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Showing results for tags 'Influenza / pneumonia'.
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News ArticleA “critical” shortage of lung specialists may leave the NHS struggling to cope with a spike in hospital admissions related to complications of pneumonia and flu this winter, the British Thoracic Society (BTS) has warned. At its winter meeting this week (taking place 4-6 December), the society presented results from a survey it conducted of almost 250 UK NHS respiratory specialists. Some 83% of respondents (199) thought respiratory healthcare staff shortages would impair the ability of the NHS to cope with the increase in lung disease hospital admissions this winter. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 4 December 2019
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News Article
Let’s do our duty: Top nurse leads NHS staff flu jab drive
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
England’s most senior nurse has called on the NHS’ million-plus frontline workers to protect themselves and their patients this year by taking up their free flu jab. Ruth May, the Chief Nursing Officer for England, is spearheading this year’s drive to ensure that as many NHS staff as possible get vaccinated against seasonal flu – meaning they are both less likely to need time off over the busy winter period, and less likely to pass on the virus to vulnerable patients. Since September, hospitals and other healthcare settings across the country have been laying on special activities designed to highlight the importance of the flu vaccine, and celebrate those staff who choose to protect themselves and their patients. A record 70% of doctors, nurses, midwives and other NHS staff who have direct contact with patients took up the vaccine through their employer last year, with most local NHS employers achieving 75% or higher. Ruth has been joined in writing an open letter to NHS staff by other heads of professions like the NHS National Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis, Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, Suzanne Rastrick, Chief Midwifery Officer, Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Dr Keith Ridge. In it they urge every member of the NHS’ growing frontline workforce to work together to achieve even higher level of coverage this year. Read full story Source: NHS England, 25 November 2019 -
Content ArticleThere is great disparity in the way we think about and address different sources of environmental infection. Governments have for decades promulgated a large amount of legislation and invested heavily in food safety, sanitation, and drinking water for public health purposes. By contrast, airborne pathogens and respiratory infections, whether seasonal influenza or COVID-19, are addressed fairly weakly, if at all, in terms of regulations, standards, and building design and operation, pertaining to the air we breathe. We suggest that the rapid growth in our understanding of the mechanisms behind respiratory infection transmission should drive a paradigm shift in how we view and address the transmission of respiratory infections to protect against unnecessary suffering and economic losses. It starts with a recognition that preventing respiratory infection, like reducing waterborne or foodborne disease, is a tractable problem.
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Content ArticleThis government guidance is intended to prevent transmission of seasonal respiratory viral infections focussing on influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in health and care settings while continuing to support the recovery of services.
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Content ArticleThis Annual Quality Statement provides a summary of the work of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board in 2019-2020, with a particular focus on community mental health.
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News Article
Hancock calls for routine flu testing as part of major diagnostics expansion
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Matt Hancock has called for British people to routinely get tested for the flu, saying covid diagnostic capacity should be kept and used for “everything” once the pandemic dies down. Speaking at the Commons health and social care committee this morning, the health and social care secretary said the nation “must hold on to” the mass diagnostic capacity it has created for coronavirus. Going further, he called for a change in culture to one of “if in doubt, you get a test”, and for a long-term expansion of diagnostics. Mr Hancock said: “Why in Britain do we think it’s acceptable to solider on when you have flu symptoms or a runny nose, and go in [to work] and make everyone ill? “If you have flu-like symptoms you should have a test for it and find out what is wrong with you and stay at home. We are peculiar outliers in soldiering on and going to work and that… culture, that should change.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 November 2020 -
News Article
Free flu jab offered to all over 50s in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People aged 50 to 64 in England will be able to get a free flu jab from 1 December in an attempt to fight the "twin threats" of flu and COVID-19. The group has been added to a list of people who are already eligible for a flu jab in England, such as those over 65 and health and social care workers. Thirty million people are being offered the vaccine in England's largest flu-immunisation programme to date. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was a winter "like no other". "We have to worry about the twin threats of flu and COVID-19," he said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic meant it was "more important than ever" that people got their flu jabs. Mr Hancock told BBC Breakfast that all over 50s would be able to get the vaccine by January. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 November 2020 -
News ArticleThe NHS has erroneously written to thousands of patients who have had glandular fever in the past asking them to get a flu jab from their GP. The error left some GPs with practice phone lines blocked last week while reception staff have had to explain to patients they are not actually eligible for free flu vaccination. Nearly 40,000 letters were sent out to patients with a past history indicating glandular fever because of a coding error at NHS Digital. This was meant to identify patients with suppressed immune systems which would include those who currently have glandular fever and encourage them to contact their GP practice to arrange vaccination. However, the historical cases were not excluded, leading to the letters being automatically generated even when the glandular fever diagnosis was decades old. When NHS Digital realised the error, it contacted NHS England – which was responsible for posting out the letters – and managed to stop others being sent out. An NHS Digital spokesman said: “During a process to identify patients eligible for a flu vaccination, glandular fever was incorrectly included in a complex list of conditions that cause persistent immunosuppression. This led to some patients incorrectly receiving a letter encouraging them to seek a flu vaccination. “There has been no adverse clinical impact for patients and the issue was quickly resolved before the majority of letters were sent.” NHSD said patients who had received the letter would receive another one to explain and to reassure them." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 November 2020
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News ArticleA wider range of healthcare workers—including midwives, paramedics, physiotherapists, and pharmacists—are now allowed to give flu and potentially COVID-19 vaccines after the introduction of new laws by the UK government. The changes to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, first proposed in August1 and consulted upon last month, came into effect on 16 October. The Department of Health and Social Care said that the expanded workforce will have to undergo additional training to ensure patient safety. It added that government planning will “ensure this does not affect other services in hospitals and in GP and community services, by drawing on a pool of experienced NHS professionals through the NHS Bring Back Scheme.” Commenting on the changes, England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said, “The measures outlined today aim to improve access and strengthen existing safeguards protecting patients.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 16 October 2020
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News Article
Pregnant women must have flu jab this winter, warn health bodies
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
All pregnant women have been urged by doctors to get a free flu vaccination this winter to ensure they and their babies are protected. People can get infected with flu and coronavirus at the same time - with Public Health England finding if you get both simultaneously you may get more seriously ill. Researchers previously said those who have been infected with both viruses face a serious increase to their risk of death and warned the public “not to be complacent” in the wake of fears flu could circulate around the country alongside COVID-19. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Royal College of Midwives note while getting flu is not a big deal for most people, getting the virus while you are pregnant can be serious for a small proportion of women and their babies. Flu can occasionally lead to stillbirth, maternal death and raise the chances of having a miscarriage. Dr Edward Morris, president of RCOG, said: “We are keen to reassure pregnant women that flu vaccination is safe for women to have at any stage in pregnancy - from the first few weeks right up to their due date, and while breastfeeding." "Over the last 10 years, the flu vaccine has been routinely and safely offered to pregnant women in the UK. The vaccine can also pass some protection to babies, which lasts for the first months of their lives." Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 October 2020 -
News Article
Influenza drug ‘good contender’ for at-home treatment against COVID-19
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An antiviral typically used to treat influenza is a “good contender” for a drug that could be taken at home by people infected with COVID-19, according to a scientist who is trialling the medicine. Favipiravir, licensed as a flu treatment in Japan since 2014, has already shown potential in reducing lung damage in hospitalised Covid patients and speeding up the time taken to clear the virus from the body. But two UK trials, in Glasgow and London, are investigating whether the drug could be taken by people in the community before their disease has progressed, therefore keeping them out of hospital. The government has promised to “supercharge” the search for and development of a new generation of easy-to-take, at-home drugs that can reduce transmission and quicken recovery from COVID-19. A new taskforce, modelled on the team behind Britain’s vaccine procurement programme, is to oversee this work. It intends to deliver two effective treatments - offered in tablet form - to the public as early as autumn. Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 April 2021 -
News ArticleThe UK should steel itself for a “difficult autumn” and “hard winter” of illnesses because people have lived for an unusually long period without exposure to respiratory viruses, one of the country’s top medics has warned. Dr Susan Hopkins, the head of Covid strategy for Public Health England, said population immunity to viruses other than Covid-19 could be lower than usual and that a surge in flu was probable. She said the NHS must be better prepared than it was last autumn, when new, faster-spreading variants of coronavirus emerged forcing the country into lockdown for the third time. Speaking on the BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show Hopkins said: “I think we have to prepare for a hard winter, not only with coronavirus, but we’ve had a year of almost no respiratory viruses of any other type. And that means, potentially the population immunity to that is less." “So we could see surges in flu. We could see surges in other respiratory viruses and other respiratory pathogens.” A record number of people, about 30 million in total, were invited for a free flu jab last autumn as ministers feared it would add to strains on the NHS. “It’s really important that we’re prepared from the NHS point of view, from public health and contact tracing, that we have everything ready to prepare for a difficult autumn,” she said. “We hope that it won’t occur and it will be a normal winter for all of us.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 March 2021
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News ArticleFlu deaths could be the worst for 50 years because of lockdowns and social distancing, health chiefs have warned, as the NHS launches the biggest ever flu vaccination drive. More than 35 million people will be offered flu jabs this winter, amid concern that prolonged restrictions on social contact have left Britain with little immunity. Officials fear that this winter could see up to 60,000 flu deaths – the worst figure in Britain since the 1968 Hong Kong Flu pandemic – without strong uptake of vaccines. There is also concern about the effectiveness of this year’s jabs, because the lack of flu last year made it harder for scientists to sample the virus and predict the dominant strains. Health chiefs said the measures introduced over the past 18 months to protect the country against coronavirus would now put the public at greater risk of flu. The NHS has already begun the rollout of flu jabs and COVID-19 boosters. Health chiefs will urge everyone eligible to take up their chance, with the launch of a major campaign today to drive take-up. Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 8 October 2021
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Content ArticleThis report by The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change sets out an action plan to save the NHS this winter. It highlights the pressures the health service faces, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, including a resurgent flu epidemic, the effect of the cost-of-living crisis, the unprecedented elective-care backlog and a depleted and exhausted workforce. The authors call for the Government to immediately: focus leadership minimise demand on the service improve patient flow and efficiency maximise capacity.
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Content ArticleThis article in The Guardian aims to explain the major pressures the NHS will face in Autumn 2022. It identifies and explores the following threats: Covid Influenza Cost of living crisis Workforce shortages Pay
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Content ArticleThe Patient Safety Authority has put together information and tips for patients on a range of topics.
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Content ArticleLeaflets and a poster aimed at providing information on influenza (flu) and vaccination.
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Content ArticleAcute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and respiratory failure are characterised by hypoxemia (i.e., low levels of blood oxygen). Infections such as influenza and COVID-19 can lead to ARDS or respiratory failure. Treatment is through supportive measures. In severe cases, patients receive oxygen through a ventilator and, when appropriate, are placed in a prone position for an extended period. A retrospective review of events submitted to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS) identified 98 prone position–related events in patients with ARDS, respiratory failure, distress, and pneumonia from 1 January 2010, through 30 June 2020; 30 events were associated with COVID-19. Skin integrity injuries accounted for 83.7% (82 of 98) of the events. The remaining events, 16.3% (16 of 98), involved unplanned extubations, cardiac arrests, displaced lines, enteral feedings, medication errors, a dental issue, and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
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Content ArticleThe All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus was set up in July 2020 to conduct a rapid inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's purpose is to ensure that lessons are learnt from the UK Government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak to date, and to issue recommendations to the UK Government so that its preparedness and response may be improved in the future. This is the biggest review to date of the UK response to the pandemic. It comes with 71 key findings and 44 recommendations to government. In total, the APPG spoke with 65 witnesses and held 30+ hours worth of public evidence sessions streamed on social media. They received and processed just under 3,000 separate evidence submissions.
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Content Article
Community Acquired Pneumonia: Enhancing Quality Poster
Claire Cox posted an article in Respiratory conditions
The Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network Respiratory Network was formed in 2010 to improve the quality, availability and accessibility of respiratory services, and reducing unwarranted variation in the management of pathways, such as community acquired pneumonia (CAP) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This poster was a winner at the Patient Safety Congress 2019. -
Content Article
COVID-19: guidance for health professionals (Coronavirus)
Claire Cox posted an article in Guidance
Information on COVID-19, including guidance on the assessment and management of suspected UK cases. -
Content ArticleIn this short video, anaesthetic staff at Brighton and Sussex University Hospital demonstrates how to put on and take off the power hood safely. These hoods are used by staff who are caring with patients who are either high risk or have tested positive for COVID 19.
