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National probe into deaths of NHS heart patients as scale of cardiology crisis revealed

A national probe has been launched into the deaths and harm of thousands of NHS patients waiting for cardiac surgery, as doctors and experts warn of a “crisis in heart care”, an investigation by The Independent has revealed.

The audit was ordered by NHS England after concerns were raised about the impact on patients left waiting too long for specialist surgery, according to a leaked memo. Waiting times for all types of cardiac surgery are also under review.

Senior doctors have described how the NHS is struggling to provide life-saving care to those suffering heart attacks and strokes, with worsening ambulance delays meaning patients are being deprioritised.

The latest figures show waiting lists for cardiology services have doubled since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 with 412,164 patients waiting for routine care in October 2024 – up from 397,956 the year before.

The Independent can also reveal:

  • Ambulances are transferring just 31% of patients between hospitals for life-saving heart attack surgery in the target time.
  • Nearly 1,000 patients in London face a 10- to 12-week wait for heart surgery who should have had it within four weeks.
  • Multiple coroners have issued warnings in the last year after patients died waiting for routine and emergency cardiology surgery.
  • British Heart Foundation figures suggest 39,000 people died prematurely from cardiovascular disease in 2022.

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), and consultant cardiologist, said: “Unacceptably long waits for time-critical heart care puts people at significant risk of life-long heart failure or even premature death."

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Source: The Independent, 9 December 2024

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Life expectancy in US could stall by 2050

Americans’ life expectancy is expected to stall by 2050 because of increasing obesity and drug use, researchers said this week.

Right now, the country is on an upward trajectory, but improvements are expected to slow. In 2022, life expectancy at birth was 77.5 years in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 76.4 years in 2021.

By 2035, life expectancy will increase to 79.9 years and by 80.4 years in 2050 for men and women. However, despite progress made over the past three decades, the country will drop from 80th place in life expectancy to 108th by that year, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation cautioned.

“In spite of modest increases in life expectancy overall, our models forecast health improvements slowing down due to rising rates of obesity, which is a serious risk factor to many chronic diseases and forecasted to leap to levels never before seen,” Christopher Murray, the institute’s director, said in a statement. “The rise in obesity and overweight rates in the U.S., with [the institute] forecasting over 260 million people affected by 2050, signals a public health crisis of unimaginable scale.”

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Source: The Independent, 6 December 2024

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More than 100 alerts over deaths linked to antidepressants taken by Thomas Kingston

More than 100 alerts were made in a decade to the UK’s medicines regulator over deaths linked to the antidepressants which Thomas Kingston was taking before he killed himself.

A coroner ruled that Mr Kingston, the husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter Lady Gabriella Kingston, fatally shot himself after an adverse effect to the medications he had been prescribed, which included the common antidepressant citalopram.

The UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it is undertaking a review of safety warnings for 30 antidepressants including citalopram and prozac.

Data analysis by The Independent has now found the MHRA has received more than 71 alerts over fatalities linked to the antidepressant citalopram since 2014.

The data, called yellow card alerts, also shows 114 alerts over fatal adverse reactions linked to sertraline, another antidepressant taken by Mr Kingston, over the same period.

However, the data does not determine whether the drug was the direct cause of death.

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Source: The Independent, 8 December 2024

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Scans reviewed amid concerns about radiologist

More than 1,000 CT scans carried out in Scotland have been reviewed after concerns were raised about the work of one consultant radiologist, BBC Scotland News has learned.

The medic was responsible for interpreting the detailed images of internal body parts and identifying health issues like cancer.

The scans were carried out at hospitals around the country and assessed by one of a central pool of experts working for the Scottish National Radiology Reporting Service (SNRRS) between April 2022 and July 2024.

It is understood that the review found that about 10 patients had potentially been affected.

The SNRRS said the patients would be contacted by their local NHS board to discuss further action.

They added that the consultant radiologist at the centre of review no longer works for the SNRRS.

It is understood that information about the review has been provided to the health board where the radiologist normally works.

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Source: BBC News, 9 December 2024

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Heart attack patients told to take themselves to hospitals due to ‘significant pressures’ on ambulance service

Patients in the West Midlands, including some of those suffering heart attacks, are being asked to get themselves to hospital amid worsening pressures on ambulance services this winter.

The West Midlands Ambulance Service has advised its 999 call handlers to ask patients if they can make their own way to the hospital when services are under high demand.

According to reports in The Sunday Times a memo was sent to staff explaining the change was needed due to delays in patients getting an ambulance.

The memo said category three and four patients – those who have fallen or are vomiting – will be told: “The ambulance service is under significant pressure, and we don’t have an ambulance available to respond to you. It may be a number of hours before one is available.”

“Is there any way you can arrange to safely make your own way to a hospital emergency department?”

All ambulance services have adjusted their guidance for call handlers, according to the reports.

West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed that in some cases it is asking people if they can make their own way to hospital, and if they can’t, help will be arranged.

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Source: The Independent, 8 December 2024

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Gynaecology patients going private to avoid NHS waiting lists

Women waiting in agony for vital gynaecological treatment are turning to the private sector in the hope of being referred urgently to the top of the NHS waiting list.

The heads of 11 leading women's health organisations have signed an open letter, external urging the public and health professionals to participate in their "Change NHS" conversation.

They said: "Women and girls have repeatedly been left to 'fall through the gaps' of fragmented government policy."

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says the discussion around the government's 10-year health plan, external is a chance to lobby for "much needed" funding and system-wide support essential to transforming women's health.

An NHS spokesperson said: "While latest data shows NHS staff are making progress to cut waiting lists and tackle the backlog, we know there is much more to do to bring down long waits for care, particularly for women who are waiting for crucial appointments and treatment.

"We welcome feedback from the public and those working in women's health services via Change NHS to build on our work on improving services for women - which includes developing a network of women's health champions in every local care system and expanding neighbourhood women's health hubs across the country - giving thousands more women access to specialist women's health teams in the community."

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Source: BBC News, 9 December 2024

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Brain op failings made patients' lives 'hell'

Patients who had probes located in the wrong part of their brain due to failings at an NHS trust suffered unnecessarily for years, a damning report has found.

The leaked report into deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, seen by the BBC, also shows a whistleblower was ignored, intimidated and disciplined.

Wendy Swain, who had electrodes in the wrong place for 11 years, leading to difficulty walking and a facial twitch, said: “They’ve made my life hell.”

The trust, already under fire following an inquiry that exposed a culture of bullying and a lack of openness, said it was "truly sorry" for the mistakes and felt "deep regret".

Dr Chris Clough, former chair of the National Clinical Advisory Team who oversaw the final report into the brain surgery failings, said he did not believe the trust was learning lessons.

“I am begging them to get this report out and be open and fair with patients,” he said.

“There’s suffering that has gone on here and they need to let people know what went on.”

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Source: BBC News, 6 December 2024

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‘Don’t buy Epic’ unless it integrates with NHS App, says government adviser

The NHS should no longer do business with leading tech supplier Epic unless future iterations of its technology work with the NHS App, a senior government adviser has warned.

Professor Paul Corrigan was appointed by the Department of Health and Social Care in the summer to help shape its 10-year health plan. Speaking at an event organised by HSJ and IBM on Tuesday, he praised Epic’s ’My Chart’ App which is supplied alongside its electronic patient record system and provides patients with a wide range of useful information.

However, he expressed concern that it did not integrate with the NHS App, and said: ”The NHS, in my view, should not buy the next generation of Epic if it doesn’t talk to the NHS App”.

Professor Corrigan gave a detailed analysis of how the NHS needed to work better with technology businesses.

As part of this he said: “The ability to have interoperability [between IT] is greater and greater almost every year, but we are still constructing bits of pathways which are not interoperable. The main thing I would say is that we need to ensure that whatever kit is being bought talks to other kit and that you’re not allowed… to construct bits of pathways that don’t talk to others.”

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Source: HSJ, 6 December 2024

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Discrimination against gay and trans staff is undermining productivity, claims CEO

Tackling increased discrimination faced by gay and trans staff must be a priority for the NHS if it wants to maximise workforce productivity, according to the CEO of one of the service’s largest providers. 

Mark Cubbon, CEO of Manchester University Foundation Trust and chair of the NHS Confederation’s LGBTQ+ leaders network, told HSJ there is an “awful lot more” to do to ensure the health service is more inclusive.

A new survey by the network found that members had experienced higher rates of direct or indirect discrimination compared to the workforce as whole, while only 14% felt their organisation acted swiftly and appropriately to these incidents. A quarter of respondents said they had experienced homophobia while 20% reported encountering transphobia.

Mr Cubbon said: “[Some people] ask the question about, ‘why are all these things important’, with the breadth of the agenda that we’re facing across the NHS.

“As I’ve said, not only is it morally the right thing to do, there’s an imperative here for us all."

“It’s really important for the individuals, morally the right thing to do, and it’s really important for the taxpayer so that we can get people to come to work. We employ more than a million people across the NHS, and we want people to be at their best when they come to work.”

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Source: HSJ, 5 December 2024

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Report on disgraced child surgeon a ‘whitewash’, families say

Families of children operated on by a disgraced surgeon have labelled independent reports into their care as a "whitewash" and a "final insult".

Yaser Jabbar, a former surgeon at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), carried out procedures including leg lengthening and straightening. He also operated on children with complicated disorders.

But some cases linked to him resulted in harm, including life-long injuries and amputation.

Mr Jabbar left the hospital in 2023 after a report by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found some of the surgery had been "inappropriate" and "incorrect".

Following the RCS report, GOSH said each of Mr Jabbar's 723 patients would receive an independent report to conclude what level of harm they had suffered.

The reviews, which are being carried out by specialist surgeons who did not work at GOSH, are based on patient notes provided by the hospital.

Families have started receiving reports about the care their children received. BBC News has now spoken to four families - and had indirect contact with 12 more - who say the reports do not reflect their children's experiences and often raise more questions than they answer.

Many of the reports were concluded without any interviews or interaction with the family or patient, they say.

Parents describe the reports as part of a "culture of cover-up", telling the BBC that GOSH has "failed their children", leaving them physically and mentally damaged.

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Source: BBC News, 6 December 2024

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‘Barely a spare bed in the NHS’, nurses warn as flu cases soar and alarm raised over winter crisis

NHS leaders have warned hospitals are “busier than ever” for this time of year, as new figures show the number of people in hospital with flu is four times higher than in the same period last year.

Nurses have said there is “barely a spare bed in the NHS” and that staff and patients are “desperately worried” about the coming weeks and months.

Health leaders have warned that the service is facing a “quad-demic” of disease going into winter amid rising cases of flu, Covid-19, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, urged eligible people to get vaccinated as soon as possible amid growing fears over the health service’s capacity to cope with a “quad-demic”.

He said: “For a while there have been warnings of a ‘tripledemic’ of Covid, flu and RSV this winter, but with rising cases of norovirus this could fast become a ‘quad-demic’ so it’s important that if you haven’t had your Covid or flu jab to follow the lead of millions of others and come forward and get protected as soon as possible.”

Commenting on the figures, Patricia Marquis, executive director for England for the Royal College of Nursing, said: “There is barely a spare bed in our NHS, with sky-high flu admissions and thousands stuck in hospital unable to be discharged due to a lack of capacity in social care.

“Before the cold weather hits, nursing staff and patients are desperately worried about what the coming weeks and months may bring.”

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Source: The Independent, 5 December 2024

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NHS to review ME services after death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill

The NHS is carrying out an assessment of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) services across England after the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, whose case highlighted a lack of understanding and inability to care for sufferers of the illness. 

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which provides advice to improve healthcare, is also re-examining its guidance on feeding support for people with severe ME. Education of medical professionals about patients, who have often been stigmatised, is also being ramped up.

Andrew Gwynne, the health minister, has committed to better research “with the aim of better understanding the causes, identifying new treatments and improving patient outcomes”.

It comes after the landmark inquest of Boothby O’Neill, who died at the age of 27 in 2021 after suffering from ME since her teenage years. Her case highlighted misunderstandings of ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and the lack of treatment available for severe sufferers.

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Source: The Times, 5 December 2024

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NHS enters winter with ambulance delays almost double those in 2023

The time spent by ambulances stuck outside A&Es waiting to hand over patients has nearly doubled since last year, the first NHS “winter situation report” has revealed.

The first set of data from NHS England for the 2024-25 winter also reveals a huge increase in cases of flu and norovirus, and the highest-ever level of bed occupancy at this time.

The “sit rep” data shows 15.7 per cent of all patient handovers took more than an hour last week. This equates to more than 2,000 people a day being stuck in an ambulance for more than an hour while waiting for transfer to A&E.

NHSE described the pressure on ambulance services as “incredibly high”, with hours lost to ambulance delays up 87 per cent compared with last year. It said more than 35,000 hours overall had been lost to handover delays, with around 8 per cent more patients arriving by ambulance.

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Source: HSJ, 5 December 2024

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USA: Most rural hospitals have closed their maternity wards, study finds

Over 500 hospitals in US have closed their labour and delivery departments since 2010, according to a large new study, leaving most rural hospitals and more than a third of urban hospitals without obstetric care.

Those closures, the study found, were slightly offset by the opening of new units in about 130 hospitals. Even so, the share of hospitals without maternity wards increased every year, according to the study, published in JAMA.. Maternal deaths remained persistently high over that period, spiking during the pandemic.

Because its data runs only through 2022, the study does not account for the additional challenges that hospitals have faced since the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade that year and led many states to restrict abortion. States with abortion bans have experienced a sharp decline in their obstetrician work force.

“We’re more than a decade into a severe maternal mortality crisis in the United States, and access to hospital-based maternity care has continued to decline over that entire time period,” said Katy Kozhimannil, the study’s lead author and a professor of health policy at the University of Minnesota.

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Source: The New York Times, 4 December 2024

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Elderly patient left unable to swallow after 52-hour A&E wait

An elderly man was left unable to swallow after waiting over two days in A&E without being given regular medication, and died four weeks later.

In a “shocking” case that has raised fresh concerns over the state of urgent NHS care, the 85-year-old was sent to a hospital emergency department after a routine appointment. Amid massive delays, his A&E wait went into a third day, with most of it spent on a bed in the corridor.

He had Parkinson’s disease and required medicine at various intervals to control his symptoms. During his time in A&E, the man should have received 18 doses but seven were not given and three were given late, according to a report from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).

The report, which does not name the patient or hospital, highlights how the man was advised to go to A&E after complaining of back pain following a fall at home the day before.

After 52 hours in A&E, he was finally admitted to a ward where his Parkinson’s symptoms deteriorated and he lost the ability to swallow, the HSSIB said.

He died four weeks later, with the causes of death listed on the death certificate as a severe chest infection, Parkinson’s and frailty of old age.

The HSSIB report highlights how the man spent most of his time in A&E on a bed in a corridor because of demand on services. Corridor care can cause problems for emergency staff because there are “limited opportunities to store medication brought from home”, the authors said.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 November 2024

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Regulation ‘chilling effect’ could ‘increase fear’ for NHS managers

Regulating managers could have a “chilling effect” dissuading people from taking up challenging roles, and cause risk aversion to difficult decisions, the government has acknowledged.

The Department of Health and Social Care published a consultation last week on introducing professional regulation for NHS managers.

Government and NHS England have moved towards supporting professional regulation in the wake of last year’s conviction of neonatal nurse Lucy Letby for murdering babies.

The consultation document set out potential risks and benefits. Risks include “deter[ing] external talent from joining” as well as “implications for ongoing employment of existing NHS managers”. The document cites a possible “chilling effect” whereby regulation “may increase the fear of sanctions and individuals… may be deterred from taking up already challenging board roles”.

Another risk states: “NHS managers monitor risks and face challenging decisions to balance patient safety, operational performance, and financial sustainability. Additional regulation may change the framing for the difficult judgements that frontline, system and national NHS managers make on a daily basis, by increasing their aversion to risk.”

A further risk is “a high quantity of vexatious concerns being raised”.

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Source: HSJ, 5 December 2024

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Why is norovirus reporting in England so high at the moment?

Data for the current 2024/2025 season in England shows that norovirus laboratory reports are notably higher than the 5-season average. Norovirus cases typically increase through autumn and into winter, but this year cases have risen earlier than usual and are expected to continue to increase. This rise comes alongside a shift in circulating common norovirus genotypes.

UK Health Security Agency surveillance systems reveal several key patterns, including increased laboratory confirmed norovirus cases in all age groups, significant impact of norovirus outbreaks in healthcare settings and genetic diversity.

Several factors are likely contributing to the unusual norovirus activity we’re seeing this season. These include:

  • Post-pandemic changes in population immunity.
  • Changes in diagnostic testing capabilities.
  • Changes in reporting to national surveillance.
  • A true rise in norovirus transmission due to the emergence of GII.17.

There's currently no indication that GII.17 causes more severe illness, but work is underway to conduct further assessment of severity. 

To reduce the spread of norovirus, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, as alcohol-based hand sanitisers are not effective against the virus. Stay at home for at least 48 hours after symptoms stop and disinfect surfaces using a bleach-based cleaner where possible.

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Source: UK Health Security Agency, 29 November 2024

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Doctors call for major incident as hospital 'unsafe'

Senior doctors working at a Glasgow hospital have asked for a 'major incident' to be called this week but had their request declined, BBC Scotland News understands.

Emergency medicine consultants described conditions in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) as "grossly" unsafe with no room to take in new patients on Monday evening.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it has a "robust system" in place to deal with additional pressures which were implemented.

Documents seen by BBC Scotland News describe the whole hospital site at the QEUH in Glasgow as being "completely overwhelmed" on Monday evening.

The emergency medicine consultants said a lack of capacity in accident and emergency left one patient waiting almost six hours in the back of an ambulance with a fractured hip.

At the same time five ambulances were on route and a further 19 expected to attend the hospital.

The document states that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde chief executive Jane Grant was involved in discussions about whether a major incident should be called, but it is believed she declined the request.

The health board say the situation was resolved without involving the chief executive.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said all of its services are under "considerable pressure" with the arrival of winter bringing additional challenges.

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Source: BBC News, 3 December 2024

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'We're attacked and abused as we try to save lives'

Violence and abuse against paramedics and emergency call handlers is on the rise, with reported cases up by more than a third since 2019, the BBC has found.

Almost 45,000 assaults were recorded by ambulance services across England over the last five years, with staff saying they had been punched, kicked, threatened with weapons and subjected to racist, homophobic and religious abuse.

Paramedic Nutan Patel-West, 41, said she had been racially abused "multiple times" while on shift and, during one call-out in 2021, narrowly avoided serious injury after a glass ashtray was hurled at her.

The government said there was a "zero-tolerance approach to this type of behaviour" and warned that those who assault emergency workers can face up to two years in prison.

Mrs Patel-West, who has worked for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) for more than a decade, said: "I've been verbally abused, racially abused, punched and had a knife drawn on me.

"On one job a patient said 'you need to go back to your own country, you're not welcome here' before he threw an ashtray at my head. He missed by inches.

"I signed up to this job to help people, not this."

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Source: BBC News, 4 December 2024

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Hospice leaders warn hundreds of beds out of use

About 300 hospice inpatient beds are currently closed or out of use in England, hospice leaders have warned.

They say a lack of funding and staff are the primary reasons why some of England's 170 hospices have had to close beds permanently or take them out of use.

Hospice UK, which represents the sector, is now calling for an urgent package of government funding to prevent further cuts. The Department of Health said it was looking at how to financially support hospices to ensure they are sustainable.

Annette Alcock, Hospice UK's director of programmes, said the way that hospices are funded and commissioned by the NHS is "acting as a huge cap on what they can do", while also blaming "underlying pressures like staff shortages".

She added: "If the government can act in both the short and long term to resolve these problems, these figures are clear evidence that hospices can do a lot more for patients, and a lot more for the NHS.

"That's true out in the community too, where most of hospice care is actually delivered.

"With better funding and commissioning, hospices could provide so much more care where people most want it - at home."

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Source: BBC News, 4 December 2024

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Government buys millions of doses of new vaccine amid pandemic fears

The UK Government has secured a contract for more than five million doses of the human H5 influenza vaccine, in an effort to bolster the nation's defences against a potential H5 influenza pandemic. The vaccine, derived from the current H5 avian influenza virus - commonly known as 'bird flu' - will be produced by UK healthcare firm CSL Seqirus UK Limited.

This acquisition is part of ongoing plans to enhance the UK’s access to vaccines for a broader range of potentially pandemic-causing pathogens, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

Dr Meera Chand, emerging infection lead at the UKHSA, said it was "important for us to be prepared against a range of different influenza viruses that may pose human health risks", adding: "Early access to vaccines saves lives. Adding H5 vaccines to the interventions already available to us will help us to be ready for a wider range of threats."

The influenza A(H5N1) virus has been causing a prolonged global outbreak, primarily in birds, over the past few years. However, the human H5 influenza vaccine would only be used if this virus began spreading among humans, for which there is currently no evidence, the UKHSA clarified.

It added: "The procurement will strengthen the UK’s preparedness for a H5 influenza-originated pandemic by ensuring that vaccines are immediately available, while a pandemic-specific vaccine is made ready. The UK Government already has an advance purchase agreement for pandemic vaccines if or when they are needed, that would be tailored to combat the specific pandemic flu strain identified at the time."

Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew Gwynne, said: “Together with UKHSA, we are committed to ensuring that the UK is prepared and ready to respond to any current and future health threats. Adding the H5 vaccine to our stockpile is one part of our preparedness plans, improving our readiness to respond to a range of emerging health threats and protecting people’s lives and livelihoods.”

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Source: MSN, 3 December 2024

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Bed bugs blighted London’s hospitals more than 500 times over a 7-year period

Nineteen NHS trusts across London said they had to call in pest control over 500 times to tackle bed bugs in the last seven years, costing some hospitals hundreds of pounds.

The Royal London Children’s Hospital, which is run by Barts Health NHS Trust, as well as King’s College Hospital, which sits under the King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, were among the worst affected by the pests.

The figures come despite the NHS’ own pest guidance warning, which says: ‘Pest activity can pose unacceptable risks to patients, staff and visitors, undermine reputation and public confidence, and damage the environment and food products.

"Pest control and management is essential for safe and hygienic healthcare facilities."

Sarah Spratt, a bed bug exterminator who worked at Bed Bug Limited for six years, told Metro: ‘Hospitals are a common area to find bed bugs. The big thing to understand is the higher the footfall in a building, the higher the chance of getting bed bugs.

"It is nothing that the hospitals are doing wrong, it is just statistics. All it takes is one doctor or one patient to bring them in.

"There is a lack of understanding and a lack of preparedness. Maybe staff could be better trained in spotting bed bugs, leading to earlier detection."

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Source: The Metro, 2 December 2024

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Why are doctors wary of wearables?

Wearable tech – currently dominated by smart watches - is a multi-billion dollar industry with a sharp focus on health tracking.

Many premium products claim to accurately track exercise routines, body temperature, heart rate, menstrual cycle and sleep patterns, among others.

In the USA, the Department of Defense issued a $96 million award last week to Finnish health technology company Oura to put its smart rings and services in the hands of service members.

While the department didn’t specify in the award announcement how many rings would be purchased under the firm-fixed-price contract, it explains that the contract will also provide a suite of data analytics services the Pentagon’s health arm can use to take action on the biometric information generated by the devices.

“This contract is to provide the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Wellbeing Office delivery of Ouraring Inc., biometric sensor devices; data analysis including monitoring of physiological stress, recovery, resilience, and wellbeing indicators; individualized biometric data visualization; aggregate wellbeing visualization for the agency; and content delivery of wellness-related insights and training,” the award announcement says.

With those services, Oura will also “deliver workforce wellbeing services including high-performance medicine, mindfulness training, leadership coaching, protective factors, and peer-to-peer support training,” and “provide its wellbeing services at military medical treatment facilities (130 subordinate entities) for delivery to the entire DHA workforce.“

In the UK, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has talked about a proposal to give wearables to millions of NHS patients in England, enabling them to track symptoms such as reactions to cancer treatments, from home.

But many doctors – and tech experts – remain cautious about using health data captured by wearables.

Dr Jake Deutsch, a US-based clinician who also advises Oura, says wearable data enables him to “assess overall health more precisely” – but not all doctors agree that it’s genuinely useful all of the time.

Dr Helen Salisbury is a GP at a busy practice in Oxford. She says not many patients come in brandishing their wearables, but she’s noticed it has increased, and it concerns her.

“I think for the number of times when it’s useful there’s probably more times that it’s not terribly useful, and I worry that we are building a society of hypochondria and over-monitoring of our bodies,” she says.

Dr Salisbury says there can be a large number of reasons why we might temporarily get abnormal data such as an increased heart rate, whether it’s a blip in our bodies or a device malfunction - and many of them do not require further investigation.

“I’m concerned that we will be encouraging people to monitor everything all the time, and see their doctor every time the machine thinks they’re ill, rather than when they think they’re ill.”

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US approves life-saving organ transplants between people with HIV, removing ‘unnecessary barriers’

People with HIV who need liver and kidney transplants can now receive organs from donors with HIV.

The new rule, which took effect this week, is expected to shorten the wait for organs for all, regardless of HIV status, by increasing the pool of available organs.

“This rule removes unnecessary barriers to kidney and liver transplants, expanding the organ donor pool and improving outcomes for transplant recipients with HIV,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “This evidence-based policy update demonstrates our commitment to ensuring all Americans have access to the care they need.”

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Source: The Independent, 28 November 2024

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Using AI to treat infections more accurately

New research from the Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation Network (CAMO-Net) at the University of Liverpool has shown that using artificial intelligence (AI) can improve how we treat urinary tract infections (UTIs), and help to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve and no longer respond to treatments that were once effective. This resistance leads to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased mortality rates, posing a significant threat to public health and potentially rendering common infections untreatable.

Traditional UTI diagnostic tests, known as antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST), uses a one-size-fits-all approach to determine which antibiotics are most effective against a specific bacterial or fungal infection. This new research, published in Nature Communications, proposes a personalised method, using real-time data to help clinicians target infections more accurately and reduce the chance of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotic treatment.

The research, led by Dr Alex Howard, a consultant in medical microbiology at the University of Liverpool and researcher on the Wellcome Trust funded CAMO-Net, used AI to test prediction models for 12 antibiotics using real patient data and compared personalised AST with standard methods. The data-driven personalised approach led to more accurate treatment options, especially with WHO Access antibiotics, known for being less likely to cause resistance.

Dr Alex Howard, said: "This research is important and timely for World AMR Awareness Week because it shows how combining routine health data with lab tests can help keep antibiotics working. By using AI to predict when people with urine infections have antibiotic-resistant bugs, we show how lab tests can better direct their antibiotic treatment. This approach could improve the care of people with infections worldwide and help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance."

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Source: Digital Health News, 25 November 2024

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