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Showing results for tags 'Pandemic'.
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Content ArticleAs the pandemic approached England in early 2020, government policy decisions ensured most people stayed at home and NHS hospitals were largely protected. Yet some lives were not saved that should have been and England subsequently experienced the highest levels of excess mortality in Europe. Now as we head towards a winter living with COVID-19, a new hospital discharge policy suggests the English NHS has not learned from early mistakes and may be putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk.
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Content Article'Long Covid' is a term is used to describe individuals who continue to suffer from COVID-19 symptoms outside of the two-week period in which they are believed to be infected. The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed this two-week period as enough time for the virus and its symptoms to be able to come and go, yet studies are revealing cases in which symptoms are persisting well outside of this window. Survivors may have a chronic debilitating illness for many months.
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Content ArticlePatient Safety Learning’s formal response to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry report Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond, which calls for urgent action to assess and tackle a backlog of appointments and an unknown patient demand for all health services, specifically across cancer treatments, mental health services, dentistry services, GP services and elective surgery.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic will impact the health of many people in England and unfortunately many people will lose their lives. This paper from the Department of Health and Social Care, Office for National Statistics, Government Actuary’s Department and Home Office, provides a summary of research and analysis, discussing and estimating the health impacts (both excess deaths and morbidity) from the pandemic.
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Content ArticlePatient Led Research for COVID-19 invite you to participate in this research study if you have previously experienced or you are currently experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 as a result of suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim of this research study, sponsored by University College London (UCL), is to better describe and understand the patient experience and recovery of those with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, with a specific emphasis on the Long COVID experience. The focus of this study includes participants’ backgrounds, testing, symptoms, and psychological wellbeing. A secondary aim of this study is to publish patient-driven data in order to advocate for the Long COVID population within the medical community. Patient Led Research for COVID-19 are a self-organised group of COVID-19 long-haul patients working on patient-led research around the COVID experience and prolonged recoveries. They are all researchers in relevant fields – participatory design, neuroscience, public policy, data collection and analysis, human-centered design, health activism – in addition to having intimate knowledge of COVID-19.
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Content Article
Greater risk of severe COVID-19 in Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations is not explained by cardiometabolic, socioeconomic or behavioural factors, or by 25(OH)-vitamin D status: study of 1326 cases from the UK Biobank (29 June 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Health inequalities
Research has found that variations in cardiometabolic factors, vitamin D levels and socioeconomic or behavioural factors do not adequately explain why COVID-19 disproportionately affects black, Asian and minority ethnic populations. In this study published in the Journal of Public Health, Raisi-Estabragh et al. examined whether the greater severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) amongst men and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals is explained by cardiometabolic, socio-economic or behavioural factors. They found ethnicity differential pattern of COVID-19 was not adequately explained by variations in cardiometabolic factors, vitamin D levels, or socioeconomic or behavioural factors. This, the researchers said, suggests that alternative biological pathways or genetic susceptibilities may have importance in driving the higher rates of severe COVID-19 in BAME populations and should be investigated. -
Content ArticleThe Health and Social Care Committee is calling for urgent action to assess and tackle a backlog of appointments and an unknown patient demand for all health services, specifically across cancer treatments, mental health services, dentistry services, GP services and elective surgery. MPs say a compelling case has been made for the nationwide routine testing of all NHS staff and they are yet to understand why it cannot be introduced.
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Content ArticleIn the UK, people affected by dementia have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. From the high death rate in care homes, to the significant cognitive decline for people who live in the community, to the rising mental health challenges for unpaid carers, the pandemic has had a severe impact, while exposing our fragmented social care system for all to see. Alzheimer’s Society is the UK’s leading dementia charity, and in this report they bring together evidence from a wide range of sources to shine a light on the impact of COVID-19 on people who have dementia and those who care for them.
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Content ArticleA number of posts on Facebook and Twitter are making a number of unfounded claims about government changes to how vaccines are introduced in the UK. These claims are misleading and can cause fear. Some of these posts imply that unlicensed vaccines are untested, which is not the case. An “unlicensed” vaccine for COVID-19 or anything else, does not mean it’s not been tested. Any vaccine rolled out to the public, unlicensed or not, still has to go through extensive clinical trials. This would include a COVID-19 vaccine. Licensing happens after the vaccine has gone through all three phases of pre-launch trials, which usually means the vaccine has already been tested on thousands of adults. Licensing is when experts within the national Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (or the EU regulators, up to the end of the transition period) review the results of the trials. The standards of vaccines generally have to be much higher than those for medication to treat illnesses, as vaccines are usually given to healthy people to prevent disease.The government can already roll-out unlicensed (but not untested) vaccines during a public health emergency, and the government consultation is proposing to clarify the rules around doing this. Here, Full Fact outlines what the government consultation document proposes doing. Full Fact is the UK’s independent fact checking charity.
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Content Article
First, Do No Harm — But in a Pandemic, How? (25 September 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
As hospitals in the US braced for the onslaught of coronavirus cases this past spring, they radically restructured and reorganised to help ease the burden on staff and minimise transmission within the hospital. Along with ceasing elective surgeries and transforming floors to allow for care of intubated patients, visitors were forbidden from entering hospitals with few exceptions. Now, several months removed from the peak of the pandemic, a limited number of visitors are allowed at a time. While limiting visitors allows some additional element of physical distancing, how much does a ban actually help our patients, and how much does it hurt them — especially mothers-to-be in the vulnerable perinatal period? Is it possible to limit visitor-spread virus while allowing our patients the dignity and the peace of companionship during one of the most stressful periods of their lives? In this blog, Byrne and Goldfarb look at the consequences of limiting visitors during the pandemic and considers the negative effect this may have on the health of the patient. -
Content ArticleThe government’s new 'Hands. Face. Space; campaign urges you to continue to wash your hands, cover your face and make space to control infection rates. By following these simple steps, illustrated in this video, you could make a significant difference in reducing the transmission of coronavirus and help protect yourself and your family, friends and colleagues from the virus.
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Content ArticleLockdown has been a seismic shock for every family and community. Sadly, the voices of the hardest hit have been heard the least. This report sets about to change this by exploring pandemic and lockdown reflections from a diverse group of expectant and new parents during the critical first months and years of their babies’ development. Charities Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and Parent-Infant Foundation were alarmed that the voices of parents with new babies have been absent from key pandemic responses. As a result, they worked with Critical Research to survey 5,000 new and expectant parents on their lockdown experiences and found a mixed picture, shining a light on huge disparities between different families and communities.
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Content ArticleIn this report, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) explain the information they have gathered on the pressures that services and local systems have faced during COVID-19 and the efforts that have been made to tackle them. These insight reports are designed to help everyone involved in health and social care to work together to learn from the first stages of the COVID-19 pandemic by: sharing and reflecting on what has gone well understanding and learning from the experience of what hasn't helping health and care systems prepare better in the future.
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Content ArticleThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) recognises the enormity of challenges faced by health and care providers in responding to coronavirus (COVID-19). At very short notice, services developed new procedures and ways of working. They looked at how they work with others and how people they care for can stay in touch with family and friends. The CQC asked providers to send examples of changes they made. By sharing examples this may help other providers with the same issues. These are some themes from the examples provided.
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Content ArticlePresentation from Dr Andrew Hider, Clinical Director, Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Ludlow Street Healthcare, on mental health during the pandemic.
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Content ArticleThis Independent SAGE report provides its own guidance on the measures needed to avoid another national lockdown. "We are in a crisis. Infections and hospital admissions are rapidly increasing. The testing system has broken down and it will be weeks before it is sorted. If nothing changes, there will come a point soon when the situation is so far out of control that the only possible response will be a second national lockdown and our lives will be completely disrupted once again. No one wants thisto happen. We can avoid it if we take urgent action. We must take action immediately to regain control of the pandemic and drive down infections now. We must implement immediately a comprehensive plan including rebuilding our broken test and trace system. And we must all - government, employers and public alike – take responsibility for our own part in making this plan work." Independent SAGE is a group of scientists who are working together to provide independent scientific advice to the UK government and public on how to minimise deaths and support Britain’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
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Content ArticlePresentation from Dr Dan Dalton, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and National Specialty Advisor for Mental Health, on the legal complexity regarding the use of the Mental Health Act for ensuring compliance with infection control measures.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 crisis has created a watershed moment for the NHS, demanding a reappraisal of how essential services are delivered to the public. Even prior to COVID-19, the NHS recognised a pressing need to rethink healthcare using user-centred design principles, based on populations, not organisations. With the advent of the pandemic that pressing need has become an operational imperative. Digital capability has been and will continue to be a key part of transformation, but will only work when aligned with reforms in other key enablers such as financial flow, workforce planning and regulation. Many industries have already made the shift to enabling collaboration and innovation through more agile models of delivery by embracing technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and/or flexible and secure forms of (multi) cloud storage. Health, on the other hand, until now has introduced new technologies with the objective of improving existing pathways and service delivery models. There is now an opportunity to reimagine healthcare, driving true transformation enabled by digital capabilities.
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Content ArticleBubble PAPR is an innovative PPE respirator designed to keep NHS staff safe while caring for patients during COVID-19. In this video, Brendan McGrath, an NHS Intensive Care Consultant, describes how Manchester University Foundation Trust, Manchester University and Designing Science Ltd came together to re-invent the Powered Air Purifying Respirator for the covid era.
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Content ArticleLast November’s HSJ Patient Safety Virtual Congress focused on the COVID-19 virtual ward model, which enables the early identification and timely management of deteriorating patients in the community - a critical step in reducing avoidable deaths from all conditions. If you missed the vital discussion, you can check it out below.
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Content Article"To me, leadership isn’t defined by how nice or popular you are. It’s defined by outcomes. That’s how I judge my own successes and failures. In this pandemic—if death and collateral damage are the barometers, as they should be—the leadership teams have failed us all." An article published in the BMJ from Partha Kar, a consultant in diabetes and endocrinology.
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Content ArticleDuring the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England, several population characteristics were associated with an increased risk of death from the virus, including age, ethnicity, income, deprivation, care home residence and housing conditions. Public health agencies wanted to understand how these vulnerability factors were distributed across their communities. Daras et al. from the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast (NIHR ARC NWC) analysed 6,789 small areas in England and assessed the association between COVID-19 mortality in each area and five vulnerability measures relating to ethnicity, poverty, and prevalence of long-term health conditions, living in care homes and living in overcrowded housing. They developed a Small Area Vulnerability Index (SAVI) modelling tool, which forecasts the vulnerability of the local population to the virus. The data identified noticeably higher levels of vulnerability to COVID-19 clustered within specific communities in the North West, West Midlands and North East regions.
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Content ArticleOn 21 January 2021, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) published its latest experimental estimates of long COVID symptom prevalence in the general population, using data from 9,063 respondents to the UK Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS) testing positive for COVID-19 to 14 December 2020. The CIS is a survey sample of respondents randomly selected from the UK population (excluding communal establishments) who are followed-up weekly for the first month from enrolment, followed by monthly for a up to a year. At each visit, respondents are swab tested for COVID-19 and describe their current symptoms (from a list of 12 common COVID-19 symptoms) to the interviewer. The ONS estimated time-to-symptom-discontinuation using survival analysis techniques. Discontinuation was defined as the first post-infection occurrence of the respondent not reporting any symptoms for two consecutive visits (that is, the visit defining the date of discontinuation plus the next one). To allow time from infection to symptom onset, the ONS tracked symptoms reported at the visit where the respondent tested positive for COVID-19 or within the next month.
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Content ArticleThe telehealth revolution in response to COVID-19 has increased essential health care access during an unprecedented public health crisis. However, virtual patient care can also limit the patient-provider relationship, quality of examination, efficiency of health care delivery, and overall quality of care. Authors of this article, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, offer some simple guidelines that could assist healthcare providers and clinic schedulers in determining the appropriateness of a telehealth visit by considering visit types, patient characteristics, and chief complaint or disease states.
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Content ArticleUrgent action is needed in the NHS to meet a ballooning backlog of procedures put on hold during the pandemic and build a more resilient health care system. This report from Reform, produced jointly with Edge Health, shows the scale of the challenges the NHS faces: 6 million fewer patients were referred to treatment in 2020 than in 2019 • 10 million patients could be on a waitlist by April By April, 52-week waits for care are projected to have risen 12,008% since March 2020 (by December they had already risen by 7139%) Cancellations of diagnostic testing and delayed treatment may lead to 1,660 extra deaths from lung cancer alone.
