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Showing results for tags 'Pandemic'.
Found 2,344 results
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Content ArticleUp-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.
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Content Article
Eating disorders: challenges of the pandemic
Dr Joanna Silver posted an article in Eating disorders
This week is Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions. People with eating disorders use food as a way of managing difficult feelings and maintaining control, particularly when life seems uncontrollable. In March 2020, the world changed in a blink of an eye when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Dr Joanna Silver, Counselling Psychologist, discusses the additional challenges the pandemic brought for many people with eating disorders. -
Content ArticleThis briefing paper by World Physiotherapy provides guidance to enable physiotherapists to offer safe and effective rehabilitation in people living with Long Covid.
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Content ArticleThis leaflet produced by Clare Rayner for The PACS (Post-Acute Covid Syndrome) International Working Group provides information for patients on diagnosing Covid-19 without a positive swab test.
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Content ArticleIn this blog for The BMJ, several doctors who are experiencing long term impacts of Covid-19 share their report of a meeting with the World Health Organization's Covid-19 response team in August 2020. They highlighted the importance of patient-led research and and engaging with patients with Long Covid.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented pressure on councils and care providers. A new report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman analyses just how those organisations coped.
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Content ArticleA letter to the Chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee expressing concern that written evidence provided to the Committee's “Coronavirus: Lessons Learned to Date" inquiry was not properly considered and opportunities to protect healthcare workers from disease were missed.
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Content ArticleAnti-stay-at-home protesters aren’t the only ones with an argument based on individual rights on their side, writes Graham Mooney, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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Content ArticleWe all knew that this couldn’t go on forever—and who would want it to? But, since the start of the “great reopening” in the middle of 2021, it seems the government has conveniently forgotten about the 1.5 million vulnerable people they were so eager to protect back in early 2020. The shielding programme was paused in April 2021, then quietly dropped a few months later. The Department of Health and Social Care said that the clinically extremely vulnerable should follow the same advice as the rest of the population, but with some additional suggested precautions such as avoiding “enclosed crowded spaces.” And last week, Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, told us that the pandemic is essentially over—all restrictions will end very soon, including the need to self-isolate. Except for the vulnerable, the pandemic isn’t over, writes Ceinwen Giles in this BMJ opinion piece. Life hasn’t returned to normal, and what has been a difficult two years now appears to stretch ever further into the future with no real prospect of “normal” life anytime soon. The government’s message that “vaccinations are the best way to protect yourself” is hollow advice for people, she says.
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Content ArticleEvidence submitted outlining the issues relating to the protection of health and care workers. It explains how surgical masks are not 'protective' against airborne disease and represent a breach of COSHH Regulations.
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Content Article
Open Letter to the Chief Executive, Health and Safety Executive
SafeDavid3 posted an article in Regulatory issues
Letter outlining potential legal non-compliance by persons involved in issuing Infection Prevention and Control Guidance. -
Content ArticleHealthcare is recognised as a high-risk industry, involving complex systems, vulnerable individuals, and constantly evolving clinical treatments and healthcare products. This is the recording of a webinar hosted by NHS Supply Chain which looked at key patient safety issues in the NHS. It includes examples of learning related to patient safety and assurance priorities for safe healthcare products and services. Speaker panel: Helen Hughes, Chief Executive of Patient Safety Learning Tracey Cammish, NHS Supply Chain Heather Tierney-Moore OBE, NHS Supply Chain Dave Fassam, Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB)
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Content ArticleCovid-19 has infected more than 278 million people globally, with at least 5.4 million deaths recorded by the World Health Organization as of 26 December 2021. The omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern is spreading rapidly. Some countries view infection as a net harm and pursue strategies ranging from suppression to elimination. They seek to sustain low infection rates through a combination of vaccination, public health measures, and financial support measures (vaccines-plus). Other countries implemented mitigation strategies that aim to prevent health systems from being overwhelmed by building population immunity through a combination of infection and vaccination. These countries rely on a vaccines-only approach and seem willing to tolerate high levels of infection provided their healthcare systems can cope. In an open letter by a group of public health experts, clinicians, scientists, they suggest a vaccines-plus approach should be adopted globally.
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Content Article
It’s time to rename the ‘visitor’: reflections from a relative
Anonymous posted an article in By patients and public
In my first blog, ‘Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families’, I highlighted how the pandemic has shone a stark spotlight on so many inequities and inconsistencies in access to health and social care. I wanted to draw attention to how visiting restrictions can result in worse outcomes for patients and their families. In my second blog I want to focus on the terms ‘visiting’ and ‘visitor’ and discuss what defines a visitor and why, in my opinion, it requires redefining and renaming. -
Content ArticleFor about two decades, the U.S. healthcare system was making strides in improving patient safety, as demonstrated by the reduction of healthcare-associated infections and other complications of care. Though there was still room for improvement, the trends were certainly in the right direction. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, however, many indicators make it clear that healthcare safety has declined. The public health emergency has put enormous stress on the health care system and disrupted many normal activities in hospitals and other facilities. Unfortunately, these stressors have caused safety problems for both patients and staff. The fact that the pandemic degraded patient safety so quickly and severely suggests that our healthcare system lacks a sufficiently resilient safety culture and infrastructure. The authors of this article in the New England Journal of Medicine believe the pandemic and the breakdown it has caused present an opportunity and an obligation to reevaluate healthcare safety with an eye toward building a more resilient health care delivery system, capable not only of achieving safer routine care but also of maintaining high safety levels in times of crisis.
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Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on people’s mental health, and the knock-on effect is putting services and organisations under considerable pressure. In this briefing for the NHS Confederation, Paula Lavis outlines the case for change in mental health services and makes recommendations on how to address the increasing post-pandemic demand. The briefing covers the following areas: Increased severity of mental health problems linked to the pandemic The wider social context The case for change: Prevention and easy access to mental health support, Funding, Workforce Viewpoint and recommendations
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Content ArticleAlthough the direct effects of Covid-19 on children and young people are usually milder than for older age groups, the pandemic’s effect on the overall health and care of the youngest generation has nonetheless been extensive. This analysis from the Nuffield Trust looks at the impact Covid-19 has had on healthcare for children and 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.
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Content ArticleWhere a new or under-recognised risk identified through the NHS England's review of patient safety events doesn’t meet the criteria for a National Patient Safety Alert, NHS England look to work with partner organisations, who may be better placed to take action to address the issue. To highlight this work and show the importance of recording patient safety events, they publish regular case studies. These case studies show the direct action taken in response to patient safety events recorded by organisations, staff and the public, and how their actions support the NHS to protect patients from harm.
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Content ArticleWaiting is a feature of public healthcare systems but must be managed to avoid adverse impacts on patients. The NHS sets performance standards for waiting times for elective and cancer care. Its performance against these was deteriorating before the COVID-19 pandemic and has worsened since it began. Millions of patients’ care was disrupted, meaning backlogs increased. This report looks in detail at backlogs and waiting times for elective and cancer care in the NHS in England. It explains how the current increased backlogs and waiting times have arisen, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report sets out: how waiting times performance for elective and cancer care are tracked in the NHS, and how long patients have been waiting relative to the performance standards; the causes of increasing longer waits before the pandemic and the disruption caused by the pandemic; and the steps the Department and NHSE&I have already taken to address the increasing backlogs and waiting times, and the constraints and challenges the NHS faces in making a full recovery.
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Content ArticleCOVID-19 has highlighted the urgency of addressing violence against women and children, which reports suggest has increased during the pandemic. Often referred to as a “shadow pandemic,” the rise in violence over the past two years has been linked to lockdowns and other restrictions on movement put in place due to COVID-19, which force women and children to remain at home with their abusers. In 2016, the World Health Organization published a global plan of action to address violence against women, children, and girls. It proposed a four-pronged approach: firstly, strengthen health system leadership and governance; secondly, strengthen health service delivery and health workers’ capacity to respond; thirdly, strengthen programming to prevent interpersonal violence; and lastly, improve information and evidence. In this BMJ opinion article, Helga Fogstad discusses why, five years on, these measures are needed more than ever and why it's time to act.
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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 study in the journal Rheumatology looked at the experience and views of rheumatology patients and clinicians regarding telemedicine. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a rapid transition towards telephone consultations, but there are still many research gaps in understanding the safety and acceptability of telemedicine.
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Content ArticleThis is the recording of a presentation given to the Bristol Patient Safety Conference 2021 by Annie Laverty, Director of Patient Experience and Anna Burhouse, Director of Quality Development at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. It outlines the Trust's approach to assessing staff satisfaction and wellbeing and developing improvement plans based on feedback from staff. It focuses on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and highlights key measures that helped maintain staff wellbeing during the first wave in Spring 2020.
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Content ArticleA Community of Practice for nurses in the community to improve care and increase understanding about the physical, mental and emotional effects of Long Covid.
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Content ArticleWhen healthcare worker infections at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia seemed to be spiralling out of control despite strict protocols being adhered to by expertly trained staff, Professor Kirsty Buising and her colleagues took action. To inform future responses in the Australian setting, Kirsty and her colleagues present in this paper a description of healthcare worker infections at their institution and the suite of interventions they used to control the outbreak.
