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Content Article
Long Covid: the NHS plan for 2021/22 (15 June 2021)
Mark Hughes posted an article in Patient recovery
The Long Covid Plan 2021/22 builds on the previous five-point plan announced in October 2020 and outlines 10 key next steps to be taken by the NHS to support people living with Long Covid. The plan highlights the need for equity of access, outcomes and experience in Long Covid support, as well as committing to extending the Your COVID Recovery website, collecting and publishing data. -
News Article
Figures show 10,000 fewer people starting breast cancer treatment
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
It has been found there are 10,000 fewer patients starting treatment for breast cancer over the past year in England. Experts are advising patients to go to their GP if they notice anything unusual and not to wait to get screened or checked. Although breast cancer deaths were found to be at an all time low during the pandemic, experts are worried there may be more to the low figures than previously thought. Read full story. Source: Sky News, 15 June 2021 -
Content Article
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Sinead Heneghan is a GP based in the North West of England with a passion for reducing health inequalities. In this interview for Patient Safety Learning, Sinead tells us how she made sure COVID-19 vaccinations were prioritised for people with learning disabilities, when national guidance advised otherwise. She also explains how they took the opportunity locally to combine these face-to-face immunisation appointments with annual health checks, identifying unmet health needs that needed addressing. -
News Article
Calls for urgent action to prevent learning disability deaths
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
An urgent call for action has been issued in order to help prevent learning disability deaths. Life expectancy among people with learning disabilities is at least 25 years less than the rest of the population. A report comparing data found that while life expectancy had increased, inequality was still an issue. Data findings have showed there was a higher incidence of death among those with learning disabilities during the pandemic, with April 2020 showing 59% of all deaths were due to the virus. Moreover, the pandemic has seen further access to healthcare inequalities, in one such instance the father of a man with Down's Syndrome was told by a doctor that should his son require the use of a ventilator, access would be denied. Read full story. Source: BBC News, 12th June 2021 -
News ArticleThe NHS has been advised to change the way they identify patients who are sick from coronavirus and those who test positive. Up until now, hospitals have recorded patients sick from the virus and those who tested positive together, whether they presented with symptoms or not. The new advice has been given with the hope that it will reduce the numbers of patients in hospital for the virus. Read full story. Source: The Independent, 9 June 2021
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Content Article
Approximately 1,000[1] UK health and care workers have died from Covid-19. Many were working with Covid-positive patients and with substandard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It is estimated that a further 122,000 health service workers who contracted Covid-19 are struggling with prolonged symptoms, often referred to as Long Covid. It has also become clear that a significant number of inpatients who had Covid-19, acquired the virus whilst in hospital.[2][3] In this opinion piece, Dr David Tomlinson argues that current PPE guidance still fails to adequately protect staff and patients against the airborne nature of the Covid-19 virus. David highlights the attempts made by many to raise their related safety concerns; arguing that the response to date has been inadequate, unsafe and unlawful. -
Content ArticleIn addition to older individuals and those with underlying chronic health conditions, maternal and newborn populations have been identified as being at greater risk from COVID-19. It became critical for hospitals and clinicians to maintain the safety of individuals in the facility and minimise the transmission of COVID-19 while continuing to strive for optimised outcomes by providing family-centered care. Rapid change during the pandemic made it appropriate to use the plan–do–study–act (PDSA) cycle to continually evaluate proposed and standard practices. Patrick and Johnson describe how their team established an obstetric COVID-19 unit for women and newborns, developed guidelines for visitation and for the use of personal protective equipment, initiated universal COVID-19 testing, and provided health education to emphasize shared decision making.
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News Article
Dozens of hospitals hit dangerous bed occupancy levels
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Dozens of acute trusts have operated at very high levels of bed occupancy in the past month, as they deal with a surge in non-covid patients with thousands fewer beds than normal. At one point in May, 49 general acute trusts out of 145 — the most since before covid — operated at occupancy of 95 per cent or more in adult acute beds. Up to eight trusts at a time were operating at 99 or 100% occupancy during May, according to analysis of published data. NHS England, prior to covid, told trusts to keep occupancy below 92%, and others believe even this is dangerously high, although trusts do often exceed it during winter. Trusts are seeing the largest numbers of non-covid emergency patients since at least winter 2019-20; and are also trying to return as many planned operations as possible. They are doing so with thousands fewer beds than normal, due to measures to deal with ongoing covid patients without further outbreaks of the virus in hospital. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 June 2021 -
Content ArticleYvonne Ormston shares her experience of dealing with Covid as the CEO of Gateshead Health FT and her own cancer journey during the pandemic. Published in HSJ.
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News ArticleAn NHS trust has become the first in the country to individually contact every family of patients who caught coronavirus while they were in hospital in a large-scale bid to be transparent over the scale of infections. Bosses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust have set up a team to work through hundreds of cases where patients caught coronavirus in hospital. At least 99 patients are known to have died after becoming infected with more cases still to review. In a unique approach to transparency the trust is sending a letter by recorded delivery to every affected patient or family where it is thought the patient picked up the virus within the hospital. The letter offers an apology for what happened and is followed by a phone call with a nurse and a meeting with officials if families have more concerns. Some families have asked to meet the nurses who cared for their loved ones. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 June 2021
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News Article
Fears of side-effects fuel reluctance to get Covid jabs, survey finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Most people who are reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid are worried about side-effects and whether the vaccines have been adequately tested, a survey in 15 countries has shown. Other reasons cited in the survey of 68,000 people, led by Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation in collaboration with YouGov, were the uncertainty that people would not get the vaccine they preferred and worries about efficacy. The survey was carried out in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Excluding eligibility, the top reasons for not having the vaccine across all 15 countries surveyed were “concerns about side effects” and/or “concerns that there has not been enough testing of vaccines”. Trust in vaccines was highest in the UK, at 87%, and lowest in Japan, at 47%. The UK respondents also had the highest level of confidence in their health authorities (70%), while South Korea had the lowest (42%). Among those who had not yet been vaccinated, confidence was highest in the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in nine out of the 15 countries, and in three others – Canada, Singapore and Sweden – among those under 65. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 June 2021 -
News ArticleThe number of people suffering from symptoms of long covid more than a year after their initial Coronavirus infection has jumped to almost 400,000. New data from the Office for National Statistics based on a survey of patients found the numbers of patients with persistent symptoms after 12 months jumped from 70,000 in March to 376,000 in May. Overall, the ONS said an estimated one million people had self-reported signs of long Covid which last for more than four weeks. The effects of long Covid were reported to be affected the day-to-day activities of 650,000 people, with 192,000 of those saying their ability to undertake day-to-day activities had been limited a lot. Fatigue was the most common symptom reported, with 547,000 people affected. A total of 405,000 people reported a shortness of breath, while 313,000 had muscle aches. More than a quarter of a million patients, 285,000 people, said they had difficulty concentrating. According to the ONS the prevalence of long Covid was higher among those aged between 35 and 69-year-old and women were more likely to be affected than men along with those living in the most deprived areas as well as staff working in health and social care. Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 June 2021
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News ArticleMore than 20 healthcare organisations, including those representing nurses, doctors, surgeons and therapists, are calling for stricter UK guidelines to be introduced on face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE). In a virtual meeting with officials, they will say existing rules leave them vulnerable to infection through the air, especially by new Covid variants. The unprecedented appeal will see them argue that other countries, such as the United States, protect their health workers with higher-grade equipment. It is thought to be the first time health and care organisations have united on a single issue in this way - a sign of the desperation many feel about the need for staff to be kept safe. The delegation will include representatives of the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and many other professional organisations and unions. On the government side will be about 20 of the most senior officials from all four UK nations, many involved in setting the guidelines on personal protective equipment (PPE). Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 June 2021
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Content ArticleThis guide provides guidance for hospital clinical staff and managers in the secondary care of COVID-19 patients, based on the experience of hospital trusts that performed well during the early phase of the pandemic. It summarises the challenges faced by, and responses of, several high performing trusts visited as part of the GIRFT cross-specialty COVID-19 deep dives, as well as identifying successful innovations they implemented.
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News ArticleThousands of hospital patients were allowed to return to their care homes without a Covid test despite a direct plea to the government from major care providers not to allow the practice, the Observer has been told. As the crisis began to unfold in early March 2020, providers held an emergency meeting with department of health officials in which they urged the government not to force them to accept untested residents. However, weeks later, official advice remained that tests were not mandatory and thousands of residents are thought to have returned to their homes without a negative Covid result. The revelation will heap further pressure on the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who has admitted some care residents returned from hospital without a test. It comes after Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former senior adviser, last week accused Hancock of misleading the prime minister over the policy, during his unprecedented evidence in parliament. Some 25,000 people were discharged to care homes between 17 March and 15 April, and there is widespread belief among social care workers and leaders that this allowed the virus to get into the homes. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 May 2021
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News ArticleThe number of people being admitted to hospital with COVID-19 is rising in some regions but "few, if any" are from care homes, according to an NHS leader. Younger people are making up most of coronavirus hospital admissions, with 70% of admissions in one hospital consisting of under-45s, NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said. Although the number of hospital admissions is "ticking up" in areas most affected by the Indian Covid variant, the rise is small compared with the levels seen earlier in the year. Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Hopson said most hospitalisations were among younger people and those who have been offered the vaccine but have yet to take up the offer. A number are among those who have only had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while “a very small number” are fully vaccinated with both doses. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 May 2021
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News Article
GPs stricken by long Covid ‘shocked and betrayed’ at being forced from jobs
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Family doctors are being forced out of their jobs after developing long Covid, prompting demands for the government to compensate NHS staff with the debilitating condition who cannot work. GPs struggling with the condition have told the Observer they felt “shocked and betrayed” when their colleagues removed them from their posts because of prolonged sick leave. “I received a lawyer’s letter on behalf of the other partners in the GP surgery telling me that they were ending my partnership. I understood why they did what they did, because I was too sick to work at the time. But it was also callous and mercenary,” said one doctor who lost her job. “It was hard on me, as one of the partners was also my best friend. The partners were worried I’d be a ‘disabled partner’ and wouldn’t be able to pull my weight. Long Covid meant I simply couldn’t function normally and so couldn’t meet the return to work date they gave me, so they exercised their right under our partnership agreement to end my partnership at the surgery,” added the GP, who asked to remain anonymous. The issue has prompted soul-searching within the medical profession about what duty of care family doctors owe each other when they cannot work because they have been laid low with exhaustion, brain fog, breathlessness and other symptoms of long Covid. Locum medics and hospital doctors with the condition are also having problems including loss of income, trouble accessing sick pay, contractual difficulties and getting employers to accept that they cannot work normally, sometimes for months. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 May 2021 -
Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic has imposed extraordinary strains on healthcare workers. But, in contrast with acute settings, relatively little attention has been given to those who work in mental health settings. Liberati et al. aimed to characterise the experiences of those working in English NHS secondary mental health services during the first wave of the pandemic.
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News ArticleAlmost as soon as the pandemic struck early last year, NHS England recognised that patients catching Covid-19 while they were in hospital for non-Covid care was a real risk and could lead to even more deaths than were already occurring. Unfortunately their fears have been borne out by events since – every acute hospital in England has been hit by this problem to some extent. Over the last 15 months various NHS and medical bodies have looked into hospital-acquired Covid and published reports and detailed guidance to help hospitals stem its spread. They include the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) and Public Health England (PHE). Last May, for example, PHE estimated that 20% of coronavirus infections in hospitalised patients and almost 90% of infections among healthcare staff may have been nosocomial, meaning they were caught in a hospital setting. Before the pandemic the NHS was over-stretched and resources were limited. The crisis distorted it further out of shape and despite NHS staff making huge efforts to contain the virus in extremely challenging circumstances, too often they were overwhelmed. There are many other reasons, including inadequate ventilation, the sharing of equipment, and nurses and doctors having to gather at nurses’ stations and in doctors’ messes. Some bereaved relatives also cite hospitals deciding – inexplicably – to put their Covid-free loved ones in a bay or ward with one or more people who had the disease, sometimes resulting in tragedy. While some of these inherent weaknesses have been addressed, others remain, leaving further infections and even more deaths in this way a distinct possibility if the NHS is hit by another Covid surge. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 May 2021
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News ArticleHospitals have been accused of “unnecessary secrecy” for refusing to disclose how many of their patients died after catching Covid on their wards. The Patients Association, doctors’ leaders and the campaign group Transparency International have criticised the 42 NHS acute trusts in England that did not comply fully with freedom of information request for hospital-acquired Covid infections and deaths. The Guardian revealed on Monday that up to 8,700 patients lost their lives after probably or definitely becoming infected during the pandemic while in hospital for surgery or other treatment. That was based on responses from 81 of the 126 trusts from which it sought figures. The British Medical Association, the main doctors’ trade union, said the 42 trusts that did not reveal how many such deaths had occurred in their hospitals were denying the bereaved crucial information. “No one should come into hospital with one condition, only to be made incredibly ill with, or even die from, a dangerous infectious disease,” Dr Rob Harwood, chair of the BMA’s hospital consultants committee, said. “Families, including those of our own colleagues who died fighting this virus on the frontline, deserve answers. We will only get that if there is full transparency." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 May 2021
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News Article
Up to 8,700 patients died after catching Covid in English hospitals
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Up to 8,700 patients died after catching Covid-19 while in hospital being treated for another medical problem, according to official NHS data obtained by the Guardian. The figures, which were provided by the hospitals themselves, were described as “horrifying” by relatives of those who died. Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary, said that hospital-acquired Covid “remains one of the silent scandals of this pandemic, causing many thousands of avoidable deaths”. NHS leaders and senior doctors have long claimed hospitals have struggled to stop Covid spreading because of shortages of single rooms, a lack of personal protective equipment and an inability to test staff and patients early in the pandemic. Now, official figures supplied by NHS trusts in England show that 32,307 people have probably or definitely contracted the disease while in hospital since March 2020 – and 8,747 of them died. That means that almost three in 10 (27.1%) of those infected that way lost their lives within 28 days. “The NHS has done us all proud over the past year, but these new figures are devastating and pose challenging questions on whether the right hospital infection controls were in place”, said Hunt, who chairs the Commons health and social care select committee. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 May 2021 -
Content ArticleThis article, published by the National Health Executive, is written by John Duncan, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.John argues that:"Driving positive change around inclusion will help ensure the NHS has a motivated, included and valued workforce; one where everyone has equal access to career opportunities and receives fair treatment in the workplace. This, in turn, will allow us to continue to deliver high quality patient care, achieve increased patient satisfaction and high levels of patient safety."Read the full article through the link below.
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News Article
Secrecy over care home deaths breakdown branded 'shameful' and 'shocking'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The refusal of an arm of the Scottish Government to release information about deaths in individual care homes during the pandemic has been branded “shameful” and “shocking” by opposition parties. National Records of Scotland, which is responsible for the official recording of deaths in Scotland, breached Freedom of Information legislation by refusing to release the number of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 related deaths in each of Scotland’s care homes, the Scottish Information Commissioner has ruled. While care home death figures have been published, the NRS refused to break these down by care home, citing “speculative” arguments about this release impacting care workers and the commercial interests of care home operators, the commissioner said. “This is another devastating blow for the care home residents and families who have been denied justice,” he said. “Those responsible must be held accountable and lessons must be learned. “We need a Scottish public inquiry without delay.” Read full story Source: The Scotsman, 21 May 2021 -
News Article
NHS plans to keep electives at 80% in next covid surge
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England has asked hospitals to prepare for a potential further surge of covid cases reaching around half the level of first wave of the virus last year – and to seek to deliver 80% of normal elective activity throughout it, HSJ has learned. Well-placed sources said NHSE officials have held meetings in recent weeks discussing the possibility of a fourth wave of covid later this year, which modelling suggests could see up to 50% of the patient numbers seen in April last year. Trusts have been asked by NHSE officials, as part of the planning process, what resources they would need to run at 80 per cent of previous volumes of elective work if this scenario occurred. They are also taking into account that it is likely to come on top of greater non-covid emergency care demand, which has been lower then normal over the past 15 months. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 May 2021 -
News Article
People in England ‘face three-year waits for dentist appointments’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People are being told to wait until 2024 for dentist appointments while others are being removed from their practice lists for not making appointments sooner, according to a damning report into the state of dentistry. Dental surgeries have reported that they have thousands of people on their waiting lists, while patients are unable to access care after ringing round numerous dental surgeries, a watchdog has warned. Delays have resulted in the worsening of painful symptoms and in one instance even led to a patient needing hospital treatment after overdosing on painkillers, it said. But Healthwatch England said that some people are being offered swift private care as an alternative at the same dental practice, with some patients reporting that they felt pressured to pay for their treatment. Some practices appeared to be prioritising private care, it added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 May 2021
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