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Thousands of long Covid patients feared to be missing out on disability benefits

Thousands of people unable to work because of the effects of Long Covid are feared to be missing out on financial support, with patients struggling to access and apply for the government’s disability benefits scheme.

More than 300,000 people in the UK have been left with debilitating, persistent symptoms after catching the virus – but figures show only a tiny fraction of these have successfully claimed benefits.

Politicians and campaign groups warn not enough has been done to remove barriers to applying for financial aid.

“A vast number of severely impaired people are simply not getting the help they need and are entitled to,” said Dr Jo House, a spokesperson for Long Covid Support, which has around 50,000 members, the majority of whom are in the UK.

Jenny Ceolta-Smith, of Long Covid Support’s employment group, said there were “multiple barriers in place” when applying for the disability benefit.

She said the assessment process failed to take into account the episodic and fluctuating nature of the condition. “They might be able to perform a one-off activity, but then not do so later in the day,” she said.

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Source: The Independent,19 April 2022

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Thousands of foreign nurses a year leave UK to work abroad

Almost 9,000 foreign nurses a year are leaving the UK to work abroad, amid a sudden surge in nurses quitting the already understaffed NHS for better-paid jobs elsewhere.

The rise in nurses originally from outside the EU moving to take up new posts abroad has prompted concerns that Britain is increasingly becoming “a staging post” in their careers.

The number of UK-registered nurses moving to other countries doubled in just one year between 2021-22 and 2022-23 to a record 12,400 and has soared fourfold since before the coronavirus pandemic.

Seven out of 10 of those leaving last year – 8,680 – qualified as a nurse somewhere other than the UK or EU, often in India or the Philippines. Many had worked in Britain for up to three years, according to research from the Health Foundation.

The vast majority of those quitting are heading to the US, New Zealand or Australia, where nurses are paid much more than in the UK – sometimes up to almost double.

Experts have voiced their alarm about the findings and said the NHS across the UK, already struggling with about 40,000 vacancies for nurses and hugely reliant on those coming from abroad, is increasingly losing out in the global recruitment race.

“It feels like the NHS is falling down the league table as a destination of choice for overseas nurses,” said Dame Anne Marie Rafferty, a professor of nursing studies at King’s College London.

“Worryingly, it feels as if the UK is perceived not as a high- but middle-income country in pay terms and as a staging post where nurses from overseas can acclimatise to western-type health systems in the search for better pay and conditions.”

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Source: The Guardian, 25 March 2024

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Thousands of English NHS 999 calls answered in Wales

Thousands of 999 calls are being transferred to the Welsh Ambulance Service because they are taking more than five minutes to answer in England, HSJ can reveal.

More than 50,000 calls – 1.2% of all made – were sent to a different ambulance service than the one intended between October and the middle of February, under a new system of routing unanswered calls was introduced.

It automatically diverts calls which have not been answered after five minutes, rerouting them to services with current capacity, while a BT operator remains on the line until the call is answered.

The Welsh Ambulance Service explained it records details from the transferred caller, prioritises the response level and provides lifesaving instructions if required, including having access to a national database of defibrillators.

However, it is unable to despatch ambulances outside its area and does not provide clinical assessment. Instead the details are transferred electronically into the “home” trust’s computer-aided despatch system.

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Source: HSJ, 21 March 2023

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Thousands of Covid-19 cases missed due to late warning on smell loss, say experts

Tens of thousands of cases of COCID-19 may have been missed because of delays in warning the public that loss of taste and smell is a key symptom that should lead to self-isolation or testing, experts say.

The four chief medical officers of the UK have finally made official what many scientists had been saying for weeks: that anosmia, or loss of smell, should be added to the other two main warning symptoms, a continuous cough and high temperature. Those who experience any of the three symptoms should isolate for seven days and their families for 14 days.

Prof Tim Spector from King’s College London and his team said data from 1.5 million people who downloaded their symptom-reporting app suggested 50,000 to 70,000 people in the UK had been missed. As early as 1 April, they warned that people with anosmia should self-isolate.

They were joined by ear, nose and throat surgeons, who said loss of taste and smell could be one of the few markers for people who were otherwise asymptomatic and potentially able to infect other people without realising they were a risk.

Their professional body, ENT-UK, said they had been calling for eight weeks for anosmia to be listed as a marker for asymptomatic carriers. It issued a joint statement with the British Rhinology Society (BRS) on 20 March, it said. “We estimate that many hundreds of thousands of patients in the UK have developed anosmia as a result of COVID-19,” said Prof Claire Hopkins, the BRS president.

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Source: Guardian, 18 May 2020

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Thousands of complaints against nurses rejected without probe amid concerns rogue staff going unchecked

Thousands of complaints made against nurses and midwives were rejected by the watchdog without investigation last year as it battles a huge backlog amid concerns rogue staff are being left unchecked.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council has rejected hundreds more cases a year since 2018, including 339 where nurses faced a criminal charge, 18 for alleged sexual offences and 599 over allegations of violence in 2022-23, according to data shared exclusively with The Independent.

The new figures come after The Independent revealed shocking allegations that nurses and midwives accused of serious sexual, physical and racial abuse are being allowed to keep working because whistleblowers are being ignored and that the NMC was failing to tackle internal reports of alleged racism.

And now, a new internal document, obtained by The Independent, reveals more staff have come forward to raise concerns since our expose.

Former Victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird KC said the backlog of complaints was “worryingly high” and called for urgent action to tackle it.

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Source: The Independent, 19 October 2023

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Thousands of clinically vulnerable patients in tier 4 areas told to stay indoors

Thousands of people who are at extreme risk from the coronavirus and live in tier 4 areas have been told to stay indoors at all times unless they are exercising or have medical appointments.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) issued new advice on Monday warning people classed as “clinically extremely vulnerable” to stay home, in a bid to protect them from the new, more infectious strain of COVID-19.

Those affected have been told not to leave their homes even if they cannot work remotely. The government said residents could be eligible for statutory sick pay, employment support allowance, or universal credit as well as the coronavirus job retention scheme.

The DHSC said the high-risk group should stay at home as much as possible. Children who have been advised to shield should not attend school, the department added. 

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Source: The Independent, 21 December 2020

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Thousands of children unsure of gender identity ‘let down by NHS’, report finds

Thousands of vulnerable children questioning their gender identity have been let down by the NHS providing unproven treatments and by the “toxicity” of the trans debate, a landmark report has found.

The UK’s only NHS gender identity development service used puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which masculinise or feminise people’s appearances, despite “remarkably weak evidence” that they improve the wellbeing of young people and concern they may harm health, Dr Hilary Cass said.

Cass, a leading consultant paediatrician, stressed that her findings were not intended to undermine the validity of trans identities or challenge people’s right to transition, but rather to improve the care of the fast-growing number of children and young people with gender-related distress.

But she said this care was made even more difficult to provide by the polarised public debate, and the way in which opposing sides had “pointed to research to justify a position, regardless of the quality of the studies”.

“There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour. This must stop.”

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Source: The Guardian, 10 April 2024

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Thousands of children in England facing ‘unacceptable’ NHS delays

Thousands of children experiencing “unacceptable” long waits for NHS treatment face a “lifelong” impact on their health, a senior doctor has warned, as shocking figures reveal that nearly 15,000 paediatric operations were cancelled over the last year.

Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the mounting treatment backlog in England risked “serious” and “devastating” physical and mental consequences for children and their families.

She sounded the alarm as data obtained under freedom of information laws by the Liberal Democrats showed that a record high 14,628 children’s operations were postponed in 2022, up from 11,870 the year before and the highest in five years of data examined. Some children have now waited several years for surgery, according to the data.

Delaying a child’s operation risks having a “lifelong impact” on their development, Kingdon said, and also “seriously impact” their mental health, with knock-on effects on their ability to socialise, go to school and reach their full potential.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 April 2023

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Thousands of children at risk as vaccination rates fall in England

Thousands of children face an increased risk of catching deadly diseases in England, and significant outbreaks are likely, child health experts have warned, as “alarming” figures show vaccination levels have plunged across virtually all jabs.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is urging parents and guardians to ensure their children have received the routine jabs against potentially serious diseases, such as polio and measles, after official data revealed a drop in vaccination rates.

NHS Digital data published Thursday showed vaccine coverage fell in 13 out of the 14 routine programmes for children up to five years old in England in 2021-22, compared with the year before.

“Today’s publication of the childhood vaccination statistics in England is extremely worrying,” said Dr Doug Brown, the chief executive of the British Society for Immunology. “Immediate action to reverse this alarming multi-year downward trend and protect our communities from preventable diseases is urgently needed.”

Helen Bedford, a professor of child public health at UCL’s Institute of Child Health, said the country was now facing “the concerning double whammy of many children being unprotected and the inevitability of disease rates increasing”.

“In this situation, as night follows day, significant outbreaks of disease are likely. Measles disease is a particular concern as it is so highly infectious that any small decline in vaccine uptake results in outbreaks.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2022

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Thousands of children are falling through the cracks in youth addiction services

Thousands of children are falling through the cracks in youth addiction services owing to Covid, staff shortages and funding cuts, psychiatrists have said, as figures suggest the number able to get help has fallen to the lowest on record.

Analysis of data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) found that 11,013 under-18s were in treatment for drug and alcohol dependency in England in 2020-21, which was 3,278 fewer (23% less) than in 2019-20. It was the sharpest annual fall since records began, and means 13,481 fewer children were being treated than at a peak in 2008-09.

The vast majority of children in treatment (89%, or 9,832) had a problem with cannabis and 41% (4,459) had a problem with alcohol. About 12% (1,333) were struggling with ecstasy use and 9% (976) reported a problem with powder cocaine.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists, which analysed the data, said the pandemic, together with “drastic” historical funding cuts, was preventing young people from accessing the drug and alcohol treatment they need, potentially condemning them to a life of addiction.

Dr Emily Finch, the vice-chair of the addictions faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Children and their families up and down the country are having their lives blighted by drug and alcohol use due to drastic cuts, workforce shortages and the impact of the pandemic.

“Addiction is a treatable health condition. Intervening early will mean many kids won’t go on to have an addiction in their adulthood, keeping them out of the criminal justice system and helping them to live full lives. It’s now time for the government to act on their promise and deliver the multimillion-pound investment into drug services.”

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Source: The Guardian, 3 February 2022

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Thousands of bowel cancer cases missed due to ‘unacceptable’ testing failures

Thousands of bowel cancer cases are being missed due to “unacceptable” testing failures, research in the BMJ shows. 

The UK research found that some providers carrying out colonoscopies were three times as likely as others not to spot signs of disease. At the worst units, almost one in ten cases which turned out to be bowel cancer were not picked up during the tests, the study led by the University of Leeds found. 

Researchers said that almost 4,000 more cases could have been prevented or treated sooner had there been better screening over a nine year period tracked. 

Researcher Roland Valori, Consultant Gastroenterologist from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are seeing unacceptable variation in post colonoscopy bowel cancers between providers in the English NHS and this variation in quality needs to be addressed urgently.” 

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Source: The Telegraph, 2019

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Thousands of babies face hospitalisation with life-threatening virus this winter as government delays vaccine

Babies could be needlessly hospitalised this winter because the government has delayed a vaccine that protects them from a life-threatening virus, the UK’s top children’s doctor has warned.

Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), said she was “frustrated” by delays in introducing a new vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which drives 30,000 hospital admissions each winter and leads to dozens of deaths.

She warned the delay meant thousands of children’s operations will have to be cancelled as RSV patients fill up beds – piling further pressure on already soaring waiting lists.

It comes after the UK’s most senior A&E doctor, Dr Adrian Boyle, told The Independent that the government’s failure to prepare the NHS for winter could see thousands of people die needlessly this year.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said in June that a rollout of two RSV vaccines, one for babies and one for pregnant women, would be “cost-effective”, while the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said there was a “strong case” for a jab.

But it confirmed there was no timeframe for when vaccinations could start.

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Source: The Independent, 4 September 2023

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Thousands of A&E patients wait longer than a day for treatment

More than 7,300 people waited longer than 24 hours for emergency treatment in Scottish hospitals last year, with the longest wait more than 122 hours.

Public Health Scotland statistics obtained by Scottish Labour through freedom of information (FoI) revealed that 7,367 patients were in an emergency department for more than 24 hours before being discharged, admitted or transferred in 2023.

The longest wait in A&E last year occurred at NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s University Hospital Crosshouse, where a patient waited more than 122 hours, or the equivalent of five days. Waits of more than 88 hours were recorded in NHS Borders, and 72 hours in NHS Lanarkshire.

Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman, has demanded action from Neil Gray, the health secretary.

“Scotland’s A&E departments are in the grip of a deadly crisis, with lives being put on the line day in and day out,” she said. “That some people have waited days — even a working week — to be seen is dangerous and disgraceful.

“Hard-pressed A&E staff are working tirelessly to look after patients, but SNP mismanagement has created a perfect storm in our hospitals. Neil Gray has inherited an NHS in deadly disarray from his colleagues.

“It’s time for action to be taken now to bolster A&E departments by tackling delayed discharges and investing in primary care to avoid putting further pressure on hospital services.”

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Source: The Times, 11 March 2024

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Thousands more women getting tested for autism after ‘being missed for decades’

Tens of thousands more women tested themselves for autism last year with numbers seeking tests now far outstripping men, new data shows.

Statistics seen by The Independent show around 150,000 women took an online test verified by health professionals to see if they have autism last year, up from about 49,000 in 2020.

Health professionals said the increase was a consequence of women not being diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental disorder as children and teens due to autism wrongly being viewed as a male disorder.

Experts told The Independent autistic women and girls are routinely overlooked and neglected by health services due to them being more likely to conceal or internalise symptoms.

Data from Clinical Partners, one of the UK’s leading mental health care providers which works closely with the NHS, shows women made up 56 per cent of those using their autism tests last year. This is substantially higher than the 46 per cent of women testing themselves for autism in 2020.

Hannah Hayward, neurodevelopmental specialist at Clinical Partners, who provided the exclusive data, explained: “Diagnosis is crucial – without which, women and men can be susceptible to symptoms of mental health conditions including anxiety and depression and it is common for them to be misdiagnosed with or develop other conditions such as anxiety, anorexia, depression or Borderline Personality Disorder,” 

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Source: The Independent, 23 March 2022

 

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Thousands missing out on cancer diagnosis

Delays in diagnosing and treating people with cancer could lead to more years of lost life than with COVID-19, according to a leading cancer expert.

A drop-off in screening and referrals means roughly 2,700 fewer people are being diagnosed every week, Cancer Research UK says.

Cancer screening has paused in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with few invitations sent out in England.

People are still advised to contact their GP with worrying symptoms.

But Richard Sullivan, professor of cancer and global health at King's College London, said there was more fear of Covid-19 than of having cancer at the moment. With GPs more difficult to contact than normal, this was resulting in a "dramatic drop-off" in referrals to specialists, he said.

"Most modellers in the UK estimate excess of deaths is going to be way greater than we are going to see with Covid-19," he said.

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Source: 22 April 2020, BBC News

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Thousands missed from breast implant registry

Thousands of women are being missed off the breast implant registry, new figures suggest.

Data from NHS Digital, which manages the register, implies that around 8500 women across England and Scotland have not been added to the register after they were fitted with an implant last year.

The register was recommended as a result of the breast implant scandal which saw some women fitted with faulty implants. 

It records the details of every person who has breast implant surgery in case of a product recall or another safety concern.

But the latest figures suggest that many are being missed off the register and NHS Digital has asked women undergoing such treatment to ensure their surgeon has registered their details.

The figures show that operations on 10,500 people were recorded in 2020. But officials have estimated this represents around 55% of the total number of cases. This means that approximately 8485 people were not added.

Lee Martin, NHS breast surgeon and chairman of the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry steering group, said: "We want all patients, past and present, to be aware that the registry exists and ensure they are included by speaking to their surgeons."

"As a surgeon, I know first-hand the importance of patient information being included on the registry, it's crucial in providing good patient care and provides patients with assurance that they will be followed up with if there are issues with their breast implants in the future."

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Source: Medscape, 10 November 2021

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Thousands miss out on treatment as physiotherapists are taken off UK register

Thousands of patients have been left without vital healthcare after nearly 1 in 10 physiotherapists was prevented from practising after their regulator removed them from its register.

Exactly 5,311 physiotherapists were deregistered by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) on 1 May because they had not renewed their registration after the HCPC decided not to send out reminder letters.

Ash James, director of practice and development at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), said its helpline had been swamped with calls from distressed physiotherapists, concerned for their patients and worried about dramatic losses in income.

“In one of the trusts in Liverpool, 23 physios were sent home in one day, and obviously the implication for patients is huge,” he said.

“At a time when the workforce is stretched by the Covid backlog, it’s obviously not ideal that we’ve lost 9% of the workforce overnight.”

Physiotherapists have many roles but play a crucial part in helping people leave hospital after long stays, because lengthy bed rest leads to muscle wastage that leaves patients needing physiotherapy to learn to walk again.

So far, only about 2,300 physios have been re-registered. With most practitioners seeing at least five patients a day, the number of cancelled NHS and private appointments in the past two weeks could range between 50,000 to 100,000.

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Source: The Guardian, 14 May 2022

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Thousands have PTSD symptoms after miscarriage

Tens of thousands of women in the UK may be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after miscarriages each year, a leading researcher warns.

Prof Tom Bourne estimates the number affected could run to 45,000 annually.

But he says most are not given prompt psychological support that could help prevent PTSD developing.

The Miscarriage Association says there is an urgent need for better access to talking and other psychological therapies for those affected. At present, most women have to ask for help themselves rather than support being in place.

Prof Bourne believes there needs to be more research into other ways of helping people experiencing loss. His team is trying out a variety of new approaches - including virtual reality - to help address the issue.

One idea his team is experimenting with is offering women virtual reality headsets during miscarriage procedures.

It builds on previous work that shows VR headsets can help reduce pain during some medical procedures.

Researcher Dr Nina Parker says the aim is "to transport them to sort of a more calm, virtual reality world for distraction from the pain and anxiety during the procedure".

She adds: "There is nothing that we are ever going to be able to do that takes away from the loss and the trauma of losing pregnancy and having a miscarriage.

"But if we can do everything that we can to minimise any additional trauma we might be adding to in the interactions that are had within the hospital, then we are obligated to do that."

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Source: BBC News, 8 April 2022

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Thousands fewer children immunised against common diseases because of lockdown

Lockdown measures in England led to thousands fewer children receiving vital immunisations for a range of diseases include measles, diphtheria and whooping cough, Public Health England (PHE) has warned.

PHE has warned parents they should continue to get their children immunised regardless of lockdown and restrictions brought on by coronavirus.

During the first wave of coronavirus the government advised that children should continue to receive vaccinations as scheduled but despite these some appointments were delayed and the numbers of children vaccinated against common diseases fell compared to 2019.

PHE looked at data from almost 40% of GP surgeries for use of the common 6-in-1 vaccination for diseases including diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and polio as well as uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to 19 October. 

In total 167,322 children had the 6-in-1 vaccine, a drop of 6,600 on the same period in 2019, a fall of almost 4%. A total of 167,670 children had the MMR jab, 4,700 fewer than in 2019, a drop of 2.8%.  Although the vaccinations recovered after lockdown the rates are still lower overall than 2019.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at Public Health England, said: “Vaccines remain the best defence against infection. It’s essential we maintain the highest possible uptake to prevent a resurgence of serious and sometimes life-threatening diseases.

“Routine vaccinations are still available throughout the pandemic – it’s vital that we continue to make it as easy and safe as possible for parents to take their children to appointments.”

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Source: The Independent, 11 November 2020

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Thousands exposed to severe harm due to ambulance wait times last month

Record numbers of patients suffered severe harm last month because they spent so long in the back of ambulances waiting to get into A&E, new NHS figures reveal.

An estimated 57,000 people in England “experienced potential harm”, of whom 6,000 were exposed to “severe harm”, in December – both the largest numbers on record – because they had to wait at least an hour to be handed over to hospital staff, according to NHS ambulance service bosses.

The health union Unison, which represents many ambulance staff, said the data showed that the ambulance service “is barely coping” with the huge number of calls it is receiving.

A senior ambulance service official said the high volume of patients being put at risk because they had to wait outside A&E so long before receiving medical attention, and paramedics being prevented from answering other 999 calls, was “horrific” and “astronomical”.

He added: “These figures also show that whatever NHS England say they are doing to try to resolve this huge problem, it clearly isn’t working.”

Martin Flaherty, Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) managing director, said: “Our December 2022 data for handover delays at hospital emergency departments shows some of the worst figures we have recorded to date and clearly underlines that not enough is being done to reduce and eradicate these dangerous, unsafe and harmful occurrences.”

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Source: The Guardian, 25 January 2023

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Thousands at risk as A&E queues stop NHS paramedics attending 999 calls

Paramedics in England cannot respond to 117,000 urgent 999 calls every month because they are stuck outside hospitals looking after patients, figures show.

The amount of time ambulance crews had to wait outside A&E units meant they were unavailable to attend almost one in six incidents.

Long delays in handing patients over to A&E staff meant 38,000 people may have been harmed last month alone – one in seven of the 292,000 who had to wait at least 15 minutes.

Of those left at risk of harm, 4,100 suffered potential “severe harm”, according to the bosses of England’s ambulance services.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 October 2022

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This Easter will be worse than any winter for the NHS

Two years ago the first wave of the covid pandemic reached its peak. The NHS had reacted with impressive speed to prepare for an influx of patients with an infectious disease that few knew much about, had no cure for, and for which there was no known vaccine.

However, now the NHS goes into the Easter break in a more fragile state than in any previous winter since, at least, the 1990s.

This is not just the direct result of covid hospitalisation, of course – although the distracting narrative of ‘with rather than because of covid’ has obscured how hugely damaging any kind of infectious disease that is as widespread in the community as covid is now can be to effective hospital care.

For someone who has just undergone an operation, for example, the greatest threat is not from catching covid itself, but from the impact the virus may have on how quickly their wound may heal.

Perhaps covid’s greatest continuing impact is on growing staff absences and the pernicious impact it is having on the long-term health of those who had the disease – even in some cases where it has been relatively mild. For the tens of thousands who have been hospitalised with covid, the consequences for their long-term health look more serious every day.

Much of this new workload is ending up at the doors of primary and community care – and displacing other needs and services just when they are most required after two years of coping with the pandemic.

There is usually one thing you can confidently say about the NHS, which is that in any crisis it will make sure the life-saving decisions are made on time.

However, in the South West, and probably other regions too, that is not happening. People are dying because the NHS cannot – despite its best efforts – save them.

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Source: HSJ, 8 April 2022

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Thirty trusts report more 12-hour waits, despite national improvement

Long A&E waits have got worse at more than one in five acute trusts, despite an improving trend nationally.

Around 30 acute trusts have reported an increase in long accident and emergency waits, bucking the national trend.

According to data covering the nine months to December, the proportion of waits more than 12 hours from time of arrival has improved to 6.3%, down from 8% during the same period in 2022. However, 28 out of 119 acute trusts reported a rise of up to 3 percentage points.

HSJ’s analysis, which used published and unpublished data, showed 11 of these trusts had worsened despite improving their headline performance against the four-hour target.

Adrian Boyle, of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the emphasis on the four-hour target “incentivises focus on the people who are being sent home, and takes effort and attention away from the people who are being admitted to hospital”.

He added: “The harms of long waits are greatest for people being admitted to hospital. We are disappointed by the current lack of focus in the planning guidance to help our most vulnerable patients.”

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Source: HSJ, 27 February 2024

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Third scan could greatly reduce UK breech birth numbers, study suggests

Giving women a third scan at the end of their pregnancy could dramatically reduce the number of unexpected breech births and the risk of babies being born with severe health problems, research suggests.

Pregnant women in the UK have routine scans at 12 and 20 weeks only, with no further scan offered in the third trimester unless they are considered at risk of a complicated pregnancy. The researchers hope their findings could lead to a change in guidance for clinicians that will improve maternity care.

Prof Asma Khalil, who led the study at St George’s, University of London, said: “For the first time we’ve shown that just one extra scan could save mothers-to-be from trauma, an emergency C-section, and their babies from having severe health complications which could otherwise have been prevented.”

She said the two routine scans were “far too early” to establish how the baby would be positioned during labour. “That’s why a third scan at 36-37 weeks could be a gamechanger to pregnancy and birth care.”

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Source: The Guardian, 7 April 2023

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