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Found 1,293 results
  1. News Article
    Liz Truss has received a stark insight into the dire state of the NHS after new figures showed millions of people in England were facing often record delays to access vital healthcare. One leading NHS expert said the long waits for care, diagnostic tests and hospital beds showed that Britain’s new prime minister “inherits an NHS in critical condition”. The total number of people in England waiting for hospital treatment rose again to a record high of 6.8 million at the end of July – almost one in eight of the population. Patients are also facing long waits for accident and emergency care, cancer treatment, such as surgery or chemotherapy, and for an ambulance to arrive after a 999 call. Of the 6.8 million people on NHS England’s “referral to treatment” waiting list, 2,665,004 had been waiting for more than 18 weeks, which is the supposed maximum waiting time for procedures such as a joint replacement, hernia repair or cataract removal. In addition, 377,689 had been waiting more than a year to start their treatment, almost 22,000 more than a month before, according to the latest monthly performance data published by NHS England. The data showed that ministers and NHS bosses had failed to fulfil their pledge to eradicate two-year waits by the end of July; 2,885 such cases had not been resolved by then, despite major efforts by hospitals to meet the target. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 September 2022
  2. News Article
    GPs have warned of a ‘tsunami of demand’ this winter as patient contacts surged 200% during the pandemic. One of the largest GP providers in the UK, Modality Partnership, told The Independent it received 4.8 million calls from patients in one year alone with around a quarter going unanswered every day. The provider, which covers 500,000 patients across the country, said its practices were now working above “safe levels” with 50 appointments a day per GP, far higher than the 35 advised by the British Medical Association. Speaking with The Independent, Vincent Sai, chief executive and partner at Modality said the new health secretary Therese Coffey must “not point fingers” and “not find a scapegoat” as “every part of the system is under pressure. Every player in the health system is under the cosh.” Dr Sai said: “We believe patient contacts have increased 200 per cent, over the last few years. The expectation is that GP practices have maybe four to five patient contacts per year, but if you just look at just the number of phone calls alone, it’s showing that it’s much more now. “So something is broken somewhere...there’s more work, there are fewer people. People say I can’t get access to my GP and the hypothesis is they’re just lazy and not working, but it’s not the case.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 September 2022
  3. News Article
    Former patients and families of those affected by some of Northern Ireland's worst health scandals have called for accountability at every level of the health service. The collective of campaigners gathered at Stormont in protest on Saturday. They have demanded change, saying "enough is enough". They included those affected by systemic failures identified in neurology, urology, care homes and hyponatraemia. Danielle O'Neill, a former patient of the neurologist Dr Michael Watt, whose practice led to Northern Ireland's largest patient recall, was among them. "It's important for us to stand here today as a collective with all of the other scandals to show that we demand an individual duty of candour," she said. "We demand accountability, we demand justice. "There have been far too many health scandals in our health service." Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 September 2022
  4. News Article
    Major concerns are being raised about the Irish State’s failure to set up an inquiry into a drug that caused serious birth defects and developmental delays in at least 1,200 Irish babies. Sodium valproate, a drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder, has been estimated to have caused major malformations in up to 341 Irish children between 1975 and 2015 after it was taken by their mothers during pregnancy. The drug, which is sold in Ireland as Epilim, is also believed to have caused neuro-developmental delays in 1,250 children. Many women were never warned of the risks that taking the drug during pregnancy would pose to their babies. Read full story Source: The Irish Independent
  5. News Article
    Nearly 1.5 million patients have lost their GP in the last eight years after the closure of almost 500 practices, research has suggested. Issues around recruitment were a factor in the closure of about two-fifths of the surgeries, while workloads and inadequate premises were also cited as triggers. The investigation, by Pulse magazine, revealed for the first time the number of premises that have closed for good since 2013. Previously, research has identified the number of practices where GP partners have returned their contracts, or certain branches have closed or merged with others. Prof Martin Marshall, the chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The impact of a practice closing on its patients and neighbouring practices can be considerable. As such, a decision to close a practice will be one of the most difficult a GP partner can make. When the reason for closing a practice is workload pressures, and not being able to fill vacancies, then this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph (29 August 2022)
  6. News Article
    Patients waiting for surgery are turning up at A&E because they “can't cope”, the head of the NHS Confederation has warned. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the body which represents all areas of the health service, said the NHS was in a "terrible situation" where it was facing "more demand than we can deal with". Some 6.7 million people are waiting to start hospital treatment after being referred by their GP, latest official data show. Urgent and emergency care is also under significant pressure, with 12-hour A&E waits increasing by a third in July to reach 29,317 - the worst on record. "We also know that people, many people, who are sick in the community waiting for operations, for example, and that's one of the reasons people end up in the emergency department because they get to the stage where they can't cope,” Mr Taylor said. "So the problem is that pressures in one part of the system drive pressure in others.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph (30 August 2022)
  7. News Article
    Patients will be able to use the NHS app to shop around for hospitals with the shortest waiting lists in a renewed drive to cut backlogs for routine care. Health bosses agreed yesterday to give patients more choice over where they are treated by next April in an effort to use digital league tables to direct people towards hospitals with the shortest waits. Steve Barclay, the health secretary, wants to give patients “real-time data” on their phones to decide whether to travel further to get quicker treatment for hip replacements, cataract removals and other non-urgent procedures. A government source said: “We don’t need a big bureaucracy to funnel patients towards the hospital which NHS managers decide is best, when, armed with a right to choose and the right information on the app, patients will go where waiting times are lowest.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times (31 August 2022)
  8. News Article
    Kath Sansom, a former journalist from Lynn is raising awareness about the potential risks associated with vaginal and rectal mesh surgery. Mesh implant surgery is used to treat prolapse and incontinence in women usually following childbirth, and some men have also had the procedure. But pain and complications after the implants have left hundreds of people in the UK in pain and so a campaign in 2015 was launched which has led to the Government announcing a suspension in the use of vaginal mesh. Kath initiated the Sling The Mesh campaign in 2015 following her own experience of mesh surgery. She said: "What is most important to women is financial redress. We are all innocent and have had our health and lives compromised. We shouldn't have to wait 40 years, as the victims of contaminated blood have. Some women are in wheelchairs and have lost pensions. I am not the woman that I was. It has taken a financial, physical and emotional toll." Read full story Source: Lynn News (24 August 2022)
  9. News Article
    Patients may come to harm as a result of NHS 111 chaos, experts claimed on Tuesday as patients were advised to avoid the service this weekend. The helpline for urgent medical advice was targeted by cyberhackers earlier this month, leaving staff working on pen and paper. The Adastra computer software, used by 85 per cent of 111 services, was taken offline after the attack leaving call handlers unable to book out-of-hours urgent appointments and fulfil emergency prescriptions. But almost three weeks on, most staff are still operating without the system, leaving GPs unable to see patients’ medical records during urgent consultations or automatically forward prescriptions to pharmacies. The NHS has told hospitals to prepare public awareness campaigns to “minimise” pressures on urgent and emergency care services this winter. Some hospitals have already issued messaging urging patients not to turn up at accident and emergency (A&E), unless they are facing a “serious emergency.” Helen Hughes, chief executive of the charity Patient Safety Learning, said the continuing chaos raises “serious patient safety concerns” and will “inevitably result in avoidable harm”. Telling patients not to go to A&E “unless it is absolutely necessary” is only possible if GPs and NHS 111 “have the capacity and the resources to meet the demands that this places on them”, Ms Hughes said. “Significant delays in receiving a response are potentially missed opportunities for patients to receive timely medical advice and treatment that may prevent future harm,” she added. “Delays in receiving timely care and treatment will inevitably result in avoidable harm to patients.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph (23 August 2022)
  10. News Article
    The NHS is to launch a campaign urging the public to avoid A&E in an echo of appeals to protect the health service during the Covid pandemic. The head of the NHS has instructed hospitals to prepare a public awareness campaign calling for people to “minimise” pressures on urgent and emergency services. Such an instruction has never been issued so early in the year, and comes amid concerns that hospitals and ambulance services are already facing strains usually seen in the depths of winter. People suffering a genuine emergency will still be encouraged to go to A&E, but on Friday night there were warnings that the campaign risks exacerbating the problems caused by patients staying away from the health service during Covid. Prof Carl Heneghan, an urgent care doctor and professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, said the NHS needed to be very careful about trying to dissuade the public from using services. “The NHS seems to be the only business I know that doesn’t know how to deal with demand, and work with the needs of its customers,” he said. “As an urgent care doctor, I need to be in front of the patient to do my job. It’s often too difficult for the new mum to know when it’s appropriate to turn to emergency services. These decisions are difficult – it’s the job of a doctor. “Too often I see elderly patients who apologise for taking my time and I say ‘don’t apologise – you could have been 24 hours away from death’.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 19 August 2022
  11. News Article
    All patients should be able to choose the hospital with the shortest waiting times, a former health secretary has said. Alan Milburn, the Labour health secretary under Tony Blair from 1999 to 2003, called for urgent reforms and warned that the NHS was “close to breaking point” and “in the worst state I have ever seen”. A record 6.7 million people are now on waiting lists, with the numbers waiting in Accident and Emergency departments for at least 12 hours surging by more than a third in a month. Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Milburn called for urgent reforms to give patients more choice and control while preventing a “tsunami” of chronic diseases fuelled by unhealthy lifestyles. In recent months, ministers have promised that those facing the longest waits will be offered treatment further away and offered travel and accommodation costs, but only around 140 patients were booked in for such surgery by June. Mr Milburn called for the option to be offered to all patients, urging health officials to use the NHS app as a way for people to chose the hospital with the shortest wait. So far, officials have promised to ensure that the app allows patients to check the average waiting time at their local hospital for their condition and compare it with others. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 17 August 2022
  12. News Article
    Almost 200 maternity units in England will be inspected by the Care Quality Commission amid fears for mothers and babies’ safety and concerns that improvements are not happening fast enough. The commission is taking the unusual step as NHS England faces accusations of pressuring hospitals to reorganise the way midwives work when they lack the staff to do it safely. The new model of care, which is designed to provide mothers with a dedicated midwife throughout pregnancy, has been introduced only partially across the NHS, leading to a two-tier service in which hospital wards are left short of staff and women face potentially dangerous delays. Under “continuity of carer”, midwives work in teams and are on call for specific mothers when they go into labour. But this can leave hospital wards understaffed and women not included in the programme waiting for a midwife. NHS England is pushing hospitals to make this the default model of care by March 2024 despite a warning by Donna Ockenden, who led the inquiry into baby deaths at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, and who said in her final report that introduction of the new model should be suspended if services lack enough staff. Read full story Source: The Times, 14 August 2022 Further reading - Midwifery continuity of carer resources on the hub.
  13. News Article
    New study results in more precise language in the federally mandated warning about this possibility. (Article from the USA) Women who choose to use an intrauterine device, or IUD, for birth control should be aware of the very small possibility that the device could puncture their uterus. They should know how to recognize that circumstance if it occurs, according to a new study published in The Lancet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated the study to evaluate women's risks when an IUD is placed in the year after giving birth and when an IUD is placed during the period that a woman is breastfeeding a baby. These results were compared, respectively, with non-postpartum insertions and insertions in non-breastfeeding individuals, explained UW Medicine’s Dr. Susan Reed, the study’s lead author. Across the study cohort of 327,000 women, the percentage of perforation cases diagnosed within five years of IUD insertion was 0.6 %, the study concluded. The risk of perforation increased by nearly seven times if it was inserted between four days and six weeks postpartum, and increased by about one-third if inserted during the span of breastfeeding. The risk of an IUD-related perforation was relatively lower when inserted in women who were more than a year beyond delivery, in women who had never had a baby, and when the insertion occurred at delivery. Read full article here
  14. News Article
    A hospice is using virtual reality (VR) to help patients relax and transport them away from their beds. St Giles Hospice, which has bases in Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield, said the headsets allowed patients "to escape the realities of their present situation". "I've never experienced anything quite like it in my life - I was totally lost in the moment," Janet, 71, said. The VR experiences include cities of the world, space, and wildlife. Beth Robinson, Occupational Therapist at St Giles Hospice, said the VR headsets helped patients "immerse themselves into a calming space". To read the full article, click here
  15. News Article
    Doctors and nurses often “weight-shame” people who are overweight or obese, leaving them feeling anxious, depressed and wrongly blaming themselves for their condition, research has found. Such behaviour, although usually the result of “unconscious weight bias”, leads to people not attending medical appointments, feeling humiliated and being more likely to put on weight. Dr Anastasia Kalea and colleagues at University College London analysed 25 previous studies about “weight stigma”, undertaken in different countries, involving 3,554 health professionals. They found “extensive evidence [of] strong weight bias” among a wide range of health staff, including doctors, nurses, dieticians, psychologists and even obesity specialists. Their analysis found that a number of health professionals “believe their patients are lazy, lack self-control, overindulge, are hostile, dishonest, have poor hygiene and do not follow guidance”, said Kalea, an associate professor in UCL’s division of medicine. She added: “Sadly, healthcare, including general practice, is one of the most common settings for weight stigmatisation and we know this acts as a barrier to the services and treatments that can help people manage weight. “An example is a GP that will unconsciously show that they do not believe that the patient complies with their eat less/exercise more regime they were asked to follow as they are not losing weight." “The result is that patients are not coming back or they delay their follow-up appointments, they avoid healthcare prevention services or cancel appointments due to concerns of being stigmatised due to their weight.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 August 2022
  16. News Article
    Half of UK adults with a possible cancer symptom do not contact their GP within six months, despite spotting changes to their body, research suggests. A YouGov poll of 2,468 people for Cancer Research UK found that just 48% of those who had experienced a red flag symptom – including coughing up blood, unexplained weight loss and a new or unusual lump – contacted their GP within half a year. Not telling a doctor about unusual health changes or possible cancer symptoms reduces the chances of an early cancer diagnosis, leading to potentially devastating outcomes. Cancer Research UK’s chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “Spotting cancer early is vital if more people are to survive, and the first step in that process is getting help for a possible cancer symptom. “It’s really worrying to see such a large gap in accessing services between the UK’s most and least deprived groups. “Earlier this year, the Government announced among its top priorities were improving early diagnosis of cancer and tackling health disparities. “Cancer must remain a top priority and with the upcoming Health Disparities White Paper and 10-Year Plan for England, the new Health and Social Care Secretary has a huge opportunity to transform cancer survival with a clear and strong plan that works for all.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 August 2022
  17. News Article
    Patients at trusts with long waiting lists should no longer think ‘they have to go to their local hospital’ for outpatient appointments, but should instead be offered virtual consultations elsewhere in the country where there is greater capacity, Sir Jim Mackey has told HSJ. The NHS England elective chief said recent efforts to abolish two-year waiters by July had meant a “very big” surgical focus. However, the next phase of the elective recovery plan would see a major shift of emphasis onto reducing the wait for outpatient appointments. Sir Jim said: “Providers have been split into tiers again with tier one having national oversight and tier two, regional oversight. Behind that we will be pairing up organisations so that organisations with capacity can help those with the biggest challenges from a virtual outpatient perspective. He added: “There still is a lot to work through [on virtual outpatients], we’re going to be testing the concept… We need to work through how all the wiring and plumbing needs to work. For example, what happens if the patient needs a diagnostic locally, having seen a clinician virtually in another part of the country? “It would be great also to try and stimulate more of a consumer drive on this – encouraging patients to ask about virtual outpatients when the waits locally may be too long, so they don’t just think they have to go to their local hospital. I think this could really help shift the model if we can get it right.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 August 2022
  18. News Article
    Mobile apps to track patients' health are keeping them out of hospital and could cut waiting times, experts have said. It follows a trial of a new app which heart patients are using through their mobile phones. The trial allows clinicians to change treatments quickly and uses video consultations, avoiding unnecessary hospital visits. Rhodri Griffiths is the innovation adoption director at Life Sciences Hub Wales, and is looking for more ways to introduce similar technology. He believes the pandemic accelerated the use and acceptance of digital solutions in healthcare, by patients and clinicians. "We really are looking at a big digital revolution within healthcare and there are an amazing myriad of things coming through," he said. He explained data collected by smartphones and watches can help predict who is likely to have a heart attack. "We can avoid that happening. So prevention is key but it's also looking at how some of this can impact on waiting lists," he said. "So, looking at how theatres are used, which patients can be prioritised? "In social care it's looking at how pain is managed by face recognition." Mr Griffiths said he believed the data collected could also identify wider problems: "It's combining these digital solutions with our genetic information - bringing big data together on a population level we can start spotting trends". Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 August 2022
  19. News Article
    NHS England patients with Type 1 diabetes will now be eligible for life-changing continuous glucose monitors after the health service secured a new cut-price deal. The wearable arm gadget sends information to a mobile app and allows diabetes patients to keep track of their glucose levels at all times without having to scan or take a finger prick test. Traditionally, continuous glucose monitors are more expensive than their flash monitor counterparts – which record glucose levels by scanning a sensor – but thanks to the NHS agreeing on a new cost-effective deal with manufacturers DEXCOM, they will now be available for NHS patients on prescription at a similar price. The monitor, called Dexcom ONE Real Time-Continuous Glucose Monitoring, uses a sensor no bigger than a bottle cap that attaches to the arm for up to 10 days and measures glucose levels from just under the skin. Patients will receive their starter pack – which will include information on the product and usage, a sensor and transmitter – from the hospital or GP surgery once prescribed, after which they can go to the pharmacy for their repeat prescription. Dr Partha Kar, national speciality advisor for diabetes and obesity said: “This is a huge step forward for Type 1 diabetes care and these monitors will be life-changing for anyone with the illness – giving them more choice to manage their condition in the most convenient way possible – as well as the best chance at living healthier lives, reducing their risk of hospitalisation and illnesses associated with diabetes, which in turn reduces pressure on wider NHS services. “The new deal also delivers on our commitment to get patients the latest cutting-edge medical technology at the best value for taxpayer money – saving the NHS millions over the coming years”. Read full story Source: NHS England, 2 August 2022 You may also be interested in: “I felt lucky to get out alive”: why we must improve hospital safety for people with diabetes Peer support makes a big difference to living with type 1 diabetes Improving safety for diabetic inpatients: 4 key steps - Interview with Dr Partha Kar
  20. News Article
    On 24 June the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that legalised abortion and left the regulation of abortion to the states.4 At present, about half of the 50 states ban or severely limit abortions, but the picture is changing daily as century old bans go into place in some states, bans are challenged in courts, and state legislatures debate changes to their laws. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said, “Each piece of legislation is different, using different language and rationales. State legislators are taking it upon themselves to define complex medical concepts without reference to medical evidence. Some of the penalties for violating these vague, unscientific laws include criminal sentences.” Doctors report being confused and fearful about how they can continue to practise in states where abortion laws are changing day by day and sometimes hour by hour. Katie McHugh, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Indianapolis, where abortion until 20 weeks is legal for the moment, told The BMJ about a patient who arrived from another state (around 200 miles away) with a miscarriage. “A fetal heartbeat could still be detected. The local hospital sent her home and told her to come back if she became very sick.” Instead she travelled two and a half hours by car to McHugh. “I don’t blame the physicians in [the other state]. I don’t know if abortion is legal now a trigger law is in effect. They could face lawsuits. As a physician, it’s unacceptable to have to watch the news to know what’s legal and how to practise,” said McHugh. Read full story Source: BMJ, 1 August 2022
  21. News Article
    People who go to hospital for non-covid treatment are at higher risk of the virus compared with the general public, which is why high levels of hospital-acquired Covid-19 in England are worrying some doctors. They fear that the coronavirus is becoming a potential hazard of a hospital stay for older or vulnerable people, in a similar way to “superbugs” such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). People who go to hospital for non-covid-19 treatment are at higher risk from the virus compared with the general public, says Tom Lawton, an intensive care doctor in Bradford, UK. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The New Scientist, 21 July 2022
  22. News Article
    A call to NHS 111 was abandoned every 10 seconds between 2020 and 2021, figures show. Millions of callers to the helpline hung up at a time when demand for the NHS was at its highest. In 2020, 2,490,663 calls were abandoned, while in 2021 this figure increased to 3,531,186. And 1,174,159 gave up on the line from January to May this year. Callers in Devon take an average of 11 minutes to get through to the NHS 111 service, according to Liberal Democrat research. Daisy Cooper, Lib Dem spokeswoman for health and social care, said: "Ambulance services are being stretched to breaking point, hospitals are reaching full capacity and now people cannot get through to NHS 111. We have called on this government time and time again to get a grip on this issue by recruiting more NHS 111 call handlers now." "The longer they delay, the longer they are leaving people in pain and distress." Helen Hughes, of the Patient Safety Learning charity, said: "These figures represent a serious safety concern. Each call is a potential missed opportunity for patients to receive timely medical advice that may prevent future harm." "With the ongoing severe pressures faced by ambulance services and hospitals this summer, patients are increasingly being signposted to NHS 111 for advice on non-life threatening conditions." "However, it can only relieve the pressure on other areas of the health service if NHS 111 has the capacity and resources to meet rising demand. The NHS leadership needs to urgently assess the reasons for this high number of abandoned calls." Read full story Source: Express, 31 July 2022
  23. News Article
    Patients experiencing a mental health crisis were kept in a ‘short stay area’ of an emergency department for up to three weeks, a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report has revealed. The patients were in what the CQC described as a “short stay area” of the ED at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. It is an area with no natural light, no TV or radio and only a toilet and washbasin, with a shower available on a neighbouring ward, the CQC said. The patients were reviewed daily by a mental health liaison team from another trust while they waited for a mental health bed to be found. The CQC report said staff reported the longest stay was up to three weeks, while trust data showed the average length of stay was 52 hours. It said the urgent and emergency services at the hospital – part of University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust which is rated “outstanding” overall by the regulator – “did not fully meet the needs of the local population”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 July 2022
  24. News Article
    Hospital passports need to be more consistently used across the NHS to better support patients with communication difficulties, a learning disability nurse says. Support for patients with communication needs and learning disabilities, as well as the nurses caring for them, is often ‘inconsistent’, according to RCN professional lead for learning disabilities Jonathan Beebee. Coupled with the current system-wide pressure of patient backlogs and high staff vacancy rates it means patients often do not have their communication needs met. A hospital passport, which contains vital information about a patient’s health condition, learning disability and communication needs, would help address this, Mr Beebee told Nursing Standard. "There has got to be better consistency in how we are identifying people with communication needs, how they are getting flagged and how nurses are being pointed to that from the second that someone is admitted to the ward," he said. Mr Beebee says ensuring a standardised approach would improve patient experience and ultimately nurses’ relationship with patients. Read full story Source: Nursing Standard, 27 July 2022
  25. News Article
    A whistleblower has warned a London hospital is "literally in meltdown" after its IT system was knocked out during last week's heatwave. Operations at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth were cancelled after its IT servers broke down in 40C (104F) temperatures on 19 July. A doctor told the BBC "poor planning" and "chronic underfunding" meant issues remained a week later. A spokesperson for the hospital said IT issues were "having an ongoing impact". Without a functioning IT system, staff have returned to paper notes, the doctor said. The anonymous whistleblower, who works as a doctor at Guy's and St Thomas', said this meant "we see very worrying results, but we don't know where the patients are so we spend ages tracking them down". "We cannot read any historical notes from patients. Names are being misspelt, so scans are not showing up. "Each morning, someone hand-delivers a stack of test results to the ward. In there, we received several patient results that don't belong to our ward," the doctor said. "If we don't recover our shared drives, we risk losing months of research data, if not years." Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 July 2022
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