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Found 641 results
  1. News Article
    The NHS is falling behind in the race to tackle antibiotic-resistant infections, with the service set to miss two key targets. As part of the government’s 2019 five-year-action plan to tackle the growth in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the NHS was set the target of reducing the number of healthcare-associated bloodstream infections of three gram-negative bacteria by 25% by March this year, and 50% by the end of March 2024. Infections caused by E. coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa and klebsiella can cause urine or wound infection, blood poisoning or pneumonia. The AMR action plan said: “In the UK, the biggest drivers of resistance [include] a rise in the incidence of infections, particularly gram-negatives.” Last week, health and social care secretary Sajd Javid stressed the continuing importance of the issue, stating that antimicrobial resistance is “one of the biggest health threats facing the world”. Analysis by HSJ has shown there has been only a small decline in the numbers of cases involving the three bacteria since monitoring started. The baseline for measuring the reduction was 2016-17, when there were 23,037 healthcare associated infections related to the bacteria. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 April 2022
  2. News Article
    A healthcare worker caught Covid on two separate occasions over the course of just 20 days, a new study has shown. It is believed to be the shortest recorded time between two infections since the start of the pandemic. Since the arrival of the highly infectious Omicron variant, reinfections have become far more prominent. The 31-year-old woman from Spain first became infected with Delta in December 2021 – 12 days after she had received her Covid booster vaccine. Lab analysis showed that she had initially been infected by the Delta variant, followed by Omicron. Her case, which is being presented to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Portugal, is believed to represent the shortest recorded time between two separate infections. Dr Gemma Recio of the Institut Catala de la Salut in Spain, who is one of the study’s authors, said: “This case highlights the potential of the Omicron variant to evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants or from vaccines". “In other words, people who have had Covid-19 cannot assume they are protected against reinfection, even if they have been fully vaccinated." Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 April 2022
  3. News Article
    A significant relaxation of infection control guidance has been announced in a bid to free up more capacity to tackle substantial waiting lists and demand for emergency care. New guidance issued jointly by the Department of Heath and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England and health bodies in the devolved nations, recommends the relaxation of isolation requirements for inpatients who either test positive for Covid-19 or are considered close contacts of people with the virus. The isolation period for inpatients with Covid-19 can now be reduced from 10 days to seven if they have two negative lateral flow tests. The tests must be taken on two consecutive days from day six of the isolation period onwards, and the patient must also “[show] clinical improvement”. A letter from NHSE released to trust chiefs, sent last Thursday, also recommends the “[return] of pre-pandemic physical distancing in all areas,” including emergency departments, ambulances and “all primary care, inpatient and outpatient settings.” It also recommends the returning to pre-pandemic cleaning procedures outside Covid-19 areas. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 April 2022
  4. News Article
    Ministers should reconsider England’s “living with Covid” plans, health leaders have said, while accusing the government of ignoring the ongoing threat for ideological reasons. The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, has accused No 10 of having “abandoned any interest” in the pandemic, despite a new Omicron surge putting pressure on an already overstretched NHS. “The brutal reality for staff and patients is that this Easter in the NHS is as bad as any winter,” said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation. "We do not have a living-with-Covid plan, we have a living-without-restrictions ideology. “But instead of the understanding and support NHS staff received during 2020 and 2021, we have a government that seems to want to wash its hands of responsibility for what is occurring in plain sight in local services up and down the country. No 10 has seemingly abandoned any interest in Covid whatsoever. “NHS leaders and their teams feel abandoned by the government and they deserve better.” Taylor later told BBC Breakfast: “In our view, we do not have a ‘living with Covid’ plan, we have a ‘living without restrictions’ ideology, which is different. We need to put in place the measures that are necessary to try to alleviate the pressures on our health service while this virus continues to affect [it].” Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 April 2022
  5. News Article
    Overstretched hospitals are stopping routine Covid tests for new patients as “brutal” pressures mount on doctors and nurses, The Independent understands. On Monday there were 1,702 new Covid admissions to hospitals in England as of 9 April – with 16,442 positive patients occupying beds – the NHS leaders warn their ability to tackle the backlog in planned care is at risk. Despite pleas from NHS chiefs to measures such as mask-wearing back into force, ministers said there were no plans to change guidance. The Independent understands at least two major hospitals, in Newcastle and York, have dropped testing of all patients without symptoms in order to alleviate pressure on beds – raising fears that Covid could spread on unchecked wards. Other hospitals are also likely to do the same as bed pressures worsen. Sources have told The Independent some trusts have begun to drop “red” Covid only wards, while some are considering not separating patients in A&E. One expert, critical care doctor Tom Lawton, who analyses hospital-acquired infection data, said that stopping patient testing in hospitals was “worrying” and that the NHS would be putting “blinkers on” just as in-hospital infections were “as high as they’ve ever been”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 April 2022
  6. News Article
    Two years ago the first wave of the covid pandemic reached its peak. The NHS had reacted with impressive speed to prepare for an influx of patients with an infectious disease that few knew much about, had no cure for, and for which there was no known vaccine. However, now the NHS goes into the Easter break in a more fragile state than in any previous winter since, at least, the 1990s. This is not just the direct result of covid hospitalisation, of course – although the distracting narrative of ‘with rather than because of covid’ has obscured how hugely damaging any kind of infectious disease that is as widespread in the community as covid is now can be to effective hospital care. For someone who has just undergone an operation, for example, the greatest threat is not from catching covid itself, but from the impact the virus may have on how quickly their wound may heal. Perhaps covid’s greatest continuing impact is on growing staff absences and the pernicious impact it is having on the long-term health of those who had the disease – even in some cases where it has been relatively mild. For the tens of thousands who have been hospitalised with covid, the consequences for their long-term health look more serious every day. Much of this new workload is ending up at the doors of primary and community care – and displacing other needs and services just when they are most required after two years of coping with the pandemic. There is usually one thing you can confidently say about the NHS, which is that in any crisis it will make sure the life-saving decisions are made on time. However, in the South West, and probably other regions too, that is not happening. People are dying because the NHS cannot – despite its best efforts – save them. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 April 2022
  7. News Article
    Ministers will be left in the dark on Covid spikes just as case numbers reach unprecedented levels if a “world-beating” surveillance programme is scrapped, scientists have warned. The React-1 study, which played a crucial role in detecting and tracking the spread of the Alpha variant in December 2020 ahead of the second lockdown, has been stopped as part of the government's plan to cut its Covid costs. But in its last report, the study found 6.37% of the population was infected between 8 and 31 March – the highest figure since it began in May 2020. More worryingly, the scientists behind the research said the prevalence rate has also reached new highs for people aged 55 and over, at 8.31 per cent. The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) said dismantling the project while cases were at record levels damaged preparedness and put public health at risk. The spread of Covid within hospitals is also fuelling staff shortages, bed closures and delayed discharges in multiple regions of the country. This is coinciding with delays in ambulance handovers and response times, NHS sources say. Information seen by The Independent revealed hundreds of beds are currently out of use at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals trust due to Covid outbreaks. A senior clinician said the “hospital is coming apart at the seams” and that, across the northeast, even “high” performing emergency departments were “crashing” and “stacking ambulances outside of hospital”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 April 2022
  8. News Article
    Patients in nine hospitals in Ireland were often treated in the wrong places, sometimes corridors, in situations where it was “unclear” who was supposed to be providing their care, a clinical review has found. It warned of the potential for people to receive inappropriate specialist input and recommended specific wards be used to avoid so-called “safari rounds” where consultants must seek out scattered patients. The independent review team consisted of clinical and management experts from Scotland and England who undertook a programme of visits between August and November, 2019. “The review team witnessed widespread boarding and outliers – any bed, anytime, anywhere and including mixed gender,” the document said. “This does not create extra capacity, leads to safari rounds, increases length of stay, introduces harm by non-specialist care and increases staff absenteeism.” Although acknowledging often excellent work by staff, the report was commissioned to examine non-scheduled care at nine hospitals found to be “under the greatest pressures” during the winter season of 2018/2019. These had “significant numbers” of patients waiting for long periods on trolleys. Read full story Source: The Irish Times, 4 April 2022
  9. News Article
    Patients visiting Wales' newest emergency department were likely to have been put at risk of harm due to the lack of processes and systems in place, inspectors found. Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) carried out an unannounced inspection of The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran between 1 and 3 November last year and published its findings on 29 March. On the day of their arrival inspectors said The Grange was at full capacity with no empty beds in A&E or in the hospital in general. Despite the best efforts of staff who were "working hard under pressure" the report stated the emergency department had several issues which could have compromised the privacy and dignity of patients. This included problems with the physical environment of the waiting room, which was described as a "major cause of anxiety" for visitors, as well as with the flow of patients through the hospital in general. It found that patients were not triaged and medically managed in A&E in a timely fashion with many being placed on uncomfortable chairs or in corridors for hours on end. Between 1 April 2021 and 1 November 2021, the average waiting time in the department was six hours and seven minutes. The report said some issues required immediate action including the fact patients in the waiting area were often left to "deteriorate without being overseen". There were also infection control failures which could have led to the cross-contamination of Covid-19. "We were not assured that all the processes and systems in place were sufficient to ensure that patients consistently received an acceptable standard of safe and effective care," the report stated. Read full story Source: Wales Online, 1 April 2022
  10. News Article
    The UK's top public health doctor says anyone with a persistent cough and fever should not dismiss it as Covid - and should consider other infectious illnesses like tuberculosis (TB). Dr Jenny Harries' warning comes as provisional data shows there were 4,430 cases recorded in England in 2021, despite sharp declines in recent years. Charities are calling for more funding to tackle the disease around the world. They say the pandemic and conflicts have set back progress worldwide. In 2020, global deaths because of tuberculosis ranked second to Covid for any infectious disease. The charity Stop TB Partnership warns the war in Ukraine could have "devastating impacts on health services", including the country's strong national TB treatment programme. The charity is urging all countries to put facilities in place urgently so refugees can be given the care they need. In the UK a requirement for Ukrainians to take a TB test before arrival has been waived for those who are coming to the country on the family scheme visa. Refugees arriving on the scheme will get medical care and testing via GPs. Meanwhile Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said delayed diagnosis and treatment, particularly during the pandemic, will have increased the number of undetected cases in England. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 March 2022
  11. News Article
    Covid hospitalisations will continue to rise for at least two weeks, England’s government’s chief medical officer warned on Wednesday as Britain’s daily cases breached 100,000 for the second time this month. Professor Sir Chris Whitty said the country’s Covid crisis “is not over” and that new variants of the disease could arise at any time. He pointed to the latest data showing that the number of people with Covid in hospitals has been rising, and said this would likely continue for at least two weeks. The current rise in cases is “currently being driven by Omicron rather than new variants”, he told an audience at a Local Government Association conference, but added: “We need to keep a very close eye on this, because at any point new variants could emerge anywhere in the world, including the UK, obviously, as what happened with the Alpha variant.” Another 194 Covid deaths were reported on Wednesday, up 27% on last week. Prof Whitty said that death rates were fortunately still low but that hospitalisations meant there was still pressure on the NHS. Asked about the end of free testing for the public on 1 April, Sir Chris said it was a “trade-off between disparities, because the effects of free testing are probably going to be differential across society, and [there are] very substantial sums that are going into it, which otherwise would be going into other public health issues." However, he said that testing for staff within health and social care was “slightly different” as the risks are greater, and those who are in hospital or care homes are more vulnerable. His comments come on the second anniversary of the day the UK announced a national lockdown. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 March 2022
  12. News Article
    NHS staff face unacceptable health risks as a result of “retrograde” changes to the government’s guidance on preventing spread of Covid-19, doctors’ leaders have warned. The BMA said on 16 March it was concerned over updated guidance issued by the UK Health Security Agency covering use of personal protective equipment. It said the guidance failed to properly acknowledge that SARS-CoV-2 infection can spread in the air during the routine care of patients as they cough or sneeze and not just when specific processes known as aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are being undertaken. “This is a retrograde step as it once again means that healthcare workers will not be routinely provided the right level of protective masks and equipment they need to be safe at work when looking after covid patients,” said Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s chair of council. The BMA said it was crucial that any staff looking after patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, or in other situations where a local risk assessment required it, had access to respiratory protective equipment such as filtering face piece (FFP3) masks. Nagpaul said, “All healthcare workers who are caring for Covid-19 patients are putting themselves at risk, each and every day, and the very least the government should do is to provide surety that staff will be given the best protection possible.” Respirators such as FFP3 masks are designed to protect the wearer from ingress of contaminated air and are fitted to ensure no gaps. They offer higher protection than surgical masks, which block the outward escape of droplets from the wearer. The BMA’s concern follows a supposed clarification of the main messages regarding airborne transmission in the latest infection and prevention and control guidance issued on 15 March 2022. The guidance said that respiratory protective equipment (FFP3 masks) are recommended when caring for patients with a suspected or confirmed infection spread “predominantly” by the airborne route (during the infectious period). The word “predominantly” has been added to the previous guidance update, which was issued on 17 January 2022, and is the crux of doctors’ concern, one leading scientist said. Read full story Source: BMJ, 18 March 2022
  13. News Article
    Infection control rules in hospitals are ‘now disproportionate to the risks’ posed by covid and should be relaxed, some of the NHS’s most senior leaders have warned. The government rules – such as not allowing covid-positive staff to work, and separating out services for covid, non-covid and covid-contact patients – make a big dent in hospital capacity and slows down services. Glen Burley, who is chief executive of three Midlands trusts and involved in national-level discussions on elective matters, told HSJ: “Pretty much every pathway has a covid and non-covid route, which slows down flow and staff productivity. “There is a growing argument that these rules are now disproportionate to the risks. With covid cases in the community also rising now, we may have to question again the relative risks of continuing to isolate staff.” NHS Confederation director of policy Layla McCay told HSJ: “Healthcare leaders are concerned the current [IPC] measures are having a serious knock-on effect on capacity and that the measures in their current form are reducing efficiency and capacity within healthcare settings. “We need more clarity on if and how current measures can be safely adjusted so [the NHS] can further increase bed capacity and patient throughput, as well as the ability to transport patients more quickly and efficiently.” But NHS Providers, which has previously said relaxing the IPC guidance would not enable a “rapid” increase in the NHS’ capacity to tackle the elective care backlog and could pose significant “risks”, remains more cautious. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 March 2022
  14. News Article
    Some care homes have "no choice" but to allow workers who have Covid to deliver care, a public health official said. According to Public Health England cases are rising the fastest in Somerset. As a result, care homes in the county are struggling to safely staff their services and schools are seeing a rise in staff sickness. Somerset Council said ensuring vulnerable residents received care was "lower risk" than them being infected. Health officials advised care workers to continue working only if they wore PPE and felt well enough. Council public health consultant Alison Bell said: "In some cases, we have no choice but to have people who are testing positive delivering care to people in Somerset. "That risk is actually less than that person not receiving care." She said the Omicron variant was more transmissible and people were getting re-infected with it, some within a matter of weeks. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 March 2022
  15. News Article
    Lateral flow tests could cost care home visitors £73 a month, a leading UK charity has said, as it renewed calls to keep the devices free in such settings. The government has previously announced that free testing for the general public will end from 1 April, and that this will include care home visitors. However, charities have warned the shift away from free tests could place a heavy financial burden on those visiting care homes, where testing is still advised. James White, the head of public affairs and campaigns at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the proposed charge on lateral flow tests for visitors to care homes was a cruel tax on care. “Over the past two years, we’ve consistently heard many tragic stories from families struggling to visit their loved ones in care homes. For many people with dementia, this isolation has led to a significant deterioration in their condition and mental health,” he said. “With infection rates rising once again, the government must provide free lateral flow tests for all visitors to care homes so that families are not put in an agonising position where they are forced to ration visits, leaving people with dementia once again isolated and alone.” Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, said: “No one should have to pay out of their own pocket for tests in circumstances where the expert advice is clear that testing remains an important safeguard against Covid,” she said. “If care home visitors are going to continue to be asked to keep testing to protect their loved ones, it would be completely unacceptable to expect them to pay.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 March 2022 Further reading Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families: a relative's perspective
  16. News Article
    Covid-19 is on the retreat across the American continents but it is too early for the region to let its guard down, warned the Pan American Health Organisation, the World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas, on 9 March. Reported cases of Covid-19 fell by 26% in the past week and deaths by nearly 19%, as the omicron wave of infections tailed off. But ongoing transmission and future variants could expose the region’s public health priorities once more, said PAHO’s director, Carissa Etienne. A total of 2.6 million people have died from Covid-19 in the Americas, the highest number of any region of the world and almost half of the global total, despite being home to only 13% of its population. “This is a tragedy of enormous proportions, and its effects will be felt for years to come,” said Etienne on the second anniversary of the pandemic. Patchy vaccination coverage has left countries vulnerable to current and future variants of SARS-CoV-2. Around 248 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are yet to receive a single dose of a covid vaccine, with vaccination rates particularly low in hard-to-reach rural areas. In the first two months of 2022 the Americas accounted for 63% of the world’s new cases. Despite a general fall in incidence across the region, new cases rose by 2.2% in the Caribbean, while Bolivia and Puerto Rico reported an increase in deaths in the past week. Michael Touchton, head of the University of Miami’s Covid-19 policy observatory for Latin America, said, “Latin America is perhaps the most vulnerable region in the world to the emergence of a new variant. Vaccine delays have a greater impact in Latin America due to concentrated urban populations, chronic disease burden, and low capacity health systems. Taken together, Latin America is likelier to fare worse than other similarly low and middle income regions.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 14 March 2022
  17. News Article
    A newly-discovered Covid variant that combines mutations from both Omicron and Delta is “the real thing,” scientists have said. Earlier in the year, concern was raised after a lab in Cyprus claimed to have found evidence of a Delta-Omicron recombination event – when the two variants co-infect a patient and exchange genetic material to produce a new viral offspring – but experts said the findings were false. Now, however, virologists from L’Institut Pasteur in Paris have sequenced the genome of a genuine “Deltacron” variant, which has been detected in several regions of France and appears to have been circulating since early January. “This one is legit,” said Aris Katzourakis, a professor of evolution and genomics at the University of Oxford. “[It is] one to keep an eye on.” “The French cluster appears to be a validated occurrence where a recombination event has given rise to a virus fit enough to circulate,” said Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds. In deriving its spike from Omicron, the Deltacron variant could similarly target the upper respiratory pathway, rather than the lungs, Dr Griffin said. “At the same time, there are some parts of Omicron thought to lessen severity that are missing from the recombinant,” he said. Dr Griffin said: "This is another clear demonstration that we remain in a dynamic situation with respect to Sars-2, and that the maintenance of genetic surveillance and testing is both relevant and prudent." Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 March 2022
  18. News Article
    A leading figure in the World Health Organisation Foundation has criticised the UK’s move to dismantle its Covid testing programme as the disease surges in other parts of the world. Mr Anil Soni, chief executive of the WHO Foundation, said in an interview with The Independent that maintaining surveillance over Covid-19 was “incredibly important” and the “dismantling of the testing infrastructure here strikes me as very worrying.” The WHO Foundation chief warned people were “looking the other way” from counties where there is low vaccine coverage to maintain the hope that Covid is over. He warned low vaccine coverage is a “petri dish” for future variants to breed and that the acute phase of the pandemic could not be over until this is addressed. When asked about the UK’s plans to end its NHS Test and Trace programme Mr Soni said: “I’m very concerned about it. “What we’ve seen is, it’s incredibly important to maintain surveillance, and countries in southern Africa should be applauded for detecting Omicron as quickly as they did. Those surveillance systems need to be in place around the world. “We also want to make sure that testing is widely available so that people, when they become infectious, can be aware of their status and keep others safe. For testing not to be available and for us to be moving too quickly to normalcy creates risk.” Mr Soni said the world’s position with Covid was “precarious” and highlighted the surge being seen in Hong Kong, where “health centres are at the verge of collapse, because of how many people are sick”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 March 2022
  19. News Article
    The draft terms of reference for the UK public inquiry into the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic have been published. The inquiry, due to start in the spring, will play a key role in "learning lessons" from the pandemic and for the future, it said. The terms of reference were published after a consultation with inquiry chairwoman and former High Court judge Baroness Hallett, and with ministers in the devolved nations. The Scottish government has already published the terms of reference for its own Covid-19 inquiry, to be led by Judge Lady Poole. The UK-wide inquiry proposes examining a broad range of issues including: the UK's preparedness for the pandemic the use of lockdowns and other 'non-pharmaceutical' interventions such as social distancing and the use of face coverings the management of the pandemic in hospitals and care homes the procurement and provision of equipment like personal protective equipment and ventilators support for businesses and jobs, including the furlough scheme, as well as benefits and sick pay. The inquiry aims to produce "a factual, narrative account" covering decision-making at all levels of government and the response of the health and care sector as well as identifying the "lessons to be learned". Becky Kummer, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said the publication was a "huge step forward" and the organisation looked forward to contributing to the consultation on the terms. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said there was much the NHS did well during the pandemic but: "It is right the inquiry looks at areas where there were major challenges - such as infection prevention and control, access to PPE, testing, and robust epidemiological modelling." Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 March 2022
  20. News Article
    The White House has announced plans to boost nursing home staffing and oversight, blaming some of the 200,000-plus covid deaths of nursing home residents and staff during the pandemic on inadequate conditions. Officials said the plan would set minimum staffing levels, reduce the use of shared rooms and crack down on the poorest-performing nursing homes to reduce the risk of residents contracting infectious diseases. The White House also said it planned to scrutinise the role of private equity firms, citing data that their ownership was linked with worse outcomes and higher costs. Nursing homes have been an epicenter of covid spread during the pandemic, as the virus initially tore through facilities before vaccines were available in 2020, and then continued to sicken and kill residents at an elevated rate last year. Advocates have demanded better policies to ensure the facilities are prepared for emergencies and follow practices to curb the spread of infections. Under Biden’s plan, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will propose minimum staffing levels within the next year, which the White House said would improve safety by ensuring residents receive sufficient care and attention. The administration also cited a study that found increased staffing levels were linked with fewer covid cases and deaths. The nursing home industry has warned that the pandemic has exacerbated long-running staffing shortages, noting that roughly 420,000 employees in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, many of whom complained about low pay, have departed over the last two years. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 28 February 2022
  21. News Article
    Up-to-date registers of clinically vulnerable patients must be created to ensure that those who are most at risk during Covid-19 and any future pandemics are protected and can access the support they need, a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics has recommended. The report considered vulnerable people’s experiences during the pandemic and makes 16 recommendations on what the government and the health service can do better to plan and prioritise extremely vulnerable patients during further Covid-19 outbreaks and future pandemics. These tackle the format and content of information and guidance; access to medical services such as mental health support to help people deal with anxiety, fear, and isolation; provision of practical support such as food and finance when isolating; and the need for more research into how medical conditions make people more vulnerable to a threat and vaccines less protective. At the launch of the report representatives of charities and patient groups described how the pandemic had left clinically vulnerable people feeling anxious, afraid, lonely, trapped, and desperate. They also described the “not on the list” scenario many had had to contend with, meaning they could not access priority services such as testing or support to isolate. There were still patients whose doctors recognised that they should be on the list fighting to get their condition recognised, said Susan Walsh, chief executive of Immunodeficiency UK. This means that, under the government’s Living with Covid plans, they will no longer be able to access free testing. Lord Mendelsohn, co-chair of the APPG on Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics, said, “We should be more willing to allow the medical practitioners responsible for these patients to be able to overhaul computerised systems and find ways to make that happen.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 28 February 2022
  22. News Article
    Senior doctors say the government’s “Living with Covid” plan will hamper the ability of the NHS to provide care. Michelle Drage, chief executive of the Londonwide Local Medical Committee, which represents the majority of practices in the city, has said the government’s changes may discourage vulnerable patients to seek care when they need it, while David Nicholl, a neurologist and spokesperson for Doctors’ Association UK, said it could exacerbate health inequalities. It comes as the legal requirement to isolate after testing positive is lifted from Thursday, while free Covid testing ends on 1 April. NHS England sent a letter to all healthcare providers confirming workers would have to continue with current rules and not come into work after testing positive. Staff were told they should continue to carrying out regular testing, and access this through national routes until 31 March, but were not given guidance on testing requirements beyond this. Dr Drage said the changes in isolation and testing rules could put off vulnerable patients. “We may well see people not being able to access the services they need to because they’re afraid to attend,” she said. “Then to make people pay for those tests for what looks like a fiver a pop, when the people that can least afford it and the people who can least afford to take time off... suggests to me we’re increasing the risk of inappropriate transmission.” “It’s a perfect storm that could be brewing that will have a further impact on the ability of patients to be properly cared for… It feels like, yet again, the government gambling with people’s health to sustain the economy.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 February 2022
  23. News Article
    Hundreds of people identified as contacts following a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in a Carmarthenshire village are yet to attend a screening, health officials have said. Public Health Wales (PHW) said 31 cases of active TB had been identified since the 2010 outbreak in Llwynhendy. PHW urged the 485 people who have been identified as contacts, but not attended a screening, to act. More than 2,600 people have attended screenings since June 2019. TB is a bacterial infection, spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person. It is a serious condition, but can be cured with proper treatment. PHW said since 2010, 303 people - or more than one in 10 of those who had been screened - had been diagnosed with latent TB, which is not infectious and does not affect a person's quality of life, but may develop into active TB at a later date. Dr Brendan Mason, from Public Health Wales, said: "We understand that during the coronavirus pandemic people may have been reluctant to go to a hospital to have their screening done, but I can assure them that there are safety measures in place in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. "Now is the time to get tested. "It is really important that we screen all the contacts identified and make sure that anyone diagnosed with latent or active TB gets the monitoring or treatment that they need to prevent any further spread." Read full story Source: 24 February 2022
  24. News Article
    Medically vulnerable people say the decision to end Covid restrictions means their freedoms being eroded. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that legal requirements, including the need to self-isolate if you test positive, will end on Thursday. Two clinically vulnerable women in the West say not knowing who is infected means it is now more dangerous for them to leave their homes. "It doesn't feel safe," said Chloe Ball-Hopkins, from Gloucestershire. "My friends and family will continue to try and keep me safe, my partner will keep me safe, they'll continue to test before they meet me," said the 25-year-old from Wotton-under-Edge. Miss Ball-Hopkins has already had her fourth vaccine dose as she is considered extremely clinically vulnerable. She has a rare form of muscular dystrophy called nemaline myopathy which affects her respiratory system, and contracted sepsis in 2019 which undermined her immune system further. Miss Ball-Hopkins said that while the easing of restrictions would feel like freedom to much of the population, it meant the opposite for her. "I'm supposed to go out and live my life normally yet now I won't know if someone next to me in a supermarket is literally breathing Covid down on me, as I'm in a wheelchair. "I was actually probably safer in January when everyone was wearing masks than I will be in a week's time. That makes no sense," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 February 2022
  25. News Article
    Patients face limits on visitors in every hospital trust in England, The Telegraph has revealed, with restrictions set to continue even once the country moves to "living with Covid". It comes as Boris Johnson announces that all Covid regulations including self-isolation will be abolished at the end of February. The health service supports keeping some visiting restrictions in place while Covid remains in circulation among the general population, it is understood. A spokesman said: "The NHS regularly reminds hospitals that visits for patients should continue to go ahead as much as possible and extra measures should already be in place so that this can be done safely." NHS England encourages trusts to facilitate visits "wherever possible, and to do so in a risk-managed way", but it is up to individual trusts to set their own policies based on UK Health Security Agency guidelines. Analysis by The Telegraph found that at least 34 hospital trusts across England still have routine visits suspended, with exceptions such as those for patients receiving end-of-life care and people with dementia. All 125 trusts have some form of visiting restriction in place. The most common policy is to have one named visitor per patient for the entirety of a patient's stay, who can only visit for one hour once a day. Helen Wildbore, the director of the Relatives and Residents Association, said limiting patients to one nominated visitor put pressure on families, leaving the carer "exhausted". She added: "If you’re going into hospital and you're not able to have your family with you, you're going to come out worse." In some cases, patients who needed hospital care had chosen not to go because they were worried about being isolated from family, she said. Caroline Abrahams, the Charity Director at Age UK, said it was "imperative that hospitals open their doors to visitors again as wide as they possibly can" as the pandemic eases. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 18 February 2022 You may also be interested in reading: Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families: a relative's perspective
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