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Sam

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  1. Sam
    The MP leading an investigation into coronavirus fears Long Covid will be one of the biggest issues facing the UK for the next decade, after emerging research revealed most sufferers are still unable to work six months in.
    Layla Moran branded the scale of the problem ‘enormous’, as various experts warned that even healthy young adults have been left struggling to function for months on end.
    With hundreds of thousands of Brits now believed to have Long Covid, medics fear its impact on the world of work could herald another ‘massive economic crisis’. Workers in their 20s and 30s have told of a host of debilitating symptoms keeping them out of the office for much of last year and making simple tasks like walking to the toilet seem ‘like climbing a mountain’.  
    Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Ms Moran – who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on coronavirus – said: "The scale of this, in terms of the future prosperity of our country, is enormous. It is going to be, I think, one of the main issues that we are going to deal with not just in ten years but beyond."
    Read full story
    Source: Metro, 4 February 2021
  2. Sam
    The NHS has teamed up with Amazon to allow elderly people, blind people and other patients who cannot easily search for health advice on the internet to access the information through the AI-powered voice assistant Alexa. The health service hopes patients asking Alexa for health advice will ease pressure on the NHS, with Amazon’s algorithm using information from the NHS website to provide answers to health questions. Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, said the move will help patients, especially the elderly, blind and those who are unable to access the internet in other ways, take more control of their healthcare and help reduce the burden on the NHS.
    However, despite welcoming the move, the Royal College of GPs warned that independent research must be carried out to ensure the advice given is safe. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “This idea is certainly interesting and it has the potential to help some patients work out what kind of care they need before considering whether to seek face-to-face medical help... However, it is vital that independent research is done to ensure that the advice given is safe, otherwise it could prevent people seeking proper medical help and create even more pressure on our overstretched GP service.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 10 July 2019
  3. Sam
    A young NHS patient suffering a sickle cell crisis called 999 from his hospital bed to request oxygen, an inquest into his death was told.
    Evan Nathan Smith, 21, died on 25 April 2019 at North Middlesex Hospital, in Edmonton, north London, after suffering from sepsis following a procedure to remove a gallbladder stent.
    The inquest heard Smith told his family he called the London Ambulance Service because he thought it was the only way to get the help he needed.
    Nursing staff told Smith he did not need oxygen when he requested it in the early hours of 23 April, despite a doctor telling the inquest he had “impressed” on the nurses he should have it.
    Smith’s sepsis is thought to have triggered the sickle cell crisis – a condition that causes acute pain as blood vessels to certain parts of the body become blocked.
    Barnet Coroner's Court heard Smith, from Walthamstow in east London, might have survived if he had been offered a blood transfusion sooner but the hospital’s haematology team were not told he had been admitted.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 3 April 2021
  4. Sam
    The government’s failure to quickly roll out third doses of the Covid vaccine to clinically vulnerable people and those with weakened immune systems is endangering thousands of lives, patient groups and experts have warned.
    Immunocompromised individuals currently account for one in 20 Covid patients being admitted to intensive care, according to a new analysis by Blood Cancer UK.
    These people are less able to mount an immune response after two doses, so are therefore being offered a third to keep them protected. This is separate from the ongoing booster programme, applicable to all over-50s and health care workers.
    However, a recent Blood Cancer UK survey suggested that less than half of people with blood cancer, who make up about 230,000 of the 500,000 immunocompromised people in the UK, had been invited to receive their third dose by the second week of October.
    Other clinically vulnerable people have reported struggling to book an appointment via their GP practices after being told by NHS England to come forward for a third vaccine dose.
    With the situation in Britain reaching a “tipping point”, charities and scientists are fearful the number of immunocompromised in intensive care could further worsen in the weeks to come if they remain unable to access booster jabs.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 21 October 2021
  5. Sam
    New research led by researchers at King’s College London suggests that restricting testing to the ‘classic triad’ of cough, fever and loss of smell which is required for eligibility for a PCR test through the NHS may have missed cases. Extending the list to include fatigue, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea would have detected 96% of symptomatic cases.
    A team of researchers at King’s and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) analysed data from more than 122,000 UK adult users of the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app. These users reported experiencing any potential COVID-19 symptoms, and 1,202 of those reported a positive PCR test within a week of first feeling ill.
    While PCR swab testing is the most reliable way to tell whether someone is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the analysis suggests the limited list of three does not catch all positive cases of COVID-19.
    Testing people with any of the three ‘classic’ symptoms would have spotted 69% of symptomatic cases, with 46 people testing negative for every person testing positive. However, testing people with any of seven key symptoms - cough, fever, anosmia, fatigue, headache, sore throat and diarrhoea - in the first three days of illness would have detected 96% of symptomatic cases. In this case, for every person with the disease identified, 95 would test negative.
    Researchers also found users of the Symptom Study App were more likely to select headache and diarrhoea within the first three days of symptoms, and fever during the first seven days, which reflects different timings of symptoms in the disease course. Data from the ZOE app shows that 31% of people who are ill with COVID-19 don’t have any of the triad of symptoms in the early stages of the disease when most infectious.
    Read full story
    Source: King's College London, 17 February 2021
  6. Sam
    Doctors’ routine dismissal of women’s debilitating health problems as “benign” has contributed to gynaecology waiting lists soaring by 60% to more than half a million patients, a senior health leader has said.
    The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) president, Dr Edward Morris, told the Guardian that waiting lists for conditions such as endometriosis, prolapse and heavy bleeding had increased by a bigger proportion than any other area of medicine in the past two years.
    Many such conditions are defined as medically benign despite being life-limiting and progressive in some cases. In medicine, “benign” is traditionally used to indicate non-cancerous conditions, but Morris said institutionalised gender bias meant the term was used more widely in gynaecology, resulting in conditions being “normalised” by non-specialists and deprioritised within the NHS.
    We have to change the language. We have to call it what it is,” said Morris. “These conditions cause huge amounts of suffering to women. Being lumped in a topic called benign gynaecology downplays the importance and suffering.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2022
     
  7. Sam
    The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including drug-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs”, pose far greater risks to human health than Covid-19, threatening to put modern medicine “back into the dark ages”, an Australian scientist has warned, ahead of a three-year study into drug-resistant bacteria in Fiji.
    “If you thought Covid was bad, you don’t want anti-microbial resistance,” Dr Paul De Barro, biosecurity research director at Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, told The Guardian.
    “I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say it’s the biggest human health threat, bar none. Covid is not anywhere near the potential impact of AMR. We would go back into the dark ages of health.”
    WHO warns overuse of antibiotics for COVID-19 will cause more deaths
    While AMR is an emerging public health threat across the globe, in the Pacific, where the risk of the problem is acute, drug-resistant bacteria could stretch the region’s fragile health systems beyond breaking point.
    An article in the BMJ Global Health journal reported there was little official health data – and low levels of public knowledge - around antimicrobial resistance in the Pacific, and that high rates of infectious disease and antibiotic prescription were driving up risks.
    “A challenge for Pacific island countries and territories is trying to curtail antimicrobial excess, without jeopardising antimicrobial access for those who need them,” the paper argued.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 10 September 2020
  8. Sam
    NHS patients could be sent text messages or emails urging them to call their doctor if X-rays or scans show abnormal results. Under plans put forward to prevent delays in treatment, patients with worrying results would receive an automated message saying they need to speak to their GP. The idea is that this would act as a safety net in case results go missing in NHS systems, or if a doctor fails to act on results.The move comes after the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigated a case where a 76-year old woman had a chest X-ray showing possible lung cancer which was not followed up. Her findings were sent to two hospital departments as well as her GP, but nobody acted on them. She died just over two months later but could have received treatment earlier.
    Read full story
    Read HSIB report
    Source: Yahoo UK, 18 July 2019
  9. Sam
    New research released by Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust has revealed the extent to which women who have physical disabilities are discriminated against when attempting to undergo cervical screenings. The charity surveyed 335 women for the investigation who have health conditions including spinal muscular atrophy, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, paraplegia and cerebral palsy. According to the study's findings, 88% of the participants felt that it is more difficult for a women with a physical disability to attend a cervical screening and just under half of the participants said that they had purposely chosen not to attend a smear test because of a negative, past experience they'd had due to their disability.
    Robert Music, Chief Executive of Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, said: ""It is not acceptable that women with a physical disability are often faced with additional hurdles or even being denied access to this potentially lifesaving test."
    Read full story
    Source: Independent, 8 August 2019
  10. Sam
    ‘Surge’ clauses allowing the NHS to again take over private hospitals — as it did in the spring — have been triggered in some areas, HSJ has learned.
    An email from NHS England to private hospitals in London, seen by HSJ, was sent last week, triggered a seven-day notice period under NHSE’ covid contracts with the providers.
    The letter said the London region had requested the move after taking into account “critical care capacity, the doubling rate [and the] forecast acute admission rate related to local prevalence.”
    The letter refers to the north central London health system, but HSJ understands similar arrangements have been triggered for north east London. The two areas have a combined population of 3.9m people and have been some of the hardest hit by covid admissions. The clause is also thought to have been triggered in other parts of south east England, but it is not known which ones.
    The letter listed six hospitals, five owned by BMI Healthcare and one by Aspen Healthcare, which would, from Friday, commit “100 per cent” of their capacity to NHS use.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 20 January 2021
  11. Sam
    Plans to cap legal costs for NHS mistakes that lead to deaths of newborns could leave the bereaved at the mercy of 'ambulance-chasing' claims firms, a former Lord Chancellor has warned. Health officials have drawn up plans to limit spending in cases where damages are worth less than £25,000. This covers around eight in ten medical negligence claims, including the deaths of newborns, and stillbirths - where Britain’s record is among the worst in the developed world. Ministers have said the changes will stop “unscrupulous law firms” receiving excessive legal costs that dwarf the damages received by victims. However, Lord Falconer, Lord Chancellor under Tony Blair, raised fears that the measures could see established law firms leave the market  and be replaced by unregulated claim management companies. 
    Read full story
    Source: The Telegraph, 6 July 2019
  12. Sam
    COVID-19 patients in England's busiest intensive care units (ICUs) in 2020 were 20% more likely to die, University College London research has found.
    The increased risk was equivalent to gaining a decade in age.
    By the end of 2020, one in three hospital trusts in England was running at higher than 85% capacity. Eleven trusts were completely full on 30 December, and the total number of people in intensive care with Covid has continued to rise since then.
    The link between full ICUs and higher death rates was already known, but this study is the first to measure its effect during the pandemic.
    Tighter lockdown restrictions are needed to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, says study author Dr Bilal Mateen.
    Researchers looked at more than 4,000 patients who were admitted to intensive care units in 114 hospital trusts in England between April and June last year. They found the risk of dying was almost a fifth higher in ICUs where more than 85% of beds were occupied, than in those running at between 45% and 85% capacity. That meant a 60-year-old being treated in one of these units had the same risk of dying as a 70-year-old on a quieter ward.
    The Royal College of Emergency Medicine sets 85% as the maximum safe level of bed occupancy. However, the team found there was no tipping point after which deaths rose - instead, survival rates fell consistently as bed-occupancy increased.
    This suggests "a lot of harm is occurring before you get to 85%".
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 14 January 2021
  13. Sam
    A third of those who died with diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 in English hospitals did so at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care Foundation Trust in the seven days to 10 September.
    The Greater Manchester Trust has seen a significant rise in COVID-19 deaths, from a weekly total of five on 4 September to 18 six days later. The total number of COVID-19 hospital deaths in the seven days to 10 September across England was 54.
    COVID-19 deaths at Tameside and Glossop had fallen to a weekly total of zero on 23 July, before beginning to climb steadily from 20 August. The last time the trust recorded 18 deaths in a seven-day period was in late April when the pandemic was still close to its first peak.
    The highest seven day figure recorded by the trust was 28, meaning the 10 September figure is equivalent to 64% of its peak covid-19 mortality. Nationally, hospital deaths with the virus are running at less than 1 per cent of the early-April peak.
    No other trust recorded more than three covid-19 deaths during the seven days to 10 September.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: HSJ, 13 September 2020
  14. Sam
    A quarter of NHS workers are more likely to quit their job than a year ago because they are unhappy about their pay, frustrated by understaffing and exhausted by COVID-19, a survey suggests.
    The findings have prompted warnings that the health service is facing a potential “deadly exodus” of key personnel just as it tries to restart normal care after the pandemic.
    A representative poll of 1,006 health professionals across the UK by YouGov for the IPPR thinktank found that the pandemic has left one in four more likely to leave than a year ago. That includes 29% of nurses and midwives, occupations in which the NHS has major shortages.
    Ministers must initiate a “new deal” for NHS staff that involves a decent pay rise, better benefits, more flexible working and fewer administrative tasks, the IPPR said.
    “The last 12 months have stretched an already very thin workforce to breaking point. Many are exhausted, frustrated and in need of better support. If the government does not do right by them now, more many leave their jobs,” said Dr Parth Patel, an NHS doctor and IPPR research fellow who co-wrote its new report on how the NHS can retain and recruit more staff.
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 30 May 2021
  15. Sam
    There could be a "tsunami" of cancelled operations this winter as the NHS copes with rising numbers of coronavirus patients, leading surgeons are warning.
    Members of the Royal College of Surgeons of England say they doubt the NHS can meet targets to restore surgery back to near pre-pandemic levels.
    Planned procedures such as hip replacements were paused to free up beds during lockdown in the spring. And hospitals have since been dealing with a backlog.
    In July, NHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens told trusts hospitals should by September 2020 be performing at least 80% of their September 2019 rates of:
    overnight planned procedures outpatient or day-case procedures And by October, this proportion should rise to 90%.
    But data suggests more than two million people have been waiting longer than 18 weeks for routine operations, with 83,000 waiting more than a year - up from 2,000 before the pandemic.
    Read full story
    Source: BBC News, 6 October 2020
  17. Sam
    Health products powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, are streaming into our lives, from virtual doctor apps to wearable sensors and drugstore chatbots.

    IBM boasted that its AI could “outthink cancer.” Others say computer systems that read X-rays will make radiologists obsolete.
    Yet many health industry experts fear AI-based products won’t be able to match the hype. Many doctors and consumer advocates fear that the tech industry, which lives by the mantra “fail fast and fix it later,” is putting patients at risk and that regulators aren’t doing enough to keep consumers safe.
    Early experiments in AI provide reason for caution, said Mildred Cho, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Ethics.

    Systems developed in one hospital often flop when deployed in a different facility, Cho said. Software used in the care of millions of Americans has been shown to discriminate against minorities. And AI systems sometimes learn to make predictions based on factors that have less to do with disease than the brand of MRI machine used, the time a blood test is taken or whether a patient was visited by a chaplain. In one case, AI software incorrectly concluded that people with pneumonia were less likely to die if they had asthma an error that could have led doctors to deprive asthma patients of the extra care they need.

    “It’s only a matter of time before something like this leads to a serious health problem,” said Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic.
    Read full story
    Source: Scientific American, 24 December 2019
  18. Sam
    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.”
    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 3 February 2022
  19. Sam
    A 40-year-old mother of four took her own life at an NHSmental health unit after multiple opportunities were missed to keep her safe, an inquest has found, prompting her family to call for a public inquiry.
    Azra Parveen Hussain was allegedly the seventh in-patient in seven years to die by the same means while in the care of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHT).
    Despite this, an inquest at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court last week heard that the Trust had not installed door pressure sensor alarms, which could have potentially alerted staff to the fatal danger these patients faced.
    While BSMHT is now taking action to install pressure sensors at Mary Seacole House, where Hussain died on 6 May, Coroner Emma Brown noted a lack of national regulation or guidance on the risks presented by internal doors in patients’ bedrooms and is issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths report calling for this to be remedied across the country.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 28 March 2021
  20. Sam
    Mental health "hubs" for new, expectant or bereaved mothers are to be set up around England.
    The 26 sites, due to be opened by next April, will offer physical health checks and psychological therapy in one building. NHS England said these centres would provide treatment for about 6,000 new parents in the first year.
    Five years ago, 40% of areas in England had no dedicated maternal mental health services.
    Things have improved since then with some specialist services available in each of the 44 local NHS areas in England. But in the NHS's Long Term Plan, published in 2019, the health service pledged to offer more "evidence-based" support, including to partners and families through these hubs or "outreach clinics".
    The NHS hopes to offer services to people with moderate-to-severe difficulties, whereas earlier investment focused on the most acutely unwell mothers.
    These clinics will "integrate maternity, reproductive health and psychological therapy for women experiencing mental health difficulties directly arising from, or related to, the maternity experience," NHS England said.
    Read full story
    Source: 5 April 2021
  21. Sam
    The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched a new online feedback form so that anyone involved or interested in HSIB's healthcare safety investigations can "tell us what they think".
    There are options to give feedback on national investigations in general, specific national investigations, maternity investigations and HSIB in general. 
    The feedback form is available from the HSIB website
    Source: HSIB, 1 August 2019
  22. Sam
    Diabetes is killing an increasing number of Americans and has accounted for more than 100 000 US deaths in each of the past two years. A national commission has called on the federal government to take a broad approach to the problem, similar to the fight against AIDS.
    Lisa Murdock of the American Diabetes Association told The BMJ that diabetes was the most common underlying condition in the US and that Covid-19 was an exacerbating factor. Some 40% of Americans who died from Covid-19 had diabetes, she said.
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that 37.3 million Americans—11.3% of the US population—have diabetes, including 8.3 million who have not had it diagnosed.
    Read full story (paywalled)
    Source: BMJ, 3 February 2022
  23. Sam
    Hospital inspectors have uncovered repeated maternity failings and expressed serious concern about the safety of mothers and babies in Sheffield just days after a damning report warned there had been hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in Shrewsbury.
    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found Sheffield teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, one of the largest NHS trusts in England, had failed to make the required improvements to services when it visited in October and November, despite receiving previous warnings from the watchdog.
    As well as concerns across the wider trust, a focused inspection on maternity raised significant issues about the way its service is run. When it came to medical staff at the Sheffield trust, the “service did not have enough medical staff with the right qualifications, skills, and experience to keep women and babies safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment”, the report said.
    Inspectors found that staff were not interpreting, classifying or escalating measures of a baby’s heart rate properly, an issue that was raised by Donna Ockenden in her review of the Shrewsbury scandal.
    Despite fetal monitoring being highlighted as an area needing attention in 2015 and 2021, the most recent inspection “highlighted that the service continued to lack urgency and pace in implementing actions and recommendations to mitigate these risks, therefore exposing patients to risk of harm”.

    Read full story
    Source: The Guardian, 5 April 2022
  24. Sam
    A drug developed over 20 years ago to treat cancer could help patients living with crippling pain, according to new research.
    Kenpaullone switches on a gene that douses chronic inflammation, say scientists.
    Experiments on mice and humans found it was remarkably successful at alleviating nerve injury and bone tumour symptoms.
    The US team is hopeful clinical trials will see equally successful results in humans suffering a host of conditions.
    Up to 8 million people in the UK live with chronic pain. Major causes include arthritis and spine damage.
    Lead author Professor Wolfgang Liedtke said: “New drugs and other therapies against chronic pain need to be safe, i.e., the fewer side effects the better.
    “It’s especially important they be non-addictive and non-sedative, while being effective against nerve injury pain and cancer pain, preferably with a minimal time to official approval."
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 27 October 2021
  25. Sam
    Almost half of hospital patients have been discharged without receiving the results of their coronavirus test – including some patients who were sent to care homes, new research from Healthwatch and British Cross has revealed.
    Independent national patient body Healthwatch England said it had learned many patients were discharged from hospitals between March and August this year without proper assessments with many vulnerable people sent home without medication, equipment or the care they needed.
    At the start of the pandemic thousands of patients were discharged to care homes as NHS England instructed hospitals to free up 15,000 beds ahead of the first wave of coronavirus.
    Approximately 25,000 patients were sent to care homes with some not tested, sparking fears this helped seed care homes with the virus. There have been around 16,000 care home deaths linked to COVID-19.
    According to a survey of almost 600 discharged patients and interviews with 60 NHS staff, Healthwatch England said it had found serious flaws with the way hospitals had followed NHS England’s instructions.
    Read full story
    Source: The Independent, 24 October 2020
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