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‘We’re losing decades of our life to this illness’: Long Covid patients on the fear of being forgotten

On 20 March 2020, Rowan Brown started to feel a tickle at the back of her throat. Over the next few days, new symptoms began to emerge: difficulty breathing, some tiredness. By the following week, the UK had been put under lockdown in a last-minute attempt to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, or Covid-19. 

Brown didn’t know then she was at the beginning of a condition that did not yet have a name, but which has since become known as Long Covid. After two weeks, she had a Zoom with a friend, and at the end of the conversation it was as if all life force had drained out of her body. Her doctor advised her to stay in bed for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into three and a half months of extended Covid symptoms: nausea, fevers, night sweats, intense muscle and joint pain, allodynia (a heightened sensitivity to pain), hallucinations, visual disturbances. By the end of the three months, she had noted 32 different symptoms. “I didn’t recognise the way my body felt at all: my skin, my hair,” she remembers now. “It was like being taken over by a weird alien virus, which I guess is what happened.”

Brown, 48, is one of 2 million people in the UK thought to be experiencing long Covid symptoms; according to a study published last summer, roughly 400 million people worldwide have been affected. Often, long Covid patients experience mild primary infections, are never admitted to hospital and only realise there is a problem later, when the symptoms persist well beyond the usual two weeks. Some make a full recovery, some see improvements over time; others, like Brown, have seen little progress since being infected five years ago.

One of the main challenges in diagnosing and treating long Covid is its unpredictability: research studies have linked it to more than 200 symptoms affecting every part of the body. Many patients go on to develop complications such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder; 59% of patients show signs of organ damage. 

The unwillingness to discuss chronic illness is especially concerning when combined with the scepticism faced by Long Covid patients, who have to advocate for themselves so that medical professionals, employers and loved ones understand the gravity of their illness.

All of this conspires to make Long Covid patients feel invisible, voiceless and forgotten. 

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Source: The Guardian, 2 March 2025

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One in three NHS doctors so tired their ability to treat patients is affected, survey finds

One in three doctors in the NHS are so tired that their ability to treat patients is impaired, according to a report that reveals medics are more sleep deprived now than during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Longer hours, staff shortages and soaring demand for care on top of the backlog that worsened during the Covid crisis are causing extreme tiredness among doctors, leading to memory blanks, problems concentrating and patient harm.

More than one-third (35%) of doctors said they were so tired that their ability to treat patients was impaired, according to the survey conducted by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare workers across the UK.

A further third (34%) said their ability to practise medicine may have been impaired. Of the 69% who said extreme tiredness had or may have impaired their ability to treat patients, one in four (26%) said one of their patients had been harmed or a near miss had occurred as a result.

When doctors last answered confidential questions about tiredness in February 2022, nearly one in 10 (9%) said they felt sleep deprived at work on a daily basis. Three years on, the proportion affected had more than doubled to one in five (22%).

The proportion of medics saying extreme tiredness had impaired their ability to treat patients was 26% in 2022 and 35% in 2025.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 March 2025

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Payment plan could make accessing care ‘as hard as getting an Oasis ticket’

Patients’ right to choose the provider of mental health services where waits can stretch into years could soon become an “illusion”, companies and patient groups have warned.

NHS England has proposed a new payment scheme for 2025-26 which states integrated care boards can specify a maximum amount that would be paid to any provider during one year. This could be low as £100,000. 

Last week HSJ reported warnings from private providers of physical healthcare services about the proposal. They feared it will result in funding not being available to treat NHS patients who had chosen a private provider.

Similar concerns have now emerged from private providers of ADHD and autism assessments, where waiting lists are much longer. Some people are waiting as long as 11 years in some areas for ADHD assessments.

The Right to Choose policy was enshrined in the 2018 Mental Heath Act, and allows patients to select from a range of NHS and private services via a GP referral

The impact assessment for the payment scheme insists the new rules will not damage patient choice, but it admits payment limits “could possibly impact the length of waits for a treatment option offered by that provider. This may in turn impact how patients exercise their right to choose”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 February 2025

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GP contract strips out key cancer and mental health targets

Targets designed to improve mental health and cancer outcomes in primary care have been removed from the new GP contract agreed between the profession and government.

The 2025-26 general medical services contract sees core funding increased by £889m. GP leaders accepted the deal in principle following two months of intense negotiations.

However, the deal is contingent on the government confirming in writing by the middle of next month that it will negotiate a completely new contract within the current parliamentary term. 

The contract’s Quality and Outcomes Framework, which seeks to incentivise GPs to provide care in priority areas, has been radically reformed. 32 indicators which carried a total value of £298m have been removed. £198m of the total will be ”redistributed proportionately across nine CVD prevention indicators”. The remaining £101m will be reinvested into the global contract sum and in paying GPs to carry out routine childhood vaccinations instead.

Gone from the contract is the requirement for practices to hold dedicated registers of patients with cancer, chronic kidney disease, dementia, diabetes, learning disabilities, schizophrenia, asthma and COPD, as well as those receiving patient palliative care. The contract requires practices to keep accurate patient records, but no longer maintain dedicated registries.

Other abolished targets include tracking cancer care reviews, and the review of patients with depression and schizophrenia. 

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Source: HSJ, 28 February 2025

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Midwifery boss admits not telling Ida Lock's parents the truth amid 'grave failings'

A midwifery boss has admitted that she repeatedly failed to inform the health watchdog about issues which contributed to a newborn baby's death.

Ida Lock was born at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) on the morning of November 9 in 2019 in a "poor condition" and with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

Ida's mum Sarah Robinson, from Morecambe, had gone to the hospital's central delivery suite at 7.30am after her waters broke the previous day. Sarah, who was 40+1 weeks pregnant, had previously attended the hospital after noticing reduced foetal movements.

Despite midwife Lisa McGrow noticing that the baby's heartrate had dropped to 100bpm, below the acceptable range of 110-160bpm, Sarah was allowed to enter the birthing pool.

Less than 20 minutes later, after Ms McGrow and a more senior midwife, Amanda Sailor, called for assistance, a doctor arrived and immediately said "we need to get this baby out now".

However, after Ida was delivered, not breathing, there was a period of three and-a-half minutes when Mrs Sailor and delivery suite coordinator Celia Sykes were carrying out "ineffective" CPR. When Dr Matthew Phillips came into the room he ensured that Ida was properly resuscitated.

Ida was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Preston Hospital. Her parents were informed that she had suffered a severe brain injury, due to a lack of oxygen, and she sadly died seven days later.

The inquest started earlier this month and on the 25 February heard from Carol Carlile who, in 2019, was the head of midwifery at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) which runs the RLI.

Ms Carlile explained that she had been appointed by the trust to oversee the implementation of the 18 recommendations made following the publication of the Kirkup Report in 2015. Dr Bill Kirkup CBE had overseen a public inquiry into maternity services at UHMBT after the deaths of 11 babies and one mother.

The inquest heard that Ms Carlile had "signed off" a Root Cause Analysis into Ida's death, carried out by the trust contrary to Care Quality Commission guidance. The report published following that analysis, and 'signed off' by Ms Carlile, concluded that "everything went well" with Ida's birth.

Just a few weeks later the independent Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) published its own findings which highlighted several failings which it found contributed to Ida's death.

Ms Carlile had no explanation as to why, despite there being six separate 'codes' which would have required her to report Ida's case to the Care Quality Commission, she had failed to do so and said: "I can't recall why I didn't do that. I should have done."

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Source: Lancs Live, 26 February 2025

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NHS Fife changing room tribunal: what we know so far

A nurse is taking legal action against a Scottish health board after she was suspended for complaining about sharing a changing room with a transgender colleague.

Sandie Peggie, a nurse at NHS Fife, has claimed she was subjected to unlawful harassment under the Equality Act 2010 by being made to share a changing room with Dr Beth Upton, who is a transgender woman.

At the time of the incidents, Ms Peggie, a nurse, and Dr Upton, a medic, were both employed at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy and worked in the A&E department.

According to Ms Peggie, in late August 2023, she entered a changing room in the A&E department and saw Dr Upton getting dressed, which made her feel embarrassed to get changed and led her to leave the room.

Then, in late October or early November 2023, Ms Peggie was getting changed in the changing room, dressed in her bra and trousers, when Dr Upton came in.

Again, the nurse said she felt embarrassed at changing in front of Dr Upton, so replaced her top and left the room.

Ms Peggie said she then entered the changing room on 24 December 2023 to take care of a personal hygiene need and ended up being left alone with Dr Upton after two members of staff left.

Following the third incident, Dr Upton refused to leave the changing room and later made a complaint of bullying against Ms Peggie.

On 30 December 2023, NHS Fife placed Ms Peggie on special leave and then, on 4 January 2024, the health board suspended her.

At the time the incident took place, it was NHS policy to allow transgender people to use the changing rooms that align with their gender identity.

This is not the first time nurses have threatened legal action in an NHS changing room row.

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Source: Nursing Times, 20 February 2025

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Trump administration cancels meeting on flu shots, fueling anti-vax concerns

The Trump administration has cancelled a meeting of scientific experts called to discuss next winter’s flu shots in a move that has underscored fears of emerging anti-vaccine polices under the new health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which Kennedy oversees, notified members of its vaccines and related biological products advisory committee on Thursday that the next meeting scheduled for 13 March was cancelled without providing an explanation.

No new date was set for a meeting and scientists warned that the cancellation risked undermining the development of flu vaccines for next year.

The committee was due to discuss the development of appropriate vaccine for combatting expected prevalent influenza strains next year, using data provided by the World Health Organization, from which the US recently withdrew, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Committee members were given no advance notice that the meeting, which is held in late February or late March every year, was to be called off.

“We’re all left trying to understand what is going on. Why was this meeting cancelled? It’s an important meeting. What’s the plan for flu vaccines this year,” Paul Offit, a committee member and director of the vaccine education centre at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told CBS.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2025

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Cancer patients 'may starve' without vital drug

Cancer patients and others with debilitating conditions have highlighted shortages of a vital drug they say have had a "devastating" impact on their lives.

Creon, a pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (Pert), helps digestion, but has been hard to obtain for the last year and shortages are predicted to last until 2026.

It is thought more than 61,000 patients in the UK need it, including those with pancreatic cancer, cystic fibrosis and chronic pancreatitis.

Some patients said through Your Voice, Your BBC News that they have had to cover long distances to find a pharmacist with supplies.

The Department of Health and Social care says it is working closely with the NHS, manufacturers and others in the supply chain to try to resolve the issues.

Without the drug, patients lose weight and strength, which means their ability to cope with treatment such as chemotherapy is reduced.

Diana Gibb, who is 74, and her husband Mick, 78, live in Tonbridge, Kent.

Mick had a major operation to treat pancreatic cancer in 2023. Diana wrote to BBC News explaining that it is impossible for Mick to digest food without creon. She says he was prescribed a high dose to enable him to regain weight after losing four stone in hospital, but it became increasingly difficult to get hold of the medicine.

"We started to have trouble getting them in the higher dosage, involving me traipsing round pharmacies to find one who could get them. Pharmacies cannot get hold of that dosage. He now has to take a lower dose doubling up on the number of tablets taken, one box now lasts less than a week.

"Pharmacies cannot get hold of lower dosage either and there is no alternative medication. I was worried that my husband would starve to death without them."

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Source: BBC News, 28 February 2025

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GPs strike deal to help end '8am scramble' for appointments

Patients will be able to book more appointments online and request to see their usual doctor under a new contract agreed with England's GPs, the government has said.

The deal gives an extra £889m a year to general practices, as well as a reduction in red tape and targets that ministers hope will mean doctors are freed up to see more patients.

The Labour government made manifesto promises to bring back "family" doctors and end the early morning phone "scramble" for appointments.

The doctors' union, the BMA, says the deal is an important first step in restoring general practices.

However, doctors also want the government to commit to talks about a completely new national contract for GPs within this Parliament.

GP surgeries are seen as the front door to the NHS, but for years now, doctors have been warning about the pressure their service is under.

Patients have felt it too, with some people facing long waits for appointments.

Now it is hoped extra money agreed in the new contract for GP surgeries will kick-start improvements.

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Source: BBC News, 28 February 2025

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Consultants express no confidence in trust chair and board

Consultants at a prestigious teaching hospital have written a letter of no confidence in its chair and board, and have made a string of serious allegations against members of the trust’s leadership team.

The senior medics at Moorfields Eye Hospital Foundation Trust sent the letter, obtained by HSJ, to the organisation’s governors on 26 February.

Allegations in the letter include: there was a bullying culture at the organisation, including “coercive behaviour” by the trust’s chair; the trust’s reputation as a research institution was being damaged; and there was “a lack of corporate integrity”.

The letter, from consultants’ committee chair Hari Jayaram, said more than half of the senior doctors — more than 80 consultants — at the trust had contacted him to “voice a lack of confidence in the organisation by the current chair and board”.

It also said morale among these senior doctors was “at a significant nadir, which most colleagues do not ever recall experiencing in their consultant careers” and that senior staff have lost confidence in the trust’s Freedom to Speak Up process.

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Source: HSJ, 27 February 2025

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Coroner warns about NHS physician associates after misdiagnosis and death of woman

A coroner has issued a warning about the role of physician associates in NHS hospitals after a woman with severe abdominal problems was wrongly diagnosed as having a nosebleed and died four days later.

The family of Pamela Marking, 77, were under the mistaken impression she had been seen by a doctor when she was examined in an emergency department, rather than a physician associate (PA) with far less training.

Surrey assistant coroner Karen Henderson has written to 12 health leaders or bodies including the UK health secretary, Wes Streeting, and NHS England expressing concerns about the “limited training” PAs have and the lack of public understanding about their roles.

In a prevention of future deaths report, Henderson said Marking was taken to East Surrey hospital in Redhill on 16 February last year after she vomited blood-stained fluid and had a tender abdomen.

The coroner said the PA who saw her had “a lack of understanding of the significance of abdominal pain” and sent her home the same day. Marking deteriorated, returning to the hospital two days later. She underwent surgery for complications arising from a femoral hernia but died on 20 February 2024.

Henderson said the PA had acted independently in the diagnosis, treatment, management and discharge of Marking without independent oversight by a medical practitioner.

The coroner said: “Given their limited training and in the absence of any national or local recognised hospital training for physician associates once appointed, this gives rise to a concern they are working outside of their capabilities.”

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Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2025

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Unvaccinated child dies of measles in west Texas as outbreak worsens

The unfolding crisis over the spread of measles in the US among communities where scepticism towards vaccines is running high has taken a turn for the worse after a person who was hospitalized with the disease died in west Texas, the first fatality in the outbreak that began late last month.

A Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center spokesperson, Melissa Whitfield, confirmed the death on Wednesday. It is the first death from measles in the US since 2015.

The school-aged child who died was not vaccinated, the Texas department of state health services said, and was hospitalised in Lubbock last week after testing positive for measles, per the Texas department of state health services.

The measles outbreak in rural west Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, the state health department said on Tuesday. There are also nine cases across the border in eastern New Mexico.

Cases are concentrated in the “close-knit, undervaccinated” community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton said. Gaines county, which has reported 80 cases so far, has a strong homeschooling and private school community.

The crisis is in Texas is hitting just as the US Health and Human Services Department (HHS) falls into the hands of the notorious vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr. Donald Trump’s pick as health secretary has promoted the debunked theory that childhood vaccinations are linked to autism, and in one of his first acts in his new job has postponed a public meeting on immunization.

Kennedy on Wednesday said that the HHS is “watching” cases, though he did not provide specifics on how the federal agency is assisting. He dismissed Texas’s outbreak as “not unusual” during the first meeting of Trump’s cabinet members in the president’s second administration.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2025

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Why popular blood sugar monitors could actually be harming your health

Popular glucose monitors used to take regular blood sugar readings could be driving poor diets and food restrictions due to inaccurate measurements, according to a new study.

Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) take blood sugar readings every five minutes and were originally designed for people with diabetes to assess how their body responds to different foods.

But they are growing in popularity and in recent years have increasingly been used by the health-conscious to track their diet and avoid glucose spikes.

Carried out in healthy, non-diabetic volunteers, the research compared results from a CGM to the gold standard finger-prick test for blood sugar levels.

Scientists found that the CGMs consistently reported higher levels than the finger-prick test. The monitors overestimated the time spent above the Diabetes UK’s recommended blood sugar level threshold by nearly 400 per cent, causing unnecessary concern for people whose blood sugar was actually well-controlled.

Professor Javier Gonzalez, from the university’s department of health, warned people should stick with the finger-prick test if they are looking for accurate readings.

“Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are fantastic tools for people with diabetes because even if a measurement isn’t perfectly accurate, it’s still better than not having a measurement at all,” he said.

“However, for someone with good glucose control, they can be misleading based on their current performance."

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Source: The Independent, 26 February 2025

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Social media influencers are ‘fearmongering’ to promote health tests with limited evidence, study finds

Influencers are appealing to emotional narratives around health and often “fearmongering” to promote controversial medical tests on social media, a new study has found, in ways that are overwhelmingly misleading and fail to mention potential harms.

The research, led by the University of Sydney, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, investigated five tests being discussed on social media despite limited evidence of their benefits for generally healthy people and concerns about overdiagnosis.

These were full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans; genetic testing claiming to identify early signs of 50 cancers; blood tests for testosterone levels; the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) or “egg-timer” test, which surveys a woman’s egg count; and the gut microbiome test.

The study’s lead author, Dr Brooke Nickel, said posts about these tests came from a “wide range” of account holders, from major influencers to “everyday girl-next-door” accounts, as well as news outlets, doctors and the companies making the tests. “Across the board, they were being promoted misleadingly,” she said.

Nickel said the tests were being promoted under the guise of empowerment: early screening as a way for people to take control of their own health. However, as Nickel noted: “These tests carry the potential for healthy people to receive unnecessary diagnoses, which could lead to unnecessary medical treatments or impact mental health.”

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Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2025

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UK ‘falling short’ in fight against rise of superbugs resistant to antibiotics

Superbugs are on the rise in the UK and the government is failing in its efforts to tackle them, ministers have been warned.

The World Health Organization has described antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – where pathogens evolve and develop resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials so the drugs usually used to fight them no longer work – as “one of the top global public health and development threats”.

AMR is already contributing to more than 35,000 deaths a year in the UK, estimates suggest. But the government “remains a long way” from achieving its aim of containing and controlling AMR, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

If urgent action is not taken to stem the crisis, the consequences for health, life expectancy, the functioning of the NHS and the wider economy would be “huge”, the watchdog said.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2025

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Epilepsy AI tool detects brain lesions doctors miss

An artificial-intelligence (AI) tool can detect two-thirds of epilepsy brain lesions doctors often miss, say the UK researchers who have developed it, paving the way for more targeted surgery to stop seizures.

One out of every five people with epilepsy - a total of 30,000 in the UK - has uncontrolled seizures caused by brain abnormalities too subtle for the human eye to see on scans.

Child epilepsy experts say the AI tool has "huge potential" and opens up avenues for treatment.

For this study, published in JAMA Neurology, external, the researchers, from King's College London and University College London, fed their tool magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) scans from more than 1,185 adults and children at 23 hospitals around the world, 703 of whom had brain abnormalities.

The tool, MELD Graph, was able to process the images more quickly than a doctor could - and in more detail - which could mean more timely treatment and fewer costly tests and procedures, lead researcher Dr Konrad Wagstyl said.

The AI would require human oversight, however, and many of the abnormalities were still missed.

"AI can find about two-thirds that doctors miss - but a third are still really difficult to find."

At one hospital in Italy, the tool identified a subtle lesion missed by radiologists, in a 12-year-old boy who had tried nine different medications but still had seizures every day.

Study co-author and childhood epilepsy consultant Prof Helen Cross said it had the potential "to rapidly identify abnormalities that can be removed and potentially cure the epilepsy".

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Source: BBC News, 24 February 2025

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US stops sharing flu data with WHO amidst one of its worst flu seasons

While the US declared its intention to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) on 20 January, the process of severing ties with the international public health body formally takes one year. Yet US health agencies have already retreated from nearly all coordinated global health efforts around influenza surveillance. The move could jeopardise the efficacy of the next batch of flu vaccines both for the US and the rest of the world.

This comes as the US is in the midst of its most severe flu season in 15 years. At least 29 million people in the country have caught the illness since October and roughly 16,000 have died from it – and the season is only half over.

Numerous factors are probably behind the surge, including lower vaccination rates, says Erin Sorrell at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. 

All of this underscores the importance of an upcoming WHO meeting. Scheduled for 28 February, the meeting will bring together influenza experts from around the world to select which strains the next flu shot will target. The decision is based on influenza samples collected from 151 national laboratories across 127 countries. These samples are then further analysed at WHO collaborating centres to characterise how the virus spreads, evolves and interacts with vaccines and other treatments.

These seven collaborating centres, two of which are based in the US, play a major role in global influenza surveillance and response preparedness, says Maria Van Kerkhove at WHO. The trouble is, the US centres stopped communicating with WHO. 

WHO is currently working with other collaborating centres to fill the information gap left by the US, says Van Kerkhove. The halt in US communication shouldn’t impact the WHO’s ability to develop an effective flu vaccine for next season, she says. But it will certainly make it more challenging to do so in the future.

It will also have ramifications for US public health. “We don’t get to provide our input on strains that we are most concerned about in the US and discuss mutations that we are observing here. Our technical experts, who are some of the best in the world, are not able to contribute to that conversation,” says Sorrell. “So, we are not only putting the world at a disadvantage, but absolutely the average American who would be looking to be vaccinated next year against seasonal flu.”

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Source: The New Scientist, 21 February 2025

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90 deaths at hospital in Brighton being investigated as possible manslaughter

The number of patient deaths being investigated as possible manslaughter at a troubled NHS hospital has more than doubled to 90, the Guardian can reveal.

The growing number of allegedly suspicious deaths, up from an initial total of 40, has forced Sussex police to ask the Home Office for extra resources in dealing with its expanding inquiry into University Hospitals Sussex (UHS), known as Operation Bramber.

It is examining allegations of medical negligence and cover-up in the general surgery and neurosurgery departments of Brighton’s Royal Sussex County hospital, part of UHS, between 2015 and 2021.

There are also growing internal concerns within the trust about surgeons who continue to operate at the hospital, despite their alleged negligence being reviewed by police.

Earlier this month, a group of anaesthetists asked the trust’s medical director for guidance on what to tell patients who inquire about the safety of surgeons about to operate on them.

A source at the trust said: “It’s a very valid question. The anaesthetists are in an awkward position of having to anaesthetise the patients before surgery with consultants under suspicion.”

There have been calls to suspend some surgeons while police investigate. The source added: “I think the reason they have been allowed to continue, is that the trust does not want to show they have made any mistakes.”

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Source: The Guardian, 25 February 2025

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Sensitive details of Australian IVF patients posted to dark web after Genea data breach

Sensitive patient information has allegedly been leaked on the dark web after Genea, one of Australia’s leading IVF and fertility services providers, was hacked a fortnight ago.

The attack was allegedly carried out by the Termite ransomware group, prompting Genea to obtain a court injunction on Wednesday that criminalises access to the breached patient data.

In a statement, Genea said: “Our ongoing investigation has established that on the 26 of February, data taken from our systems appears to have been published externally by the threat actor.”

“We understand that this development may be concerning for our patients for which we unreservedly apologise.”

Sensitive information including contact details, Medicare card numbers, medical histories, test results and medications may have been compromised in the data breach, Genea said, and it was “working to understand precisely what data has been published”.

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Source: the Guardian, 26 February 2025

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‘New nurses must not accept the current state of nursing as normal’

A year ago Jessica Vaughan stepped into the emergency department (ED) as a newly qualified nurse, with a first class degree and a Nursing Times ‘student nurse of the year’ award under her belt. She was brimming with enthusiasm, but now feels depleted and disillusioned

"As a previous student editor for the Nursing Times, I said I would write an article on my experiences. But words failed me. After my previous articles declaring hope, resilience, and the beauty of nursing, writing a litany of complaints felt shameful.

"But the truth is, I am not achieving what I set out to. Maybe I was simply too idealistic and naive. But there is something fundamentally wrong if eager new nurses are burning out so quickly.

"I do not know the answer but I do urge those of us on the frontline to keep using our voices to tell the truth about what is happening. We owe it to our patients but also ourselves."

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Source: Nursing Times, 25 February 2025

Further reading on the hub:

The crisis of corridor care in the NHS: patient safety concerns and incident reporting 

Patient Safety Learning's response to RCN report: on the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis

How corridor care in the NHS is affecting safety culture: A blog by Claire Cox

A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces

A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift

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Doctors confirm ‘corridor care’ crisis as 80% forced to treat patients in unsafe spaces

A new snapshot survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) highlights the worsening crisis in NHS hospitals, where a lack of capacity is pushing vulnerable patients into undignified and unsafe conditions.

The survey gathered responses from almost a thousand (961) physicians across the UK, spanning a wide range of specialties - including cardiology, respiratory medicine, and general internal medicine - who report firsthand the challenges of delivering care in temporary spaces.

The findings show that 78% of respondents had provided care in a temporary environment in the past month. Of the 889 respondents who gave further details on where this care was delivered, locations included corridors (45%), additional beds or chairs in patient bays (27%), wards without dedicated bed space (13%), waiting rooms (9%), another location not designed for patient care e.g. bathroom (4.5%).

The consequences of treating patients in unsuitable spaces are severe. 90% of doctors reported compromised patient privacy and dignity, while 81% faced physical difficulties delivering care. Additionally, 75% struggled with access to vital equipment or facilities, and 58% saw patient safety directly compromised. The impact on doctors themselves was also significant, with 61% reporting increased personal stress.

Read full story

Source: Royal College of Physicians, 26 February 2025

Further reading on the hub:

The crisis of corridor care in the NHS: patient safety concerns and incident reporting 

Patient Safety Learning's response to RCN report: on the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis

How corridor care in the NHS is affecting safety culture: A blog by Claire Cox

A nurse's response to the NHSE guidance on their principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces

A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift

Read more

Weight loss drugs linked to dozens of deaths

The number of people in the UK who have died after taking drugs for diabetes and weight loss has risen to 82, according to new figures from the country’s medicines regulator.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) revealed the death toll associated with the use of GLP-1RA receptor agonist drugs such as Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic, up to 31 January.

It included 22 deaths where the deceased person was using the drugs to lose weight - an increase from 10 in October as the drugs continue rise in popularity.

The figures come from medical reports that record adverse incidents with medicines. However, usage may have been coincidental to a death rather than responsible for it, and an underlying illness unrelated to the drug could have also played a role.

As of January, the MHRA had received reports of 18 deaths associated with tirzepatide, commercially known as Mounjaro; 29 deaths associated with semaglutide which has the brand names Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy; and 35 deaths associated with single-constituent liraglutide more commonly known as Saxenda or Victoza.

These drugs have rapidly increased in popularity and regulators have scrambled to ensure they are handed out appropriately with the pharmacy watchdog tightening rules around how the drugs are prescribed.

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Source: The Independent, 24 February 2025

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Breast cancer diagnoses and deaths expected to surge worldwide, says WHO

Breast cancer diagnoses and deaths are projected to surge worldwide by 2050, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency has said, with cases in the UK to rise by 21% and deaths by 42%.

Globally, one in 20 women will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime, with cases up 38% and deaths up 68% over the next 25 years, according to an analysis by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

There will be 3.2m new cases and 1.1m deaths a year worldwide by 2050 if current trends continue, the study found. In the UK, cases are expected to rise from 58,756 cases a year in 2022 to 71,006 cases a year in 2050. Deaths will jump from 12,122 a year in 2022 to 17,261 in 2050.

“Every minute, four women are diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide and one woman dies from the disease, and these statistics are worsening,” said the IARC scientist Dr Joanne Kim, one of the authors of the report.

“Countries can mitigate or reverse these trends by adopting primary prevention policies … and by investing in early detection and treatment.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 February 2025

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French surgeon accused of abusing 299 patients, mostly children, says he did ‘hideous things’

A 74-year-old surgeon accused of abusing 299 people, most of them children, while they were anaesthetised or recovering from operations has told a French court he did “hideous things” and is prepared to take responsibility for them.

Joël Le Scouarnec is accused of raping or sexually abusing the victims, whose average age was 11, during a 30-year career, and detailing the abuse in notebooks.

“I’ve done hideous things,” the 74-year-old told a court in Vannes on Monday, the opening day of his trial. He said he was “perfectly aware that these wounds cannot be erased or healed” and he was ready to “take responsibility” for his actions.

Almost all the children were unaware of the alleged abuse until police knocked at their doors having discovered their names in the handwritten “black books” found at Le Scouarnec’s home.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place between 1989 and 2014, when Le Scouarnec worked at more than a dozen private and public hospitals in Brittany and other parts of western France.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 February 2025

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USA: States most impacted by a Medicaid expansion cut

As many as 20 million Americans could lose Medicaid coverage over the course of 10 years thanks to Republican proposals to cut the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion match rate, according to a recent analysis.

The most affected states in that estimate include Oregon, Virginia, Louisiana, and Nevada, a report from policy group KFF said. While other “red states” such as Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Montana were also all projected to see at least a 30 percent drop in the number of people covered in the state.

The findings come as Republicans have worked to defend their efforts to shrink the Affordable Care Act, aiming to provide billions of dollars for tax cuts and border security. President Donald Trump had previously said he would not touch Medicaid, but has endorsed the House Republican budget that targets the program.

More than 72 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid last fall. The programme, which turns 60 this summer, helps to cover costs for people with limited income and resources, offering nursing home care and other services.

"We are not interested in cutting the social and health care safety net for children, disabled, and low-income Americans," Ken Calvert, a California Republican, told Politico. "We are focused on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as strengthening work requirements for able-bodied working age adults with no children.“

However, others, such as Texas Republican, Tony Gonzales, are breaking with Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson on the issue.

“There’s no doubt that there’s waste, fraud and abuse in every program in the government, including Medicaid - but at what point do you stop cutting into the fat and start cutting into the bone? You can’t pull the rug out from millions of people,” he told Politico.

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Source: The Independent, 24 February 2025

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