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Found 953 results
  1. News Article
    England has the highest death rates of frail and older hospitalised patients in the western world, a landmark global study has found. Harvard University, the London School of Economics (LSE) and the thinktank Health Foundation, all part of the International Collaborative on Costs, Outcomes and Needs in Care (Icconic), a global network of healthcare researchers, used thousands of official medical records to compare the cost and quality of care in 10 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Patient deaths are commonly used measures of performance in healthcare systems but until now there have been few sources of comparable death rates across countries. In order to assess outcomes in frail and older patients, researchers focused on two groups that represent priority areas for the NHS and other healthcare systems: those in hospital with a hip fracture and those admitted with heart failure who have diabetes. On both measures, England had higher mortality rates than all the other countries, which included the US, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain. Dr Jennifer Dixon, the chief executive of the Health Foundation, said: “The findings of the Icconic study warrant urgent further investigation, particularly the finding of higher mortality among patients with hip fracture in the year after their admission for emergency treatment." “That patients in England with hip fracture spend far longer in hospital after surgery than they would in other countries also highlights an opportunity to improve efficiency by reducing the avoidable use of hospital care. Less avoidably long stays would mean existing capacity could be better used to address the backlogs in hospital care as a result of the pandemic. This could contribute to both better outcomes for patients and, as hip fracture is the most common reason for emergency surgery, significantly improved productivity for hospitals across the country.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 November 2021
  2. News Article
    Campaigners have called for a change in how epilepsy services are delivered after "alarming" new research revealed that nearly 80% cent of deaths in young adults could have been avoided. It comes as researchers behind the first ever national review into deaths linked to the condition warned that "little has improved in epilepsy care" despite previous findings of premature mortality. They describe the situation as a "major public health problem in Scotland", adding that deaths "are not reducing, people are dying young, and many deaths are potentially avoidable”. In particular, the Edinburgh University team found that adults aged 16 to 24 were five times more likely to die compared to the general population, a problem they said may be linked to the "vulnerable period of transition from paediatric to adult care". Overall, for adults with epilepsy aged 16 to 54, the mortality rate was more than double that for the age group as a whole, with as many as 76% of these deaths potentially preventable and the majority occurring among patients from the most deprived areas. Read full story Source: The Herald, 11 November 2021
  3. News Article
    The COVID-19 crisis triggered high levels of anxiety and depression among doctors in the UK, Italy and Spain, a new study has found The research of 5,000 survey responses, across the three countries, found Italian doctors were most likely to have suffered during the crisis last year. The study, published in PLOS ONE, measured the mental wellbeing of doctors in Catalonia (Spain), Italy and the UK during June, November and December 2020. It found that around one in four medical doctors in Italy had experienced symptoms of anxiety in June and December 2020, with around one in five reporting symptoms of depression over the same period. In Catalonia around 16% of doctors reported anxiety and around 17% experienced depression. In the UK around 12% of doctors reported anxiety and around 14% had symptoms of depression. The study is among the first cross-country analysis of mental wellbeing among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the first to focus on medical doctors. Across all countries, female doctors and doctors under 60 were more likely to have anxiety or depression. Professor Quintana-Domeque, professor of economics at the University of Exeter Business School, who carried out the study said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has been classified as a traumatic event, with healthcare workers arguably having the most direct and longest exposure to this disease." “The results of this study suggest that institutional support for healthcare workers, and in particular doctors, is important in protecting and promoting their mental health in the current and in future pandemics.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 November 2021
  4. News Article
    A drug developed over 20 years ago to treat cancer could help patients living with crippling pain, according to new research. Kenpaullone switches on a gene that douses chronic inflammation, say scientists. Experiments on mice and humans found it was remarkably successful at alleviating nerve injury and bone tumour symptoms. The US team is hopeful clinical trials will see equally successful results in humans suffering a host of conditions. Up to 8 million people in the UK live with chronic pain. Major causes include arthritis and spine damage. Lead author Professor Wolfgang Liedtke said: “New drugs and other therapies against chronic pain need to be safe, i.e., the fewer side effects the better. “It’s especially important they be non-addictive and non-sedative, while being effective against nerve injury pain and cancer pain, preferably with a minimal time to official approval." Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 October 2021
  5. News Article
    Clinical trials run in the UK will be automatically registered from 2022, the country’s Health Research Authority has announced. The new system seeks to ensure that every single clinical trial with be listed on a trial registry from the outset. UK researchers have been formally required to register trials since 2013, but that rule was never enforced, and many trials remained unregistered. Trial registration is a key pillar of clinical trial transparency. It helps scientists to gain an overview of who is currently researching which treatments, preventing needless duplication of medical research efforts . In addition, because investigators have to specify in advance what exactly they will be measuring, trial registration supports research integrity by discouraging post hoc statistical shenanigans and evidence distortion. While there are various rules and regulations around trial registration, no other country currently enforces these nationwide. The new trial registration system forms part of the wider UK national Make it Public strategy, which aims to ensure that every single clinical trial run in the UK is registered and makes its results public. The strategy was developed in the wake of a 2018-2019 parliamentary enquiry into clinical trial transparency. Read full story Source: TranspariMED, 20 October 2021
  6. News Article
    The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine can still target a key mutation that has emerged in two new variants of coronavirus, laboratory studies show. However, this is only one of many mutations that are found in the new forms of the virus. So while the study has been welcomed, it is not being seen as definitive scientific evidence about how the vaccine will perform. New variants have been detected in the UK and South Africa. Both forms of the virus are spreading more quickly and this has raised questions over what level of protection vaccines can offer against them. The widely held view is that vaccines will still work, but researchers are on the hunt for proof. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 January 2021
  7. News Article
    An experimental treatment involving stem cells from umbilical cords could significantly reduce deaths and quicken recovery time for patients suffering the most severe form of COVID-19, a study suggests. US researchers reported a 91% survival rate in seriously ill patients given the stem cell infusion, compared to 42% in a second group who did not receive the treatment. Researchers said the treatment also appeared to be safe, with no serious adverse reactions reported. Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 January 2021
  8. News Article
    The architects behind the new NHS Race and Health Observatory have vowed that it will deliver actionable recommendations within months to tackle the structural racism that exists throughout healthcare. Victor Adebowale and Mala Rao called for an observatory to tackle the ethnic health inequalities in the UK in a special issue of The BMJ that they co-edited in February (bmj.com/racism-in-medicine) and NHS England confirmed at the end of the May that the centre would go ahead. Speaking at a meeting to discuss the aims of the observatory on 12 June, Adebowlae told more than 20 assembled stakeholders that he wanted the new centre “to fire on all cylinders,” making recommendations for changes to services that are likely to affect the health outcomes of people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds “within a couple of months.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 15 June 2020
  9. News Article
    The NIHR-supported PRINCIPLE trial is to start investigating the inhaled corticosteroid budesonide to find out if it can help treat COVID-19 in patients who aren’t in hospital. Led by the University of Oxford, the PRINCIPLE is the UK’s national platform trial for COVID-19 treatments that can be taken at home. It is evaluating treatments that can help people aged over 50 recover quickly from COVID-19 illness and prevent the need for hospital admission. The study, funded by NIHR and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has so far recruited more than 2100 volunteers from across the UK with support from NIHR’s Clinical Research Network. Inhaled budesonide is often used to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with no serious side-effects associated with short-term use. In some patients with COVID-19, the body’s immune response to the virus can cause high levels of inflammation that can damage cells in the airways and lungs. Inhaling budesonide into the airways targets anti-inflammatory treatment where it is needed most, and can potentially minimise any lung damage that might otherwise be caused by the virus. Patients taking part in the study will be randomly assigned to receive an inhaler in the post, alongside the usual care from their clinician. They will be asked to inhale two puffs twice a day for 14 days with each puff providing a 400 microgram dose of budesonide. They will be followed up for 28 days and will be compared with participants who have been assigned to receive the usual standard-of-care only. Read full story Source: National Institute for Health Research, 27 November 2020
  10. News Article
    COVID-19 could be causing lung abnormalities still detectable more than three months after patients are infected, researchers suggest. A study of 10 patients at Oxford University used a novel scanning technique to identify damage not picked up by conventional scans. It uses a gas called xenon during MRI scans to create images of lung damage. Lung experts said a test that could spot long-term damage would make a huge difference to Covid patients. The xenon technique sees patients inhale the gas during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Prof Fergus Gleeson, who is leading the work, tried out his scanning technique on 10 patients aged between 19 and 69. Eight of them had persistent shortness of breath and tiredness three months after being ill with coronavirus, even though none of them had been admitted to intensive care or required ventilation, and conventional scans had found no problems in their lungs. The scans showed signs of lung damage - by highlighting areas where air is not flowing easily into the blood - in the eight who reported breathlessness. The results have prompted Prof Gleeson to plan a trial of up to 100 people to see if the same is true of people who had not been admitted to hospital and had not suffered from such serious symptoms. He is planning to work with GPs to scan people who have tested positive for COVID-19 across a range of age groups. The aim is to discover whether lung damage occurs and if so whether it is permanent, or resolves over time. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 December 2020
  11. News Article
    Up to £20 million is available for new research projects which aim to understand and address the longer-term physical and mental health effects of COVID-19 in non-hospitalised individuals. Increasing medical evidence and patient testimony has shown that some people who contract and survive COVID-19 may develop longer-lasting symptoms. Symptoms can range from breathlessness, chronic fatigue, ‘brain fog’, anxiety and stress and can last for months after initially falling ill. These ongoing problems, commonly termed ‘Long-COVID’, may be experienced by patients regardless of how severe their COVID-19 infection was and irrespective of whether they were hospitalised. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) are launching a call to fund two or three ambitious and comprehensive proposals and a small number of study extensions that will address ‘Long-COVID’ in the community. This work will complement other major studies already funded by UKRI and NIHR which focus on long covid in hospitalised patients. Projects are expected to start early in the new year and may be funded for up to three years in the first instance. The call will open on 12 November and close on 9 December 2020. Further information
  12. News Article
    Coronavirus antibodies last at least six months and offer protection against a second infection, a study of healthcare workers suggests. Staff at Oxford University Hospitals were regularly tested both for COVID-19 infections and for antibodies revealing a past infection. The more antibodies people had, the lower their chances of re-infection. A separate study found pre-existing immunity from other coronaviruses also protected against Covid. Infection consultant Dr Katie Jeffery described the Oxford findings as "encouraging news" ahead of forthcoming Covid vaccines. They indicated that having the virus once "provides at least short-term protection" from getting it again, she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 November 2020
  13. News Article
    A drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis appears to help patients who are admitted to intensive care with the most severe coronavirus infections, researchers say. Tocilizumab, a medicine that dampens down inflammation, improved outcomes for critically ill patients, according to early results from an international trial investigating whether the drug and others like it boost survival rates and reduce the amount of time patients spend in intensive care. The findings have not been peer-reviewed or published in a journal, but if confirmed by more trial data, the drug will be on track to become only the second effective therapy for the sickest Covid patients, following positive results for the steroid dexamethasone earlier this year. “We think these are very exciting results, we are encouraged by them,” said Prof Anthony Gordon, of Imperial College London, the UK’s chief investigator on the REMAP-CAP trial. “It could become the standard of care once we have all the data reviewed by guidelines groups, and also drug regulators.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 November 2020
  14. News Article
    Black and Asian people are up to twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 compared to those of white ethnicities, according to a major new report. The risk of ending up in intensive care with coronavirus may be twice as high for people with an Asian background compared to white people, data gathered from more than 18 million individuals in 50 studies across the UK and US also suggests. The report, published in the EClinicalMedicine by The Lancet, is the first-ever meta-analysis of the effect of ethnicity on patients with COVID-19. The scientists behind it said their findings should be of "importance to policymakers" ahead of the possible roll out of a vaccine. Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 November 2020
  15. News Article
    Study finds 54 days after discharge, 69% of patients still had fatigue, and 53% were suffering from persistent breathlessness. Almost seven out of 10 patients hospitalised due to coronavirus still suffer from debilitating symptoms more than seven weeks after being discharged, according to a new study. Researchers from the University College London (UCL) division of medicine, in collaboration with with clinicians at the Royal Free London (RFL) and UCL, followed 384 patients who had tested positive and had been treated at Barnet Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital or UCLH. Collectively the average length of stay in hospital was 6.5 days. The team found that 54 days after discharge, 69% of patients were still experiencing fatigue, and 53% were suffering from persistent breathlessness. They also found that 34% still had a cough and 15% reported depression. In addition 38% of chest radiographs (X-rays) remained abnormal and 9% were getting worse. Dr Swapna Mandal, an honorary clinical associate professor at UCL division of medicine, said the data shows so-called long COVID is a real phenomenon and that further research is needed to understand how the symptoms of COVID-19 can be treated over an extended period. She said: "Patients whose COVID-19 illness is serious enough for them to require hospital care often continue to suffer significant symptoms for many weeks after their discharge." Read full story Source: Sky News, 11 November 2020
  16. News Article
    Pfizer and BioNTech have said that their coronavirus vaccine may be more than 90% effective, after the two pharmaceutical firms released interim data from their ongoing large-scale trial. Preliminary analysis, conducted by an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in the vaccine’s phase 3 study, which has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the US and five other countries. Of those participants who were infected with COVID-19, it is currently unclear how many had received the vaccine versus those who had been given a placebo. The current efficacy rate, which is much better than most experts expected, implies that no more than eight volunteers will have been inoculated. The data have yet to be peer-reviewed, and Pfizer said the initial protection rate might change by the time the study ends. The longevity of the immune response provoked by the mRNA-based vaccine also remains unknown. However, the findings are the most promising indication to date that a vaccine will be effective in preventing disease among infected individuals, handing humanity a crucial tool in tackling the pandemic. Pfizer and its German partner BioTech will continue with the phase 3 trial until 164 infections have been reported among volunteers - a figure that will give regulatory authorities a clearer idea of the vaccine’s efficacy. This number is expected to be reached by early December in light of the rising US infection rates, Pfizer said. The two companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US emergency use authorisation later this month. Read full story Source: The Independent, 9 November 2020
  17. News Article
    Almost half of all staff absence linked to coronavirus in parts of northern England Tens of thousands of NHS staff are off sick or self-isolating because of coronavirus, according to data shared with The Independent as the second wave grows. In some parts of northern England, more than 40% – in some cases almost 50% – of all staff absences are linked to COVID-19, heaping pressure on already stretched hospitals trying to cope with a surge in virus patients. The problem has sparked more calls for wider testing of NHS staff from hospital leaders and nursing unions who warned safety was being put at risk because of short staffing on wards. Across England, more than 76,200 NHS staff were absent from work on Friday – equivalent to more than 6% of the total workforce. This included 25,293 nursing staff and 3,575 doctors. Read full article Source: The Independent, 1 November 2020
  18. News Article
    A qualitative study of Twitter hashtags revealed power hierarchies can damage the patient experience and clinician relationship. In an analysis of a popular Twitter hashtag, researchers found that patients largely take umbrage when they feel their doctor does not believe their ailment or knowledge about their healthcare, and when they perceive a power hierarchy between themselves and their clinician. Although not as many patients are using Twitter to get peer feedback on certain providers (the Binary Fountain poll showed only 21% of patients do this), the social media website still holds a lot of power, researchers from the University of California system explained. Twitter is a large platform that hosts social discourse. Healthcare professionals use Twitter to disseminate public health and patient education messages and to network, while 61% of patients use Twitter to learn more about their health, as well. Read full article Source: Patient Engagement HIT, 29 October 2020
  19. News Article
    UK researchers have developed a new risk prediction tool that estimates a person’s chance of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19. The algorithm, which was constructed using data from more than eight million people across England, uses key factors such as age, ethnicity and body mass index to help identify individuals in the UK at risk of developing severe illness. It’s hoped that the risk prediction tool, known as QCOVID, will be used to support public health policy throughout the rest of the pandemic, in shaping decisions over shielding, treatment or vaccine prioritisation. The research, published in The BMJ, was put together by a team of scientists across the UK, and has been praised for the depth and accuracy of its findings. “This study presents robust risk prediction models that could be used to stratify risk in populations for public health purposes in the event of a ‘second wave’ of the pandemic and support shared management of risk,” the researchers say. “We anticipate that the algorithms will be updated regularly as understanding of COVID-19 increases, as more data become available, as behaviour in the population changes, or in response to new policy interventions.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 October 2020
  20. News Article
    From the moment coronavirus reached UK shores, public health advice stressed the importance of washing hands and deep-cleaning surfaces to reduce the risk of becoming infected. The advice was informed by mountains of research into the transmission of other respiratory viruses: it was the best scientists could do with such a new pathogen. But as the pandemic spread and data rolled in, some scientists began to question whether the focus on hand hygiene was as crucial as it seemed. The issue has resurfaced after Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told the US science magazine Nautilus that the easiest way to catch the virus was through droplets and aerosols sprayed from an infected person’s mouth or nose. “It’s not through surfaces,” she said. “We now know the root of the spread is not from touching surfaces and touching your eye. It’s from being close to someone spewing virus from their nose and mouth, without in most cases knowing they are doing so.” Gandhi’s is not a lone voice. Her comments follow a prominent paper in the Lancet from Emanuel Goldman, a professor of microbiology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He was sceptical about the relevance of scientific studies that showed the virus could survive on surfaces for days at a time. “In my opinion,” he wrote, “the chance of transmission through inanimate surfaces is very small, and only in instances where an infected person coughs or sneezes on the surface, and someone else touches that surface soon after the cough or sneeze.” He defined soon as within one to two hours. Dr Julian Tang, an honorary associate professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, thinks hand washing should stay but agrees the risk from contaminated surfaces has been overplayed. He points to documents from the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) that estimate hand washing can reduce acute respiratory infections by only 16%. Meanwhile, he adds, the World Health Organization has warned about surfaces being a likely route of transmission while conceding there are no reports demonstrating infection this way. Tang believes that a preoccupation with contaminated surfaces distracted countries from taking airborne transmission seriously and played down the necessity of wearing masks. “What we’ve always said is that the virus transmits by all routes. There might be some transmission by hand and fomites and we’re not opposed to hand washing, but the emphasis is wrong,” he told the Guardian. Read full story Source: 5 October 2020
  21. News Article
    A major trial to detect one of the most elusive and deadly cancers - ovarian - has failed to save lives, after two decades of work. The researchers, at University College London, said the results were a disappointment - and thanked the 200,000 people who participated. The trial had looked promising, with annual blood tests detecting cases of ovarian cancer earlier. But routine screening for the cancer is now a distant prospect. Ovarian cancer is tricky to diagnose because the symptoms are easily mistaken for less serious health problems. "Some women are diagnosed so late they are too sick to start treatment," the trial's lead investigator, Prof Usha Menon, said. The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening - the largest in the world - tracked levels of CA125, a chemical released by ovarian tumours, in the blood and sent participants in whom they were rising for an ultrasound scan. Unfortunately the final results, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed the screening had failed to save lives. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 May 2021
  22. News Article
    Every adult who has tested positive for COVID-19 in Scotland is to be invited to take part in a major new study into the effects of long Covid. Researchers hope to identify how many people in Scotland continue to be unwell after having the virus. The Covid in Scotland Study (CISS) will ask people what their symptoms are and how it affects their lives. Those taking part will be asked to use a phone app to answer questions about their health before and after Covid. Early estimates suggest as many as 6,000 people in Scotland were experiencing long term symptoms after the first wave of the pandemic but it is not known what that tally is now. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 May 2021
  23. News Article
    New research examining the effect of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios has found it reduces the risks of those in care dying by up to 11%. The study, published in The Lancet, also said fewer patients were readmitted and they had shorter stays in hospital. It compared 400,000 patients and 17,000 nurses working in 27 hospitals in Queensland, Australia to 28 other hospitals. The state has a policy of just one nurse to every four patients during the day and one to seven at night, in a bid to improve safety and standards of care. The research said savings made from patients having a shorter length of stay, which fell 9%, and less readmissions were double the cost of hiring the extra nurses needed to achieve the ratios. NHS England has resisted moves towards minimum nurse to patient ratios, suspended work by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on safe nurse staffing in 2015. This came as the watchdog was preparing to call for minimum ratios in accident and emergency departments. It has advised that eight or more patients to one nurse is the point at which harm can start to occur. Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 May 2021
  24. News Article
    Two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can provide more than 95% protection against infection, severe illness and death from Covid, according to a groundbreaking study in Israel. The middle eastern country currently leads the world in its inoculation programme, with more than half (56 per cent) of its population having already received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The research, published today in The Lancet journal, also concluded that a single dose of the jab provides 58 per cent protection against infection, 76% against hospital admission, and 77% against death. The researchers said their study highlights the importance of fully vaccinating adults against the virus but acknowledged challenges remain to get the pandemic under control – including uncertainty around how long immunity lasts, from both vaccines and natural infection, and the emergence of variants that may be resistant to jabs currently on the market. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 May 2021
  25. News Article
    Women are bearing the overwhelming brunt of the “gargantuan challenges” health and care services are grappling with during the Covid pandemic, health leaders have said. A new study by the NHS Confederation’s Health and Care Women Leaders Network found female health and care workers’s physical and mental health substantially deteriorated due to working during the coronavirus crisis. The survey, which polled more than 1,200 NHS staff in February and March this year after the virus peaked, found issues with mental and physical health had notably worsened since last summer. Researchers found more than 80% of women said the pandemic meant their job had greater detrimental repercussions on their emotional wellbeing. This is a significant rise from 72% of female workers who said the same during equivalent research carried out in June. The report, which polled nurses, doctors, administrative staff, allied health professionals and managers, warned there are “still many mountains to climb” as services strive to cope with the chaos unleashed by the Covid crisis, as well as dealing with the long-term consequences of the pandemic. The study said: ”This includes tackling the growing issue of long Covid, meeting increased demand for mental health services, continuing to deliver the largest vaccination programme the UK has ever seen, and addressing a backlog of treatment that could extend to nearly seven million people by the end of 2021." Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 May 2021
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