 17 September 2020

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NHS launches steroid emergency card to be carried by patients at risk of adrenal crisis

Following four deaths and more than 300 incidents with steroid replacement therapy involving patients with adrenal insufficiency in the past two years, patients at risk of adrenal crisis will be issued with a steroid emergency card.

All adults with primary adrenal insufficiency (AI) will be issued an NHS steroid emergency card to support early recognition and treatment of adrenal crisis, a National Patient Safety Alert has said.

The cards will be issued by prescribers — including community pharmacists — from 18 August 2020.

AI is an endocrine disorder, such as Addison’s disease, which can lead to adrenal crisis and death if not identified and treated. Omission of steroids in patients with AI, particularly during physiological stress such as an additional illness or surgery, can also lead to an adrenal crisis.

The alert has requested that “all organisations that initiate steroid prescriptions should review their processes/policies and their digital systems/software and prompts to ensure that prescribers issue a steroid emergency card to all eligible patients” by 13 May 2021.

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Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 17 August 2020

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Chemo doorstep drops help to keep cancer patients safe

Thousands of patients with cancer have had chemotherapy delivered to their doors so that they can more safely receive treatment during the coronavirus pandemic.

Up to 10,000 chemo home deliveries were made over three months at the peak of the outbreak, avoiding the need for patients to venture out and risk infection when their immune system was low.

The drops are part of the COVID-friendly treatments introduced in response to the pandemic which have helped to ensure that 85,000 people could start treatment between March and June, with latest data showing referrals beginning to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

NHS staff, including community nurses and pharmacists, and volunteers have been dropping off the life-saving medication – they step back two metres when they arrive at a patient’s house, identify them and make sure they have everything they need.

Hospitals have also significantly increased the use of chemo at home, with local pharmacy teams and community nurses providing the service to reduce cancer patients’ risk of exposure to the virus.

The action joins a series of measures, including the rollout of COVID protected cancer hubs for treatment and introducing ‘COVIDfriendly’ cancer drugs.

NHS England is spending £160 million on drugs that mean patients do not have to go to hospitals for regular checks and treatment.

Dame Cally Palmer, director of cancer for the NHS in England said: “NHS staff have treated more than 108,000 patients requiring specialist hospital care for COVID-19 while also keeping other vital services such as cancer, maternity and A&E running throughout the pandemic.

“The NHS has also fast tracked modern, more convenient services that help to keep patients and staff safe – from video consultations to chemotherapy delivered to patients’ doors – that have allowed 85,000 people to start cancer treatment during the pandemic.”

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Source: NHS Improvement, 17 August 2020

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Coronavirus: NHS patient triage hotline stops nurses handling calls over safety fears

Nurses and non-medical staff have been stopped from taking patient calls to the NHS coronavirus helpline amid concerns over the safety of their advice.

An audit of calls to the telephone assessment service found more than half were potentially unsafe for patients, according to a leaked email shared with The Independent. At least one patient may have come to harm as a result of the way their assessment was handled.

The COVID-19 Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS) is a branch of the NHS 111 phone line and is designed to assess patients showing signs of coronavirus to determine whether they need to be taken to hospital or seen by a GP.

The helpline was set up at the start of the pandemic to divert patients with symptoms to a phone-based triage to relieve pressure on GPs and prevent them from turning up at surgeries and spreading the virus.

GPs, nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) such as paramedics and physiotherapists were recruited to speak to patients after they were flagged by NHS 111 call handlers.

The use of non-medical staff was first paused in July amid concerns about the quality of call handling. Now it has emerged much wider safety issues have surfaced.

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Source: The Independent, 18 August 2020

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Leaked stats reveal 7,000 year-long waiters at major trust

Almost 7,000 patients have waited for treatment for a year or more at a major north London trust, according to NHS data seen by HSJ.

Royal Free Foundation Trust had 6,875 patients waiting 52 weeks or more, as of 26 July, according to a leaked document. It stopped reporting its elective waiting list to the centre in February 2019, citing concerns over accuracy. In a statement, it said these concerns continue.

But the document suggests the Royal Free accounted for around a third of the 20,000 year-long waiters across London at the end of July.

Minutes from the May meeting of the trust board’s quality, finance and compliance committee acknowledged “there was now a large number of RTT 52 week waiters on the trust patient tracking list… due to much of the elective work having been cancelled during covid-19, and these numbers were growing”.

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Source: HSJ, 18 August 2020

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The medical school trying to become anti-racist

A major British medical school is leading the drive to eliminate what it calls "inherent racism" in the way doctors are trained in the UK.

The University of Bristol Medical School says urgent action is needed to examine why teaching predominantly focuses on how illnesses affect white people above all other sections of the population.

It comes after students pushed for reform, saying gaps in their training left them ill-prepared to treat ethnic minority patients – potentially compromising patient safety.

Hundreds of other UK medical students have signed petitions demanding teaching that better reflects the diversity of the country.

The Medical School Council (led by the heads of UK medical schools) and the regulator, the General Medical Council, say they are putting plans in place to improve the situation.

A number of diseases manifest differently depending on skin tone, but too little attention is given to this in training, according to Dr Joseph Hartland, who is helping to lead changes at the University of Bristol Medical School.

"Historically medical education was designed and written by white middle-class men, and so there is an inherent racism in medicine that means it exists to serve white patients above all others," he said .

"When patients are short of breath, for example, students are often taught to look out for a constellation of signs – including a blue tinge to the lips or fingertips – to help judge how severely ill someone is, but these signs can look different on darker skin."

"Essentially we are teaching students how to recognise a life-or-death clinical sign largely in white people, and not acknowledging these differences may be dangerous," said Dr Hartland.

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Source: BBC News, 17 August 2020

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Long Covid: 'Life might never be normal again' (video)

Coronavirus patients who have lived with symptoms for up to five months have spoken about the huge impact it has had on their lives.

"Long Covid" support groups have appeared on social media and the government says "tens of thousands" of people have long-term problems after catching the virus, such as extreme fatigue.

Daliah, from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, said: "It's scary because we don't know how permanent this is. There are times where I feel like life will never be normal again, my body will never be normal again."

The NHS has launched a Your Covid Recovery website to offer support and advice to people affected.

See video here

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Cancer patients to pay heavy price for checks lost to lockdown

Five-year survival rates are expected to fall due to delays in getting urgent referrals or treatment at the height of the pandemic.

Thousands of lives may be lost to cancer because 250,000 patients were not referred to hospital for urgent checks, says a report to be published this week. Family doctors made 339,242 urgent cancer referrals in England between April and June, down from 594,060 in the same period last year — a drop of 43%.

The fall in the number of people seeing their GP with symptoms, and in referrals for scans, is resulting in cancers being spotted too late, according to the research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Carnall Farrar, a healthcare management consultancy.

Full article on The Times website here (paywalled).

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Coronavirus: Cover-up fears as reviews of COVID-19 deaths among NHS staff to be kept secret

Ministers have been accused of trying to cover up the findings from investigations into hundreds of health and social care worker deaths linked to coronavirus after it emerged the results will not be made public.

The Independent revealed on Tuesday that medical examiners across England and Wales have been asked by ministers to investigate more than 620 deaths of frontline staff that occurred during the pandemic.

The senior doctors will review the circumstances and medical cause of death in each case and attempt to determine whether the worker may have caught the virus during the course of their duties.

But now the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the results will be kept secret with the aim of helping local hospitals to learn and improve protection for staff.

Separately, trade unions and NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, have urged the government to ensure full investigations into every death and to be transparent about findings to reassure health and social care staff ahead of any second wave.

Sir Ed Davey, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “We currently have one of the highest number of deaths of health and care workers in Europe. The government has utterly failed to protect staff in both hospitals and care homes. The fact that now they are trying to cover up how and why each tragic death occurs is a disgrace."

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Source: The Independent, 15 August 2020

 

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NHS ambulance wait figures prompt call to tackle shortages

Almost a million people waited at least half an hour for an ambulance after having a medical emergency such as a heart attack or stroke last year, NHS figures show.

Ambulance crews responding to 999 calls in England took more than 30 minutes to reach patients needing urgent care a total of 905,086 times during 2019–20. Of those, 253,277 had to wait at least an hour, and 35,960 – the equivalent of almost 100 patients a day – waited for more than two hours.

In addition to heart attacks and strokes, the figures cover patients who had sustained a serious injury or trauma or major burns, or had developed the potentially lethal blood-borne infection sepsis.

Under NHS guidelines, ambulances are meant to arrive at incidents involving a medical emergency – known as category 2 calls – within 18 minutes.

The Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who obtained the figures using freedom of information laws, said: “It’s deeply shocking that such huge numbers of seriously ill patients have had to wait so long for an ambulance crew to arrive after a 999 call. It shows the incredible pressure our ambulance services were under even before this pandemic struck.

“Patients suffering emergencies like a heart attack, stroke or serious injury need urgent medical attention, not to be left waiting for up to two hours for an ambulance to arrive. These worryingly long delays in an ambulance reaching a seriously ill or injured patient could have a major long-term impact on their health.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 August 2020

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Coronavirus: 200,000 defective gowns recalled from NHS hospitals

Two hundred thousand defective gowns supplied to NHS hospitals have been recalled by the government because of fears they could leave staff at increased risk of coronavirus infection.

Hospitals have been told to check their stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) to identify the Flosteril non-sterile gowns and quarantine them immediately.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said tests carried out on the gowns, which were delivered in June, had shown that they did not meet the fluid-resistance standards originally claimed by the manufacturer.

There may also be “inconsistencies” in the material used to make the gowns.

An estimated 200,000 gowns are thought to be in circulation within the NHS after 600,000 were supplied by the company Vannin Healthcare Global, which is registered in the Isle of Man.

Hospitals were told on Tuesday this week not to dispose of the gowns but to keep them for two weeks until they can be collected after 31 August.

It is another embarrassing blow for the government over the supply of PPE to hospitals – an issue that prompted major criticism during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, when many hospitals ran out of equipment.

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Source: The Independent, 15 August 2020

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Public Health England 'to be replaced'

Public Health England (PHE) is to be replaced by a new agency that will specifically deal with protecting the country from pandemics, according to a report.

The Sunday Telegraph claims Health Secretary Matt Hancock will this week announce a new body modelled on Germany's Robert Koch Institute. Ministers have reportedly been unhappy with the way PHE has responded to the coronavirus crisis.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Public Health England have played an integral role in our national response to this unprecedented global pandemic."

"We have always been clear that we must learn the right lessons from this crisis to ensure that we are in the strongest possible position, both as we continue to deal with Covid-19 and to respond to any future public health threat."

The Telegraph reports that Mr Hancock will merge the NHS Test and Trace scheme with the pandemic response work of PHE.

The paper said the new body could be called the National Institute for Health Protection and would become "effective" in September, but the change would not be fully completed until the spring.

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Source: BBC News, 16 August 2020

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Patient bleeds to death in hospital run by scandal-hit trust

Inspectors raise ‘serious concerns’ about medical wards and emergency care at Shropshire NHS trust

A patient bled to death on a ward at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust after a device used to access his bloodstream became inexplicably disconnected, The Independent has learnt.

The incident came to light as new concerns arose about quality of care at the Shropshire trust, with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) warning of “serious concerns” about its medical wards and emergency department following an inspection last month.

Although the report from the inspection has not yet been published, it is understood that the trust has been served with a legal notice by the regulator to comply with more than a dozen conditions. It remains in special measures following the inspection and is rated inadequate overall.

See full article in The Independent here

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Record poor performance ‘dashes hopes of near normal’

Unprecedentedly poor waiting time data for electives, diagnostics and cancer suggests the chances of NHS England’s ambitions for ‘near normal’ service levels this autumn being met are very unlikely, experts have warned.

The statistics prompted one health think tank to urge NHS leaders to be “honest that with vital infection control measures affecting productivity, and a huge backlog, there are no shortcuts back to the way things were”.

NHS England data published today revealed there were 50,536 patients who had been waiting over a year for elective treatment as of June – up from 1,613 in February before the covid outbreak, a number already viewed as very concerning. The number represents the highest level since 2009 and 16 times higher than they were in March.

Nuffield Trust deputy director of research Sarah Scobie said: “These figures are a serious warning against any hope that the English NHS can get planned care back to normal before winter hits. The number of patients starting outpatient treatment is still a third lower than usual and getting back to 100 per cent by September will be a tall order.”

“The increase in patients waiting more than a year has continued to accelerate at a shocking pace, with numbers now at their highest since 2009 and 16 times higher than they were in March. 

“Unfortunately, despite the real determination of staff to get back on track, some of these problems are set to grow… We need to be honest that with vital infection control measures affecting productivity, and a huge backlog, there are no shortcuts back to the way things were.”

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Source: HSJ, 13 August 2020

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Hospital has 'closed its doors' to patients, LMC warns NHS England

GP leaders have written to NHS England to demand that an NHS hospital trust urgently restores routine referrals as it has 'closed its doors' to some patients, ‘destabilising’ practices in the process. 

Oxfordshire LMC said local GPs are ‘concerned and angry’ about the ‘ongoing closure’ to routine referrals across multiple ‘high-demand’ specialties by Oxford University Hospital Foundation Trust, while warning GPs are also being asked to carry out tests that should be done in hospital.

A ‘significant’ number of specialties are affected, including ENT, general gynaecology, dermatology, ophthalmology, endoscopy and urology, as well as plastics and maxillofacial, it added.

The hospital trust said it had remained open for urgent and emergency care and was accepting clinically urgent and suspected cancer referrals, while reinstating services to support 'the vast majority' of routine referrals.

But Oxfordshire LMC has this week written to NHS England and the council of governors at OUHFT to demand that there are ‘no further delays’ in restoring the services amid concerns of ‘patient harm’.

It said: ‘The LMC believes the continuing closure of some specialty services to routine referrals is now so serious for patients that it has taken a decision to formally raise the concerns of Oxfordshire’s GPs with NHS England.’ 

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Source: Pulse, 13 August 2020

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