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Found 2,339 results
  1. News Article
    The bodies of people who died with Covid were treated like "toxic waste" and families were left in shock, a bereaved woman has told the inquiry. Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees said her father Ian died "gasping for breath" after catching the virus while in hospital. Ms Marsh-Rees, who leads Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, said he was "zipped away", and his belongings put in a Tesco carrier bag. Ian Marsh-Rees died after catching the virus while in hospital, aged 85. His daughter said finding information regarding his care in hospital and how he became infected was "almost like an Agatha Christie mystery". She said no GP ever suggested he might have Covid, although she now knows his discharge notes said he had been exposed to Covid. "It wasn't until we saw his notes some months later that we saw the DNA CPR (do not attempt CPR) placed on him, and this was without consultation with us," she said. "It kind of haunts us all that… people used to say 'well they're in the right place' when they go to hospital. I'm not sure they would say that any more," Ms Marsh-Rees said. She now wants to change the way deaths are handled by health boards. She said it was important to prepare families before and support them after the death of a loved one, from palliative care to dignity in death. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 July 2023
  2. Content Article
    The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is the independent public inquiry set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future. In order to fully understand the impact of the pandemic on the UK population, the Inquiry is inviting the public to share their experiences of the pandemic by launching Every Story Matters. It will inform the Inquiry’s work by gathering pandemic experiences which can be brought together and represent the whole of the UK, including those seldom heard. The output of Every Story Matters will be a unique, comprehensive account of the UK population’s experiences of the pandemic, to be submitted to the Inquiry’s legal process as evidence. This toolkit contains information and creative assets that can be used to encourage participation in Every Story Matters. Every Story Matters aims to provide inclusive methods for people to talk about their experience of the pandemic, so anyone that wants to share their story feels heard, valued, and can contribute to the Inquiry.
  3. Content Article
    In this report, Professor Brian Edwards summarises contributions given to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry by various politicians and senior civil servants, relating to how prepared the UK and Scottish Governments were for the Covid-19 pandemic. It contains reflections on the contributions of: Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister of Scotland during the pandemic) Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care during the pandemic) Jenny Harries (Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency) Emma Reed (civil servant, DHSC)
  4. Content Article
    All the public and preliminary hearings from the Covid 19 Inquiry can be found here.
  5. Content Article
    Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report.
  6. News Article
    Britain’s lead public health body has a staggering lack of control over billions of pounds of spending, and there is no plan for stockpiling vaccines or personal protective equipment (PPE) for a future pandemic, a damning MPs’ report has found. The public accounts committee was highly critical of the repeated governance and financial failings at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which was set up with great fanfare under Boris Johnson. Meg Hillier, the committee chair, said it would be “utterly inexcusable” for the government to have failed to make serious preparations for future health emergencies and warned the lack of a plan for stockpiling could leave health workers once again exposed to danger as they were in 2020. The committee lambasted the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which oversees UKHSA, for lacking a strategy for reserves of PPE, vaccines and medicines despite its mandate to protect the country’s health security. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 July 2023
  7. News Article
    A "significant" number of doctors are still suffering with the "debilitating effects" of Long Covid, according to a new report. Many are left in financial limbo as they have been forced to quit work or reduce their hours, the British Medical Association (BMA) report warns. Some 600 doctors with long COVID were quizzed about the impact on their day-to-day lives. One in five told the BMA and the Long COVID Doctors for Action group they had been forced to stop work or significantly cut back on their hours. Carrying out essential daily activities such as getting dressed, household activities, and childcare have become difficult or not possible for 60% of the medics who took part in the survey. Nearly half (49%) said they have experienced loss of earnings as a result of Long Covid symptoms of which include: fatigue, headaches, muscular pain, nerve damage, joint pain, ongoing respiratory problems. The BMA has made a series of calls to support doctors with Long Covid, including: Financial support for doctors and other health workers with Long Covid. Long Covid to be recognised as an "occupational disease". Better access to physical and mental health services for those affected after the report said that access to NHS long COVID clinics is "patchy". Greater "workplace protection" for staff. More support to help healthcare workers return to work "safely". Read full story Source: Medscape, 3 July 2023
  8. Content Article
    A significant number of doctors and other healthcare workers have developed post-acute COVID, including a large number who developed it as a result of workplace exposure to Covid-19. This paper examines the impact post-acute Covid symptoms have had on the medical workforce, personally and professionally. It provides a unique and valuable insight into the experience of UK doctors suffering from post-acute Covid. It has been informed by a UK survey of over 600 doctors suffering from the continuing effects of an infection with Covid-19, as well as wider research of the issues. The survey was undertaken by the British Medical Association (BMA) in partnership with Long COVID Doctors for Action. This is the first comprehensive survey of doctors with post-acute Covid health complications. This paper should inform the support needed by current sufferers of post-acute COVID in the NHS workforce, and help protect services and patients now and in the future.
  9. News Article
    Many vulnerable patients are struggling to access covid treatments after commissioning responsibility switched to integrated care boards this week, charities have warned. Approximately two million vulnerable patients must now contact local services themselves to access treatments designed to combat covid infections, such as the antivirals Paxlovid and Sotrovimab. Integrated care boards are expected to coordinate and fund “equitable” access. Prior to 27 June, identification of patients and the delivery of treatment was coordinated nationally under pandemic arrangements. However, a group of 20 patient charities have written to Steve Barclay warning that most ICBs have not drawn up plans to deliver this new responsibility, leaving patients and primary care clinicians unclear on how to access the treatments. “Despite continually raising our concerns with those carrying out the planning, implementation, and communication of this [policy], we now find that we are in exactly the position we warned against,” they said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 July 2023
  10. News Article
    There has been an unusual rise in the number of children and teenagers around the world diagnosed with type 1 diabetes since Covid, say researchers. A new study in JAMA Network Open journal has collated available data from different countries, including the UK, on more than 38,000 young people diagnosed during the pandemic. The authors describe the increase in cases of diabetes as "substantial". More work is needed to understand why the rise is happening, they say. Some of the rise could be attributed to catch-up - from backlogs and delays when health services were shut - but does not explain all of the newly diagnosed cases, say scientists. Before the pandemic, the incidence rate of childhood type 1 diabetes was already increasing - by about 3% a year.
  11. Content Article
    There are reports of increasing incidence of paediatric diabetes since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study by D'Souza et al. compares the incidence rates of paediatric diabetes during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that incidence rates of type 1 diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis at diabetes onset in children and adolescents were higher after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic than before the pandemic. Increased resources and support may be needed for the growing number of children and adolescents with diabetes. Future studies are needed to assess whether this trend persists and may help elucidate possible underlying mechanisms to explain temporal changes.
  12. Content Article
    Professor Brian Edwards summarises this week's evidence in the Covid-UK inquiry.
  13. News Article
    Ex-health secretary Matt Hancock has criticised the UK's pandemic planning before Covid hit, saying it was "completely wrong". He told the Covid Inquiry that planning was focused on the provision of body bags and how to bury the dead, rather than stopping the virus taking hold. He said he was "profoundly sorry" for each death. After giving evidence he approached some of the bereaved families, but they turned their backs on him as he left. The former health secretary, who answered questions from the inquiry on Tuesday, said he understood his apology might be difficult for families to accept, even though it was "honest and heartfelt". Under questioning from Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the Covid Inquiry, Mr Hancock stressed that the "attitude, the doctrine of the UK was to plan for the consequences of a disaster". Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 June 2023
  14. News Article
    The head of NHS England was critical of the government’s slogan urging people to “protect the NHS” at the start of the Covid pandemic, amid concerns it would stop people coming forward for much-needed treatment. Simon Stevens, who led the NHS until July 2021, was one of the slogan’s “greatest critics” and was not involved in the government discussion that led to the phrase being deployed. “It was a tremendously powerful slogan,” writes journalist Isabel Hardman in Fighting for Life: The Twelve Battles That Made Our NHS, and the Struggle for Its Future. “It was popular in government – but not universally so. In fact, one of its greatest critics was Simon Stevens. Stevens wasn’t on the calls where [government advisers] came up with ‘Protect the NHS’, and initially he complained in private that it gave the impression that the public was there for the health service – not the health service being there for the public. “Either way, the focus quickly became about the importance of ‘protecting the NHS’. But there was never a clear definition of what it was being protected from.” Later in 2020, Lord Stevens referred to his concerns about the slogan, writing: “Rather than say ‘Protect the NHS’, health service staff prefer to say: ‘Help us help you’.” Senior NHS figures also attempted to battle against the slogan from the spring of 2020, urging patients to come forward as normal. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 June 2023
  15. News Article
    One in 10 health workers in England had suicidal thoughts during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to research that highlights the scale of its mental impact. The risk of infection or death, moral distress, staff shortages, burnout and the emotional toll of battling the biggest public health crisis in a century significantly affected the mental wellbeing of health workers worldwide. A study involving almost 20,000 responses to two surveys reveals the full extent of the mental health impact on workers at the height of the pandemic. Research led by the University of Bristol analysed results from two surveys undertaken at 18 NHS trusts across England. The first was carried out between April 2020 and January 2021 and completed by 12,514 workers. The second – covering October 2020 to August 2021 – was completed by 7,160. The first survey found that 10.8% of workers reported having suicidal thoughts in the preceding two months, while 2.1% attempted to take their own life in the same period. Some 11.3% of workers who did not report suicidal thoughts in the first survey reported them six months later, with 3.9% – about one in 25 – saying they had attempted to take their own life for the first time. Responses showed that a lack of confidence in raising safety concerns, feeling unsupported by managers, and having to provide a lower standard of care were among the factors contributing to staff distress. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 June 2023
  16. News Article
    The UK had one of the worst increases in death rates of major European economies during the Covid pandemic, BBC analysis has found. Death rates in the UK were more than 5% higher on average each year of the pandemic than in the years just before it, largely driven by a huge death toll in the first year. That was above the increase seen in France, Spain or Germany, but below Italy and significantly lower than the US. It would take many inquiries to tease apart the effect of all the possible reasons behind every nation's pandemic outcomes: preparedness, population health, lockdown timing and severity, social support, vaccine rollout and health care provision and others. But some argue that there are lessons for the UK that need to be learned even before we think about future pandemics. The UK's heavy pandemic death toll "built on a decade of lacklustre performance on life expectancy" says Veena Raleigh, of the King's Fund, a health think tank. She argues that government action to improve population health and turn that around has "never been more urgent. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 June 2023
  17. News Article
    GP records show a sharp rise in teenage girls in the UK developing eating disorders and self-harming during the Covid pandemic, a study has found. The increases were greatest among girls living in the wealthiest areas, which could be due to better GP access. Young women have told the BBC that the lack of control over their lives during lockdown was a behavioural trigger. Eating disorders and self-harming have been rising among children and young people for a number of years but "increased substantially" between 2020 and 2022, the study found. Over that period, around 2,700 diagnoses of eating disorders were anticipated among 13-16-year-olds, but 3,862 were actually observed - 42% more than the expected figure. Dr Shruti Garg, from the University of Manchester - a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the study author - called it a "staggering rise" which highlighted an urgent need to improve early access to support. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 June 2023
  18. Content Article
    The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has been set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry’s work is guided by its Terms of Reference.
  19. News Article
    The Covid inquiry is being urged to investigate if health officials dismissed evidence of collateral deaths during lockdown after a whistleblower claimed that pathologists’ concerns were shut down. As the inquiry prepares to hold its first full public hearing this week, Prof Sebastian Lucas, who worked as a consultant pathologist at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, claimed that PHE was not interested in what he described as “collateral deaths”. Prof Lucas wrote to Prof Kevin Fenton, the director of PHE London, on behalf of the London Inner South Jurisdiction Pathology Advisory Group. He approached the agency in January 2021 as the UK entered its third lockdown, warning that collateral deaths as a result of the pandemic had not been recorded properly. The group, which was headed up by a coroner, had identified several deaths that would not have happened had the NHS been functioning as normal. This included people who did not want to bother the doctor or who took their own lives because of lockdowns. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 10 June 2023
  20. Content Article
    The National Vascular Registry (NVR) has published a report on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on vascular surgery in the UK, presenting key findings from NVR data throughout 2020 and 2021. NVR previously reported on data as at 25 September 2020, which showed that Covid-19 infection in patients undergoing vascular surgical procedures significantly increased the risk of respiratory complications and mortality. Here, they update this analysis, using data through to the end of 2021, and explore whether the Covid-19 vaccination programme provided protection to patients against this life-threatening complication. One finding is that, between March 2020 and Dec 2021, confirmed postoperative Covid-19 diagnoses were most common among non-elective procedures, ranging from 18.4% (non-elective AAA repair) to 27.5% (major lower limb amputation). For elective procedures, the reported rates of confirmed postoperative Covid-19 diagnoses were lower, ranging from 1.6% (elective AAA repair) to 4.1% (lower-limb bypass). Other key findings include: There was only a modest rise during the first Covid-19 wave (Mar-Jun 2020) with a larger rise during the second wave (Nov 2020-Feb 2021) There was a different pattern for respiratory complications after surgery, with higher rates observed in both wave 1 and wave 2 The period from March to December 2021 was associated with rates of respiratory complications and in-hospital postoperative mortality returning to levels observed pre-pandemic in 2019 Overall, the report concludes that the vaccination programme had a modest benefit to patients in reducing the risk of respiratory complications, and therefore carries a public health message relevant for both national and international audiences.
  21. News Article
    More than three years after Boris Johnson announced a nationwide lockdown, the Covid investigation will cover every aspect of the UK’s pandemic response. More than three years after the first lockdown began, two years after the last one ended, the public hearings are at last starting. Over the months that come the inquiry will have many questions to answer. Should we have locked down earlier? Should we have not locked down at all? Did we eat out to help restaurants out, or eat out to help the virus out? Could more have been done to protect care homes from infection? Should more have been done to protect residents from loneliness? Baroness Hallett, the judge presiding, said her chief role is “to determine whether [the] level of loss,” in the broadest sense of the word, “was inevitable or whether things could have been done better”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 13 June 2023
  22. News Article
    The World Health Organization’s new pandemic preparedness treaty is being watered down and stripped of the key stipulations needed to prevent another global health disaster, say leading international health experts and civil society groups. WHO’s 194 member states agreed in December 2021 to draw up a new convention to ensure that the world would be prepared for future global health threats and to prevent the “catastrophic failure” seen during the covid pandemic. The “zero draft” of the accord, published in February, had excited observers because its scope went beyond the closest existing legally binding framework, the International Health Regulations. That draft stipulated strong obligations for information sharing and the importance of having a strong health workforce and universal healthcare, among other requirements. The latest 42 page document, leaked during the World Health Assembly, has revealed that many passages that experts regard as key to improving global health have been weakened or made optional, meaning that they could be removed in the final draft. Read full story Source: BMJ, 31 May 2023
  23. News Article
    Bereaved families of coronavirus victims feel the Welsh government has not adequately taken part in the Covid public inquiry, their solicitor says. Craig Court, who represents bereaved families, said the Welsh government had not participated "as well as they should have". He claimed the Welsh government failed to deliver crucial paperwork with just days to go before Tuesday's inquiry. The UK-wide inquiry could go on as long as three years, and will predominantly look at the UK government's approach to the pandemic. A Wales-specific inquiry was blocked by Labour members of the Senedd, with First Minster Mark Drakeford saying it should wait until after the UK-wide investigation had been completed. Mr Court told BBC Wales "there is a great concern over the duty of candour" displayed by the Welsh government. Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 June 2023
  24. Content Article
    Pharmacovigilance is the observation and monitoring of possible harms from exposure to a variety of pharmaceuticals, biologics and devices. In this blog, Professor of Evidence-based Medicine Carl Heneghan and Clinical Epidemiologist Tom Jefferson talk about a recent attempt to obtain data on the incidence of deaths following Covid-19 vaccination from the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) through a Freedom of Information request. They describe how the MHRA initially said they were unable to provide the information as it would cost too much to extract, and after sending a follow up request to the MHRA's Chief Safety Officer, they have not heard anything further after an initial promise to investigate. They argue that the MHRA is failing the public by failing to investigate the side effects of Covid vaccines using information from Yellow Card reports. This blog is paywalled once you have read a certain number of articles each month.
  25. Content Article
    In this blog, hub topic lead Julie Storr talks about her new book Infection prevention and control: A social science perspective, which explores new perspectives on and approaches to infection prevention and control (IPC). The book examines how people and their behaviour affect IPC, and how they are in turn affected by IPC measures. Julie highlights the importance of compassion in IPC policy and implementation and outlines the unintended negative consequences that IPC measures can have. Among other contributors, Patient Safety Learning's Chief Executive Helen Hughes has written a chapter for the book highlighting the need for patient safety to be treated as a core purpose of health and social care.
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