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Content ArticleFull opening statement of the Long Covid groups (Long Covid Support, Long Covid SOS and Long Covid Kids) to Module 2 of the Covid-19 Inquiry as representative organisations for nearly 2 million adults and children who have suffered from Long Covid.
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News Article
NHS can’t prepare for pandemic surge due to lack of staff, NHSE warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS has too few staff to prepare for a pandemic surge, while its ageing buildings and social care’s weak ‘resilience and capacity’ would also undermine its response, NHS England has warned. A new NHSE submission to the Covid-19 public inquiry says funding pressure from 2010 has undermined the health service’s “resilience” and that “resilience and capacity issues in social care are national issues which must be addressed from the centre”. The document was posted unnoticed on the inquiry website last month. No current or former NHSE leaders have so far given evidence to the inquiry. It is the first time NHSE has clearly set out that understaffing and underinvestment compromised the service’s readiness to deal with the pandemic. Referring to the NHS’s ability to create “surge capacity [with] flexible staff and equipment which can be pivoted into different roles”, it goes on: “It is only possible to train staff to work more flexibly into different roles/environments if they can be freed up to attend training and refreshers. “This requires ‘surplus’ staff numbers on rotas, which is not currently possible in relation to many staffing groups across the NHS.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 October 2023 -
Content ArticleInvestigative journalist and medical researcher Maryanne Demasi interviews Phillip Buckhaults, a cancer genomics expert and professor at the University of South Carolina. Professor Buckhaults describes how he decided to test for DNA contamination in vials of Pfizer and Moderna’s bivalent booster shots, hoping to debunk myths about contamination. However, his research revealed that billions of tiny DNA fragments are present in Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. He highlights the need for further research to find out whether this poses any risk to people who have been given the vaccine, particularly around whether these fragments of DNA could trigger people developing cancer or autoimmune conditions.
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Content ArticleIn anticipation of an increase in patients requiring a temporary tracheostomy due to the huge surge in patients placed on ICU ventilation at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS England National Patient Safety Team launched a National Patient Safety Improvement programme to rapidly support the NHS to provide safe tracheostomy care.
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News ArticleA rise in hip fractures last year could be a symptom of a wider increase in general physical deconditioning in older and vulnerable people following the pandemic, senior clinicians have warned. Around 72,000 hip fractures were recorded in 2022 compared to 66,000 in 2020 and 67,000 in 2021, according to the 2023 National Hip Fracture Database report, published this month. The report, published by the Royal College of Physicians, said: “These additional hip fractures happened despite a fall in the size of the ‘at risk’ older population over the preceding three years, as a result of Covid-19-related mortality among older people and those living in care homes.” “Our casemix run chart shows a slight increase in the proportion of hip fractures occurring in people aged under 80. “This is perhaps an early indication of Public Health England’s [now the UK Health Security Agency] predictions that physical deconditioning and increased risk of falling due to the pandemic may lead to an increase in the number of people who are at risk of fragility fracture.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ. 25 September 2023
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News ArticleThe Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is reviving a programme to mail free rapid coronavirus tests to Americans. Starting 25 September, people can request four free tests per household through covidtests.gov. Officials say the tests are able to detect the latest variants and are intended to be used through the end of the year. The return of the free testing program comes after Americans navigated the latest uptick in covid cases with free testing no longer widely available. The largest insurance companies stopped reimbursing the costs of retail at-home testing once the requirement to do so ended with the public health emergency in May. The Biden administration stopped mailing free tests in June. The Department of Health and Human Services also announced Wednesday that it was awarding $600 million to a dozen coronavirus test manufacturers. Agency officials said the funding would improve domestic manufacturing capacity and provide the federal government with 200 million over-the-counter tests to use in the future. “These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. Experts say free coronavirus testing proved to be an effective public health tool, allowing people to check their status before attending large gatherings or spending time with older or medically vulnerable people at risk of severe disease even after being vaccinated. It also enables people to start antiviral treatments in the early days of infection to prevent severe disease. Read full story (paywalled) Source: Washington Post, 20 September 2023
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Content ArticleIn April 2023, National Voices held a workshop with members, supported by The Disrupt Foundation, on the unequal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It explored how communities and groups were affected differently by both the virus itself and the measures brought in to control it. It painted a grim picture of the ways in which the pandemic response exacerbated existing, deep-rooted inequalities across the UK and compounded the disadvantages experienced by people from minoritised communities, by disabled people and by people living with long term conditions. Just some examples include people who are immunocompromised, who were asked to go into isolation for huge periods of time and still feel completely overlooked as control measures have been lifted. Or the use of DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate orders) which were disproportionately applied to people with learning disabilities. With the Covid-19 Inquiry underway, it is imperative that we capture the lessons learnt from the pandemic, and use them to suggest action for the future.
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Content ArticleA global shortage of an estimated 18 million health workers is anticipated by 2030, a record 130 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and there is the global threat of pandemics such as COVID-19. At least 400 million people worldwide lack access to the most essential health services, and every year 100 million people are plunged into poverty because they have to pay for healthcare out of their own pockets. There is, therefore, an urgent need to find innovative strategies that go beyond the conventional health-sector response. WHO recommends self-care interventions for every country and economic setting as critical components on the path to reaching universal health coverage (UHC), promoting health, keeping the world safe and serving the vulnerable.
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News Article
The BMJ Investigates U.S. defunding virus detection programme
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Two years after launching what officials hailed as a five-year flagship project for hunting viruses among wildlife to prevent human pandemics, the US Agency for International Development is shutting down the enterprise. Hear the update from the Editor-in-Chief of The BMJ, Kamran Abbasi. Source: BMJ, 7 September 2023 -
News Article
Covid cases double in a month as scientists warn about spread of new variants
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Covid cases in England have almost doubled in a month after the rise of two new variants. According to the most recent government statistics available, 875 cases were logged in England on August 11, compared to just 449 a month earlier. Hospital admissions have also risen by a fifth in a week. UKHSA statistics show Covid cases in England rose from a seven-day rolling average of 373 on July 8 to 879 as of August 8. Also, 589 out of 6,500 neighbourhoods in England had detected at least three Covid cases in the week to August 12. The uptick comes after reports of a new variant called Eris which makes up one in four new cases. Also, another strain nicknamed Pirola is quickly spreading globally. The US is also seeing an increase in hospital admissions with coronavirus, its first significant uptick since December 2022. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said they are unsettled by the variant and suggested the rapid spread could suggest an international transmission. Christina Pagel, a member of the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies that advises on the virus, said: "Without ramping up surveillance, and in the face of waning immunity, we are travelling into winter more vulnerable and with blinkers on." Prof Pagel predicted the new wave could cause extreme pressure on the health service, with a repeat of last winter’s “unprecedented” NHS crisis of Covid, flu and respiratory virus that came all around the same time. Read full story Source: Independent, 24 August 2023 -
News Article
Families sue government for failing to protect care homes from Covid
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Thirty families are starting legal action against the government, care homes and several hospitals in England over the deaths of their relatives in the early days of the Covid pandemic. The families argue not enough was done to protect their loved ones from the virus. They are claiming damages for loss of life and the distress caused. The government says it specifically sought to safeguard care home residents using the best evidence available. The legal claims focus on the decision in March 2020 to rapidly discharge hospital patients into care homes without testing or a requirement for them to isolate. The cases follow a 2022 High Court judgement that ruled the policy was unlawful - as it failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable care home residents of asymptomatic transmission of the virus. One of the cases is being brought by Liz Weager, whose 95-year-old mother Margaret tested positive for the virus in her care home in May 2020 and died later in hospital. "What was happening in the management of those care homes? What advice were they having?" Liz asks. "It goes back to the government. There was a lack of preparedness, which then translated down to the care home." Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 August 2023 -
Content ArticlePublicly available data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) shows a persistently high number of excess deaths involving cardiovascular disease (CVD) in England since the beginning of the pandemic. This analysis of by the British Heart Foundation looks at this situation in more detail.
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Content ArticleThis study in the Journal of Medical Virology aimed to assess the extent and the disparity in excess acute myocardial infarction (AMI)-associated mortality during the pandemic, focusing on the outbreak of the Omicron strain. Using data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Vital Statistics System, the authors found that excess death, defined as the difference between the observed and the predicted mortality rates, was most pronounced for the 25–44 years age group. Excess deaths ranged from 23%–34% for the youngest compared to 13%–18% for the oldest age groups. The trend of mortality suggests that age and sex disparities have persisted even through the Omicron surge, with excess AMI-associated mortality being most pronounced in younger-aged adults.
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Content ArticleChris Graham of the Picker Institute and Jacob Lant from charity National Voices join host Annabelle Collins to discuss patient experience revealed by recent national surveys, how the findings should be used to improve quality and reduce health inequalities, and whether there is a bigger role for “real-time” experience measures.
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Content ArticleThe aim of the Long Covid webinar held on 5 July 2023 was to discuss where we are now with Long Covid clinics and research. The presentation videos from the webinar can be accessed from the link below.
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Content Article
My last blog, "Forgotten heroes" – the sequel, built upon a very moving BBC Panorama programme Forgotten heroes of the Covid front line. The BBC documentary told the sad story of healthcare workers (HCWs) who had bravely and knowingly put themselves in harm's way to care for their patients during the darkest days of the pandemic. Many lost their lives, while many more were rendered so severely injured by the disease (Long Covid) that they were (and remain) unable to work and have been unceremoniously sacked by their NHS Health Trusts/Boards. The way that an organisation manages its activities is known as 'governance'. Good governance will lead to high standards of ethics, morality, care and compassion for the people who work within it and those who may be affected by its acts and omissions. Hence, when applied to a whole country, it is known as 'Government', its departments and agencies. In this blog, I propose a possible hypothetical scenario that may have led to the tragic situation revealed by the BBC documentary. I hope this will lead you to consider the standards of 'governance' that apply to the 'duty of care' which a Government owes to its HCWs during a pandemic and what, morally and ethically, should be done to support those "forgotten heroes" if the Government’s governance should be found to be severely lacking. But is the scenario I am asking you to imagine hypothetical or is it real? I shall leave that to your judgement – and that of the Covid-19 Public Inquiry. -
News Article
Covid vaccines should be available to buy privately in UK, scientists say
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Covid vaccines should be made available for people to buy privately in Britain, leading scientists have urged, amid concerns over a new wave of the virus which could worsen in autumn and winter. Unlike flu jabs, which individuals or employers can buy for about £15 from high street pharmacies, Covid jabs are only available on the NHS in the UK. This month the UK government announced that the Covid autumn booster programme would cover a smaller pool of the population than earlier vaccination drives. The age limit has been raised from 50 to 65 and above, with some younger vulnerable groups also eligible. Covid is on the rise, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Experts raised concerns the wave could continue to grow and add to winter pressures on the NHS. Prof Adam Finn, of the University of Bristol, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said Covid jabs should be available commercially. Some employers might want to offer the vaccines to their staff, he added. Speaking in a personal capacity, Finn said: “I think it will be a good idea for vaccines to be made available to those that want them on the private market. I don’t really see any reason why that shouldn’t be happening.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 August 2023 -
Content ArticleSome of the same people that noted surgical masks were useless for airborne viruses also made decisions to limit the use of effective respirator masks: a decision that had devastating ramifications when the pandemic struck. In this article in the Byline Times, Josiah Mortimer delves deeper into a hub blog written by David Osborn: 'The pandemic – questions around Government governance' and questions the decisions made by the Government during the pandemic.
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News ArticleUpdated Covid vaccines are expected to become available in the US next month as alarm grows over a new variant dubbed Eris. Healthcare providers are grappling with a rise in hospitalisations stemming from Covid infections. Eris or EG.5.1, a subvariant of Omicron that originally emerged in late 2021, now accounts for around 17per cent of current COVID cases, according to the CDC. Symptoms of the new variant include a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and a sore throat. In the week of 30 July to 5 August, the latest period that data is available for, hospitalisations spiked by more than 14per cent, while deaths rose 10per cent compared to the previous week. It comes as providers and pharmacies prepare to roll out an updated vaccine designed to combat Omicron — but experts are not very optimistic that the greater majority of Americans will opt to be vaccinated. Fewer than 50 million people in the US got the shot last fall, compared to 250 million, or 73 per cent of the country’s population, when the vaccine was first made available in 2021, according to the agency. Read full story Source: Independent, 16 August 2023
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News Article
Heart attacks at record level after pandemic
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Record numbers of people have been hospitalised with heart attacks in the wake of the pandemic, official figures show. On Tuesday, health chiefs will launch a campaign urging those with symptoms to seek help, with fears that too many cases are being detected too late. The new figures for England show that more than 84,000 patients were admitted to hospital because of a heart attack in 2021/22 – a rise of more than 7,000 in a year. It follows warnings that heart deaths have risen by more than 500 a week since the first lockdown, with a fall in the numbers prescribed vital medication amid struggles to access GP care. Health officials are afraid that people are still failing to come forward, adding to the collateral damage caused by the pandemic. From this week, an NHS advert will encourage people to call 999 as soon as they experience symptoms of a heart attack, such as squeezing across the chest, sweating and a feeling of uneasiness, so people have the best chance of survival. Prof Nick Linker, a cardiologist and NHS national clinical director for heart disease, said: “Cardiovascular disease causes one in four deaths across the country, so it is vital that people are aware of the early signs of a heart attack. Every moment that passes during a heart attack increases heart muscle damage, and nearly all of the damage takes place within the first few hours, so if you experience symptoms such as a sensation of squeezing or tightness across the chest alongside sweating, nausea, or a sense of unease, please call 999 so you have the best chance of a full recovery”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 15 August 2023 -
News Article
Mysterious new long Covid symptom identified by scientists
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
A new symptom of long Covid has been revealed by scientists at the University of Leeds. Though most people who contract Covid recover within a few days or weeks of experiencing initial symptoms, some people can experience longer, more persistent symptoms – termed Long Covid or post Covid-19 syndrome by the NHS. Until now, the most commonly identified symptoms have included extreme tiredness, loss of smell, muscle aches and shortness of breath. Others include memory problems, chest pain, insomnia, heart palpitations, dizziness, joint pain, tinnitus and depression and anxiety. Now, a new study has revealed a previously unidentified symptom of long Covid. Published in The Lancet medical journal, the research detailed a new symptom of the condition after a 33-year-old man was referred to the specialists’ clinic. The patient had a six-month history of what the authors describe as a “rapid purple discolouration” on his legs. When standing, he remarked that they would feel progressively heavier and become “tingly, itchy and dusky” in colour. He added that a rash would occasionally appear on his feet, but that the mysterious symptoms would disappear when laying down. The disorder is known as acrocyanosis or persistent and extreme blue or cyanotic discolouration. It typically occurs in the hands and feet but can also appear across the nose and ears. “This was a striking case of acrocyanosis in a patient who had not experienced it before his Covid-19 infection”, said co-author Dr Manoj Sivan, associate clinical professor and honorary consultant in rehabilitation medicine at the University of Leeds. “Patients experiencing this may not be aware that it can be a symptom of Long Covid and dysautonomia, and may feel concerned about what they are seeing. Similarly, clinicians may not be aware of the link between acrocyanosis and Long Covid. We need to ensure that there is more awareness of dysautonomia [malfunctioning of the nervous system] in Long Covid so that clinicians have the tools they need to manage patients appropriately.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 August 2023 -
Content ArticlePatient Safety Learning invited David Osborn, a chartered safety and health practitioner and member of the Covid Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA) to give a talk to the Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network (SHBN) explaining what CATA is, its aims and objectives and its involvement with the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry. Here is a recording of David's talk and the presentation he delivered.
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News ArticleMedics have welcomed clarification from health officials over when the upcoming flu and Covid-19 vaccination programme will begin. NHS England had been criticised for pushing back the start date a month with pharmacists saying the change of plan would likely “catch patients off guard”. While school-aged children will be able to receive the flu shot from 1 September, adults were not expected to start getting flu and Covid jabs until October, a month later than recent years. Officials briefed that the later start time was so sites can co-administer both vaccines wherever possible, to make it more convenient, and to ensure protection in later winter months – typically when viruses are more likely to spread. But NHS England was criticised for a lack of transparency and communication, as healthcare teams had been preparing to provide the service as usual from September. NHS England said to maximise and extend protection during the winter and through the period of greatest risk in December and early January 2024, care home residents and care home staff must start receiving their jabs from 2 October, and other eligible flu and Covid cohorts from 7 October. However, in updated guidance officials said that as some firm commitments and appointments have already been made, any patient wishing to receive their vaccination in September will be allowed to do so. Most people are still likely to have their vaccines in October, officials believe. Responding to news that NHS England will, if needed, now allow practices to deliver both vaccination programmes from September rather than October, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of GPC England at the British Medical Association (BMA), said: “This news is very welcome, coming after the BMA made clear yesterday to NHS England that shifting the entire programme at the last minute to October would not only cause widespread confusion, but also serious disruption as flu clinics would have to be rearranged to fit the new timetable." Read full story Source: inews, 11 August 2023
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Content Article
The worst Covid strategy was not picking one
Patient_Safety_Learning posted an article in Blogs
This article by Bloomberg Opinion, looks at the number of excess deaths recorded throughout the world during the Covid-19 pandemic and how the different strategies applied by countries impacted those statistics. -
Content ArticleReflecting on the impact of restrictions placed on families and visitors to hospitals and care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic, this article, published in the BMJ, argues that families must be recognised and valued as partners in patient care.
