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Found 591 results
  1. News Article
    Health officials say they are now investigating unexplained cases of hepatitis in children in four European countries and the US. Cases of hepatitis, or liver inflammation, have been reported in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and the US, health officials say. Last week UK health authorities said they had detected higher than usual cases of the infection among children. The cause of the infections is not yet known. The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) did not specify how many cases have been found in the four European countries in total. But the World Health Organization (WHO) said less than five had been found in Ireland, and three had been found in Spain. It added that the detection of more cases in the coming days was likely. Investigations into the cause of the infections are ongoing in all of the European countries where cases have been reported, said the ECDC. In the US, Alabama's public health department said nine cases have been found in children aged one to six years old, with two needing liver transplants. Investigations into similar cases in other states are taking place, it added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 April 2022
  2. News Article
    Health officials are investigating 74 cases of hepatitis - or liver inflammation - in children across the UK since the start of this year. They say one potential cause of the illness could be adenoviruses, but they have not ruled out Covid-19 as a cause. Officials are examining 49 cases in England, 13 in Scotland and 12 across Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said parents should be on the lookout for symptoms such as jaundice. Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said officials were looking at a wide range of possible factors which could be causing children to be admitted to hospital with liver inflammation. "One of the possible causes that we are investigating is that this is linked to adenovirus infection. However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes," she said. Other possible explanations being investigated include Covid-19, other infections or an environmental trigger. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 April 2022
  3. News Article
    The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has recently detected higher than usual rates of liver inflammation (hepatitis) in children. Similar cases are being assessed in Scotland. Hepatitis is a condition that affects the liver and may occur for a number of reasons, including several viral infections common in children. However, in the cases under investigation the common viruses that cause hepatitis have not been detected. UKHSA is working swiftly with the NHS and public health colleagues across the UK to investigate the potential cause. In England, there are approximately 60 cases under investigation in children under 10. Dr Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections, said: "Investigations for a wide range of potential causes are underway, including any possible links to infectious diseases. We are working with partners to raise awareness among healthcare professionals, so that any further children who may be affected can be identified early and the appropriate tests carried out. This will also help us to build a better picture of what may be causing the cases." "We are also reminding parents to be aware of the symptoms of jaundice – including skin with a yellow tinge which is most easily seen in the whites of the eyes – and to contact a healthcare professional if they have concerns." Read full story Source: UK Health Security Agency, 6 April 2022
  4. News Article
    Children are having to wait up to five years for an NHS autism appointment, according to figures obtained by the Observer that lay bare the crisis in children’s mental health services. Figures acquired under the Freedom of Information Act show that 2,835 autistic children referrals at Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust have still not had a first appointment an average of 88 weeks after being referred. The longest wait at the time the response was sent in January stood at 251 weeks – nearly five years. Meanwhile, 1,250 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) referrals at the trust have yet to have a first appointment, having waited an average of 46 weeks – and 195 weeks in the worst case. Across 20 NHS trusts that provided figures, children with outstanding autism referrals have waited nearly six months on average for their first appointment. Cathy Pyle’s daughter, Eva, spent 20 months waiting for an autism assessment from her local NHS child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Surrey, having already had to wait 11 months for a mental health assessment after she became increasingly distressed during her first year of secondary school, culminating in self-harm. “The sensory aspects of her autism are really significant,” Pyle told the Observer. “So she found the crowding in the corridors, the jostling, being pushed and shoved – she found the noises really, really unbearable.” Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, Labour’s shadow cabinet minister for mental health, said: “The NHS does an incredible job with the resources that it has, however, long waits for treatment have a considerable impact on patients and families. It’s unacceptable that a six-month wait has become the standard for autism referrals, with many others waiting years to be seen, on the Conservatives’ watch. Waiting so long for treatment will have a detrimental impact on a child’s development.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 April 2022
  5. News Article
    Children and young people who are anxious, depressed or are self-harming are being denied help from swamped NHS child and adolescent mental health services, GPs have revealed. Even under-18s with an eating disorder or psychosis are being refused care by overstretched CAMHS services, which insist that they are not sick enough to warrant treatment. In one case, a crisis CAMHS team in Wales would not immediately assess the mental health of an actively suicidal child who had been stopped from jumping off a building earlier the same day unless the GP made a written referral. In another, a CAMHS service in eastern England declined to take on a 12-year-old boy found with a ligature in his room because the lack of any marks on his neck meant its referral criteria had not been met. The shocking state of CAMHS care is laid bare in a survey for the youth mental health charity stem4 of 1,001 GPs across the UK who have sought urgent help for under-18s who are struggling mentally. CAMHS teams, already unable to cope with the rising need for treatment before Covid struck, have become even more overloaded because of the pandemic’s impact on youth mental health. Mental health experts say young people’s widespread inability to access CAMHS care is leading to their already fragile mental health deteriorating even further and then self-harming, dropping out of school, feeling uncared for and having to seek help at A&E. “As a clinician it is particularly worrying that children and young people with psychosis, eating disorders and even those who have just tried to take their own life are condemned to such long waits”, said Dr Nihara Krause, a consultant clinical psychologist who specialises in treating children and young people and who is the founder of stem4. “It is truly shocking to learn from this survey of GPs’ experiences of dealing with CAMHS services that so many vulnerable young people in desperate need of urgent help with their mental health are being forced to wait for so long – up to two years – for care they need immediately. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 April 2022
  6. News Article
    Everyone with type 1 diabetes in England should be offered some form of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology to support their care, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended. Updated draft guidelines published on 31 March recommend that all adults with type 1 diabetes should be offered a choice of either real time or intermittent (flash) CGM through a sensor attached to the skin as part of their ongoing NHS care. NICE also recommends that all young people aged 4 years and over with type 1 diabetes should be offered real time CGM and that some people with type 2 diabetes who use insulin intensive therapy (4 or more injections a day) should have access to Flash. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 31 March 2022 Read NICE guidelines here.
  7. News Article
    The children’s inpatient unit at an ‘outstanding’ mental health trust has been downgraded to ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), amid a surge in demand for its services. The CQC previously rated child and adolescent mental health wards at Hertfordshire Partnership University Foundation Trust as “outstanding” in May 2019. But after an inspection in November and December 2021, these services were downgraded to “inadequate” overall and for the key categories of safety and leadership. Although inspecting a core service, the CQC said its visit was “not wide-ranging enough” to update overall trust ratings, so HPFT remains “outstanding” overall. Teenagers aged from 13 to 18 and admitted to Forest House, a 16-bed unit in Radlett providing HPFT’s only inpatient service for children and adolescents, told CQC inspectors they felt “unsafe”, dissatisfied with their care, and had experienced bullying by fellow patients. Leadership in the service had “significantly deteriorated” since previous inspections, CQC chiefs wrote in a report published today, and this was having a “knock-on effect in all areas of care being provided”. Staff morale was low and access to clinical psychologists limited, with a reduced ability to provide therapeutic interventions, inspectors added. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 March 2022
  8. News Article
    The government’s upcoming Covid-19 public inquiry must include the effect of the pandemic on children and young people, a group of leading doctors and scientists have said. The draft terms of reference for the inquiry were published on 15 March but made no specific mention of children or young people other than a single reference to “restrictions on attendance at places of education." “There is no doubt that school closures and broader lockdowns harmed children,” said the letter to the Times signed by 50 people including Russell Viner, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Andrew James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. “Educational losses have been most marked in children from deprived families and in vulnerable children.” They pointed out that mental health problems increased from being experienced by one in nine children and young people before the pandemic to one in six during 2020 and 2021. Childhood obesity rates last year were at least 20% above previous years. One of the signatories to the letter, education committee chair Robert Halfon, has also written directly to the inquiry chair Heather Hallet.3 “The closure of schools and the restrictions placed on education settings has been nothing short of a national disaster for children and young people, not only in terms of their educational attainment but also with regards to their mental health and wellbeing, their life chances, and their safety,” he wrote. Read full story Source: BMJ, 24 March 2022
  9. News Article
    A paediatrician who was at the centre of one of Northern Ireland's longest running public inquiries will appear before a professional misconduct panel. Dr Heather Steen is accused of several failings following the death of Claire Roberts at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in October 1996. The nine-year-old's death was examined by the hyponatraemia inquiry, which lasted 14 years. It examined the role of several doctors. Among his findings, the inquiry's chairman Mr Justice O'Hara said there had been a "cover-up" to "avoid scrutiny." Monday's tribunal will inquire into allegations that, between 23 October 1996 and 4 May 2006, Dr Steen "knowingly and dishonestly carried out several actions to conceal the true circumstances" of the child's death. Also that the doctor provided inappropriate, incomplete and inaccurate information to the child's parents and GP regarding the treatment, diagnosis, clinical management and cause of her death. The tribunal website adds: "It is also alleged that Dr Steen inappropriately recommended a brain-only post-mortem for Patient A (Claire Roberts) when a full post-mortem was necessary. "In addition, it is alleged that Dr Steen failed to refer Patient A's death to the coroner, inappropriately completed the medical certificate of cause of death and inaccurately completed the autopsy request form for Patient A. "Furthermore, it is alleged that during a review of Patient A's notes, Dr Steen failed to consult with the necessary colleagues and medical teams and provided a statement and gave evidence to the coroner's inquest into Patient A's death which omitted key information." Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 March 2022
  10. News Article
    The number of referrals for specialist NHS mental health care reached a record high in England by the end of 2021, an analysis suggests. The Royal College of Psychiatrists says the pandemic has led to unprecedented demand and backlogs and services are struggling to keep up. There were 4.3 million referrals, for conditions such as anxiety and depression, in 2021, NHS Digital says. Just under a quarter - 1.025 million - were for children or adolescents. The college said the NHS had delivered 1.8 million mental health consultations in December 2021, but an estimated 1.4 million people were still waiting for treatment. And hundreds of adults were being sent far from home for treatment because of a lack of beds in their area. President Dr Adrian James said: "As the pressure on services continues to ratchet up, the silence from government continues to be of grave concern for the college, the wider mental health workforce and, most importantly, our patients. "The warning of the long tail of mental ill health caused by the pandemic has not been heeded. "Many thousands of people will be left waiting far too long for the treatment they need unless the government wakes up to the crisis that is engulfing the country. "Staff are working flat out to give their patients the support they need but the lack of resources and lack of staff mean it's becoming an impossible situation to manage... "...We need a fully funded plan for mental-health services, backed by a long-term workforce plan, as the country comes to terms with the biggest hit to its mental health in generations." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 March 2022
  11. News Article
    Serious safety concerns have been raised about a children’s mental health hospital where staff lacked respect for patients, as the provider faces a police investigation into another one of its units. The Huntercombe Hospital in Stafford has been rated as “inadequate” by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after inspectors found the safety of children within the hospital was at risk. The concerns about this hospital come as The Independent revealed police have launched an investigation into another mental health unit run by the provider in Maidenhead. Following an inspection in October inspectors sent an urgent warning notice to the provider, after it found there were not enough staff to keep patients safe. The hospital was described as relaying on agency workers who did not have knowledge of the patients. The CQC inspectors found children’s wards were dirty with poor hygiene measures in the hospital and patients at risk of infection. According to the report staff were found “sitting with their eyes closed for prolonged periods of time”, and that staff observations of at risk patients were “undermined by a blind spot where people could self-harm unseen.” Craig Howarth, CQC head of inspection for mental health and community health services, said: “Further to these issues, we saw that staff sometimes showed a lack of respect to patients and one ward was poorly furnished and maintained and there wasn’t always enough emphasis on some people’s individual requirements.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 March 2022
  12. News Article
    The only NHS gender identity service for children in England and Wales is under unsustainable pressure as the demand for the service outstrips capacity, a review has found. The interim report of the Cass Review, commissioned by NHS England in 2020, recommends that a network of regional hubs be created to provide care and support to young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria, arguing their care is “everyone’s business”. Led by the paediatrician Hilary Cass, the interim report explains that the significant rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust in London has resulted in overwhelmed staff and waiting lists of up to two years that leave young people “at considerable risk” of distress and deteriorating mental health. Last spring, the Care Quality Commission demanded monthly updates on numbers on waiting lists and actions to reduce them in a highly critical report on GIDS. Differing views and lack of open discussion about the nature of gender incongruence in childhood and adolescence – and whether transition is always the best option – means that patients can experience a “clinician lottery”, says the new review, which carried out extensive interviews with professionals and those with lived experience. It notes that the clinical approach used by GIDS “has not been subjected to some of the usual control measures” typically applied with new treatments. Another significant issue raised with the review team was that of “diagnostic overshadowing”, whereby once a young person is identified as having gender-related distress, other complex needs – such as neurodiversity or a mental health problem that would normally be managed by local services – can be overlooked. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 March 2022
  13. News Article
    Staff failed to provide kind and compassionate care and did not treat children with respect at a private hospital downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’, a report by health inspectors has revealed. Huntercombe Hospital Stafford was placed in special measures in 2016, but was rated “good” by the Care Quality Commission two years later. Now, its first inspection under provider Huntercombe Young People Ltd in October 2021 has exposed a raft of safety concerns and instances of poor care. Huntercombe Young People Ltd took over the service in February 2021. Heavy reliance on agency staff, workers spotted with their “eyes closed” on observations, and staff not respecting young people’s pronouns were among concerns inspectors flagged. Staff observation of patients was also found to be “undermined” by a blind spot where people could self-harm unseen, the CQC report, published today, said. Children also told the CQC they felt staff did not always understand their mental health condition or know how to support them, particularly those on the psychiatric intensive care ward with eating disorders or autism. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 March 2022
  14. News Article
    A 13-year-old girl who died after contracting sepsis in an NHS hospital probably would have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs and transferred her to intensive care earlier, a coroner has ruled. Martha Mills was the first ever child to die at King’s College hospital (KCH) with a pancreatic injury of the type she sustained in a fall from her bike on an off-road family trail in Wales while on holiday last year. She was transferred to the south London hospital because it is one of three national centres for the care of children with pancreatic trauma. An inquest at St Pancras coroner’s court, north London, heard that several opportunities were missed to refer Martha to intensive care, which probably would have saved her life. In an emotional witness statement, Martha’s mother, Merope, said that after their daughter contracted an infection on 21 August last year, she and her husband, Paul Laity, raised concerns about Martha’s deteriorating health a number of times but doctors sought to reassure them rather than escalate her care. Mills said in her statement that she explicitly raised her fears about Martha going into septic shock over the bank holiday weekend. On 29 August, Martha had high fever, low blood pressure, a racing heart and a rash, which was misdiagnosed by a junior doctor despite Mills voicing her concern that it was caused by sepsis. It was only the next day that Martha was admitted to paediatric intensive care. “I felt that my anxieties about all of Martha’s symptoms, and especially what they might mean when put together and considered in the round, weren’t given proper acknowledgement,” Mills told the court. Prof William Bernal, who produced a serious incident report on Martha’s death for KCH, said there were at least five occasions when she should have had a critical care review. He wrote that Martha’s chances of survival “would have been greatly increased” if she had been admitted to critical care earlier. The inquest heard that KCH was making changes in the wake of Martha’s death, including improving diagnostics and taking account of parents’ views. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 March 2022
  15. News Article
    More than a dozen families are seeking compensation following "significant failures" at NHS Lothian's hearing service for children. The health board apologised to more than 155 families after an independent investigation found serious problems diagnosing and treating hearing loss. Sophie was born partly deaf and failed repeated hearing tests for years. Her family say no help was offered by the paediatric audiology department at NHS Lothian who kept saying she would be fine. But her parents say she is not. Sophie is now seven. Her speech and language has not developed fully and is sometimes hard to understand. Her confidence has been affected. Her mum Sarah said: "They failed Sophie. You kind of trust what they were doing, you thought maybe she doesn't need hearing aids, maybe she will just catch up and now she's almost eight years old and she's still not caught up and you think 'OK, maybe there were mistakes made then'." An independent investigation by the British Academy of Audiology (BAA), published in December last year, found "significant failures" involving 155 children over nine years at NHS Lothian. Several profoundly deaf children were diagnosed too late for vital implant surgery. The health board has "apologised sincerely" to those affected. The BAA looked at more than 1,000 patient records finding "significant failures" in almost 14% of them. The BAA said it found "no evidence" that national guidelines and protocols on hearing tests for children had been followed or consistently applied "at any point since 2009". Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 March 2022
  16. News Article
    Thomas Hebbron is one of the forgotten victims of the pandemic. He was diagnosed with leukaemia in February 2019 - a year before Covid hit the UK. The eight-year-old, from Leeds, has been treated with chemotherapy which has continued throughout the pandemic, but his health has suffered in other ways - and his mother believes the unrelenting focus on the virus is to blame. Pre-pandemic he was seen in person by doctors every two weeks. But that changed to monthly video calls, and liver and urinary problems went undetected. His treatment also affected his fine motor skills and has weakened his legs, but he has not seen an occupational therapist since before the pandemic. "I want to take this pain away from him," says his mother, Gemma. "I don't want to sit and watch him in this pain, but I can't do anything. I just feel completely helpless." Thomas's story is not unique. An analysis by the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation has for the first time laid bare how access to core health services in England has been squeezed, threatening to leave behind a generation of young people. The review has looked at both physical and mental health services and come to the same conclusion - support has been badly disrupted and the plight of children overlooked. The Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation have been joined by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in calling for a dedicated plan for children to help them recover from the pandemic. Dr Camilla Kingdon, RCPCH president, said the figures "do not take into account the many other 'hidden' waiting lists of children waiting for community therapies and diagnostic assessments, especially for autism". She added that children are "struggling" and, despite services being stretched, no-one should be deterred from speaking to a health professional. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 February 2022
  17. News Article
    Children in some areas of England are waiting up to 18 months on average for dental general-anaesthetic treatment and teeth extractions, an investigation reveals. Some have been left with prolonged dental pain, according to information shared with BBC News. The parents of one girl who has waited three years for extractions say the pain keeps her up at night. At the start of this year, more than 12,000 under-18s were on waiting lists for assessment or treatment at community dental service (CDS) providers, data obtained by the Liberal Democrats from the NHS Business Services Authority and shared with BBC News earlier this year reveals. Children are referred to a CDS provider when they have tooth decay too severe to be treated in general practice. They also treat those with physical or learning disabilities when general practice is not a practical option. The longest average wait faced by children for general-anaesthetic treatment at a CDS provider is 80 weeks, at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust. Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 July 2023
  18. News Article
    A14-year-old girl could lose the ability to walk after her brain surgery was cancelled three times as NHS children’s services are stretched to breaking point. Piper Miller, who has severe autism, needs urgent surgery to remove fluid on her brain that if unaddressed could also leave her unable to control her bladder. But her operation has been pushed back three times in the past month due to emergency operations taking priority and severe short staffing made worse by junior doctors’ strikes. Her mum, Toni Milner said the delays had had a “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching” effect on her daughter whose anxiety is “sent through the roof” each time she is told she is not having her surgery. Piper’s story comes as NHS data uncovered by The Independent reveals at least 340 life-saving children’s operations, such as transplant and lung surgery, were shelved from April to December 2022, while 763 emergency operations were refused due to a lack of intensive care beds. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 July 2023
  19. News Article
    Children with suspected ADHD and autism are waiting as long as seven years for treatment on the NHS, as the health service struggles to manage a surge in demand during a crisis in child mental health. Experts said “inhumane” waits are putting a generation of neurodiverse children at risk of mental illness as they are “pushed to the back of a very long queue” for children and adolescent mental health services (Camhs). UK children with suspected neurodevelopmental conditions faced an average waiting time of one year and four months for an initial screening in 2022, more than three times longer than the average wait for all Camhs services, according to research carried out by the House magazine and shared with the Guardian. Half of all trusts responding to a freedom of information request had an average wait of at least a year, and at one-sixth of trusts it was more than two years. The NICE guidance for autism and mental health services stipulates that no one should wait longer than 13 weeks between being referred and first being seen. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 July 2023 Related reading on the hub: Long waits for ADHD diagnosis and treatment are a patient safety issue
  20. News Article
    Tens of thousands of children will be treated in “virtual wards” to free hospital beds for more critically ill patients under new NHS plans. The Hospital at Home service will be expanded to include paediatric care in every region of England this month, the health service announced. As part of the service, clinical teams review patients daily and can provide treatments including blood tests, prescribe medicines or administer fluids through a drip. Ward rounds can include home visits or a video call, and many services use technology such as apps and wearable devices to monitor recovery. Professor Simon Kenny, the NHS’s national clinical director for children and young people, said: “The introduction of paediatric virtual wards means children can receive clinical care from home, surrounded by family and an environment they and their parents would rather they be — with nurses and doctors just a call away.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times. 5 July 2023
  21. News Article
    The BMA will review the dangers posed by e-cigarettes, after its annual representative meeting passed a motion warning that vaping was a “growing public health epidemic.” The motion, which was passed by the meeting in Liverpool on 5 July, called on the BMA’s Board of Science to rereview the dangers of vaping, and discuss restrictions on marketing and cracking down on illegal sales to children. The BMA’s last position paper on vaping was published in 2017.1 The motion urged the board to consider whether doctors should include history of e-nicotine use as a “regular and essential” part of patient history and examination. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 5 July 2023
  22. News Article
    Men who take the epilepsy drug sodium valproate could beat increased risk of having children with disabilities, research has found. A study ordered by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has suggested a link between fathers taking the drug three months before babies are conceived and a small increased likelihood that the children will have neurodevelopmental disorders. The drug manufacturer Sanofi has not published the full results, leading to confusion among patients and doctors. Sodium valproate, sold in the UK as Epilim, is prescribed to treat epilepsy, bipolar disorder and migraines. It is known to cause deformities in one in ten babies exposed to it in the womb because their mothers are taking the drug. Four in ten babies suffer developmental delays. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 2 July 2023
  23. News Article
    There has been an unusual rise in the number of children and teenagers around the world diagnosed with type 1 diabetes since Covid, say researchers. A new study in JAMA Network Open journal has collated available data from different countries, including the UK, on more than 38,000 young people diagnosed during the pandemic. The authors describe the increase in cases of diabetes as "substantial". More work is needed to understand why the rise is happening, they say. Some of the rise could be attributed to catch-up - from backlogs and delays when health services were shut - but does not explain all of the newly diagnosed cases, say scientists. Before the pandemic, the incidence rate of childhood type 1 diabetes was already increasing - by about 3% a year.
  24. News Article
    NHS trusts across England are scrambling to trace thousands of children for urgent hearing tests amid fears that cases of infant deafness may have been missed for years. An internal NHS report has exposed poor-quality testing within paediatric audiology departments at five hospitals and warned of systemic failings. At another NHS trust, almost 1,500 children were found to have missed out on appointments dating back to 2012. Vital quality inspections of departments checking infants for hearing loss were stopped ten years ago. Whistleblowers who previously worked for the NHS’s newborn hearing screening programme have revealed that concerns were raised shortly before they were told to stop carrying out checks. They say that thousands of children may have been mistreated for deafness and hearing loss in the past decade. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 25 June 2023
  25. News Article
    A vaccine that promises to protect infants and the over-75s from a lung infection which adds to pressure on the NHS each winter has been backed by government advisers. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of pneumonia in the very young and elderly. It typically causes between 22,000 and 30,000 hospital admissions of small children a year. RSV’s impact on the elderly is less well understood but important, and experts believe that an effective vaccine could significantly lessen winter pressures on the health service. After 60 years of research, vaccines for older adults from Britain’s GSK and its US rivals Pfizer and Moderna are in the final stages of development. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) believes that they could be licensed this year or early next year and trial data suggest that they work well. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 23 June 2023
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