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Showing results for tags 'Secondary impact'.
Found 448 results
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Content ArticleLong waiting times and growing waiting lists for hospital treatment have been a problem for some time, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue and waiting lists have grown rapidly. This analysis of waiting list data by The King's Fund shows a clear relationship between longer waiting lists and deprivation, with those living in the most deprived areas nearly twice as likely to wait more than a year for treatment compared to those living in the least deprived areas.
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Content ArticleWhile the NHS delivered a remarkable amount of elective treatment during the pandemic, the pressure of caring for large numbers of patients seriously unwell with COVID-19 has led to the waiting list for elective care reaching the highest level since current records began. This analysis from The Health Foundation looks in detail at the impact of the pandemic on the waiting list for elective care in England. It highlights that: 6 million fewer people completed elective care pathways between January 2020 and July 2021 than would have been expected based on pre-pandemic numbers the backlog of elective care is not evenly distributed across England patients living in socioeconomically deprived areas faced more disruption and delays than those in England’s least deprived areas. It also looks at the difficulty in predicting how long the backlog will take to clear and how much it will cost. One unknown factor that complicates this task is 'missing' patients - those who did not or could not seek care during the pandemic. These patients may present at a healthcare setting requiring more urgent, intensive treatment as a result of missing out on earlier intervention.
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Content ArticleMany elective orthopaedic procedures were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the number of patients on waiting lists for surgery is rising. This study looks at the disparities between inpatient and day-case orthopaedic waiting list numbers and the ‘hidden burden’ that exists due to reductions in elective secondary care referrals. The authors looked at elective procedures at a single District General Hospital in the UK between 1 April and 31 December 2020 and compared data with the same nine-month period from 2019. The study found: a 52.8% reduction in elective surgical workload in 2020 the total number of patients on waiting lists had risen by 30.1% in just 12 months inpatient waiting lists have risen by 73.2%, compared to a 1.6% rise in the day-case waiting list new patient referrals from primary care and therapy have reduced by 49.7%. The authors highlight the disparity between inpatient and day-case waiting lists and predict an influx of new referrals as the pandemic eases. They call for robust planning and allocation of adequate resources to deal with the backlog.
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Content ArticleThis study, published in the European Journal of General Practice, explores the type and nature of patient safety incidents in French primary care settings during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its findings suggest that constraints of the first wave of the pandemic contributed towards patient safety incidents during non-Covid-19 care, with the authors suggesting a national primary care emergency response plan to support practitioners could have mitigated many of the non-Covid-19 related patient safety incidents during this period.
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Content Article
Long Covid: the NHS plan for 2021/22 (15 June 2021)
Mark Hughes posted an article in Patient recovery
The Long Covid Plan 2021/22 builds on the previous five-point plan announced in October 2020 and outlines 10 key next steps to be taken by the NHS to support people living with Long Covid. The plan highlights the need for equity of access, outcomes and experience in Long Covid support, as well as committing to extending the Your COVID Recovery website, collecting and publishing data. -
Content ArticleThis article in the British Journal of General Practice looks at what will happen to public engagement in healthcare following the Covid-19 vaccine rollout. The author, Datapwa Mujong, argues that the successes of community-centred approaches employed in response to the pandemic could be lost without sustained funding and policy to embed these services in healthcare provision. He warns of the dangers of 'initiative decay' and expresses concern that disadvantaged groups may be further disenfranchised by the short-term nature of engagement for the purpose of the vaccine rollout. He argues that in order to tackle inequalities, sustainable solutions are needed, rather than short-term interventions, even though these may require fewer resources.
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Content ArticleThis report looks at research commissioned by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) to understand the varying pandemic experiences of different people affected by type 1 diabetes in the UK. It highlights an enormous withdrawal of NHS services during the pandemic, leading to highly unequal access to type 1 diabetes care.
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Content ArticleThis study in Social Science & Medicine looked at access to mental healthcare services in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic. It examined changes to the idea of candidacy, a concept used to describe people's perceptions about their eligibility and entitlement to care. The authors found that the pandemic had a significant effect on patients' ideas about their candidacy, and state that their findings affirm the value of the candidacy framework for mental health contexts.
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Content ArticleThis report looks at lessons that can be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic around developing culturally relevant health information for South Asian communities. The authors conclude that there is an urgent need for culturally appropriate health information for South Asian communities to help reduce inequalities in health outcomes seen prior to the pandemic and exacerbated during it. They also highlight a lack of research into optimal ways of developing culturally relevant health information resources.
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Content ArticleThis report by Muscular Dystrophy UK looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people living with muscle-wasting conditions, according to the results of a survey conducted in Scotland. It is estimated that more than 6,000 people in Scotland live with a muscle-wasting condition and require access to a range of specialist appointments and clinicians to meet their complex care needs.
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Content ArticlePeople in England’s most deprived neighbourhoods work longer hours than those in the rest of the country but live shorter lives with more years in ill health costing an estimated £29.8bn a year to the economy in lost productivity. People living in these communities were also 46% more likely to die from COVID-19 than those in the rest of England. The findings, revealed in a joint report released today by the All-Parliamentary Party Group for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods and Northern Health Science Alliance, shows the devastating impact of poor health for those living in deprived areas and left behind neighbourhoods (LBNs) and makes a number of recommendations to overcome the health inequalities faced by people living in these places. Those living in local authorities that contain ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods have a further £2bn gap in lost productivity compared to those areas with a similar rate of deprivation but with more civic assets, connectedness and an active and engaged community. Across most measures people in these areas fair even worse than those in deprived neighbourhoods.
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Content Article"Patients wait up to 12 hours. Some die waiting. How long must we wait for this dire situation to improve?" The NHS is overwhelmed. Although Covid has shone a bright light on this, it alone did not create these problems. There are multiple reasons for failure writes the'Secret Paramedic' in this Guardian article.
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Content ArticleIn this interview for Woman's Hour, Dr Nisreen Alwan, Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Southampton, discusses the impact of Long Covid on her own life with presenter Emma Barnett. She also shares insights from research that suggests women, people of working age, people from areas of high social deprivation and frontline health and education workers are more likely to be affected by Long Covid. Dr Alwan talks about the need to manage Long Covid alongside daily activities and highlights new research that demonstrates that vaccines may reduce the incidence of the condition. The interview can be heard at 17:23-25:20 in the recording.
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Content ArticleThis report by the Health and Social Care Commons Select Committee looks at the catastrophic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on patients waiting for NHS care and outlines the findings of the Select Committee's inquiry. Waiting lists are at their highest since records began, and the 5.8 million patients waiting to start treatment in September 2021 may be only the tip of the iceberg, with missing patients meaning that the true waiting list could be as high as 13 million. The report highlights the need to carefully plan how to tackle the elective care backlog. It outlines the risks involved, including the danger of prioritising areas that are well suited to numerical targets to the detriment of other areas of care, such as mental health, general practice and community services. It also highlights that the challenges the NHS faces are greater than just tackling elective care. With a record number of 999 calls and waiting times in emergency departments at record levels, work to tackle the backlog is being threatened by pressure on emergency care.
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Content Article
My career of treating patients has ended (4 July 2019)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
A harrowing account from an anonymous physician on why he and colleagues are leaving the medical profession. -
Content ArticleIn this interview with the journal International Politics and Society, Brendan Delaney, professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London discusses the impact of Long Covid on individuals and society. He describes his own experience of Long Covid, which rendered him unable to work for months, and highlights that we should not be surprised by the prevalence of Long Covid, as all epidemics result in long-term illness for many people. He draws attention to parts of the political system 'not believing in' Long Covid and highlights the damage caused by psychologising the condition. Finally, he points to the need for more research to better understand Long Covid symptoms.
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Content Article
Long Covid: The hidden iceberg of Covid-19
Dr Shruthi posted an article in Blogs
In the wake of new variants and the relentless spread of Covid-19, understanding the complex nature of Long Covid is crucial. In this article, I aim to present useful information on the risk factors, plausible pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment of Long Covid. The obscure nature of Long Covid is a conundrum both for doctors and patients. To mitigate the burden of Long Covid, early identification of disease signs, appropriate treatment and timely access to rehabilitation care is vital. I believe that strengthening the 4 Rs (Reporting, Recognition, Rehabilitation and Research) through close collaboration between government organisations, pharmaceutical industries, patients and health care providers could reduce the impact of Long Covid. -
Content Article
In this blog, Patient Safety Learning’s Chief Executive, Helen Hughes, reflects on participating in a recent Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Congress webinar, held in association with BD, which considered some of the key emerging patient safety issues for 2022.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis analysis by The British Medical Association (BMA) highlights that the health service has a shortage of hospital beds, and that occupancy rates consistently exceed safe levels. It states that bed capacity will be a critical limiting factor in the NHS recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis looks at: NHS bed data compared to other countries. bed stocks over time. the impact of Covid-19. safety breaches. intensive care capacity.
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Content ArticleThe UK has fewer acute hospital beds relative to its population than many comparable health systems, and the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on their availability and use. This article by The King's Fund illustrates long-term trends in hospital beds, using 2019-20 data from before the pandemic as the most recent comparator. However, where data is available for 2020/21, the authors have included this for information and to show the impact of the pandemic.
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Content ArticleThis is a video recording of a Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Congress webinar, in association with BD, considering some of the key emerging patient safety issues for 2022. The panel discuss the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic patient and staff safety, what needs to be done to ensure that patient safety is designed into elective care recovery plans and the important role for co-production as part of this.
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Content Article
BBC Sounds podcast - The Backlog (9 February 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Exit strategies
This is the first episode in a series of podcasts by Natasha Loder, Health Policy Editor at The Economist, about the care backlog currently facing the health service. After more than two years battling Covid-19, the NHS is struggling through its worst winter crisis in living memory and is facing a daunting task to clear the huge backlog exacerbated by the pandemic. Nearly six million people are on the NHS waiting list for routine treatment in England alone. As patients, often with worsening conditions, pour back into the NHS after putting off treatment, health secretary Sajid Javid warns waiting lists could top thirteen million. In this first episode, Natasha speaks to frontline workers, managers, policy experts, and patients to assess the pressure created by the unprecedented demand on the different areas of the NHS from emergency services to GP surgeries. -
Content ArticleIn this article in The BMJ, Farah Hameed highlights that the backlog of care in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant and detrimental effect on primary care services, not just elective hospital treatment. The combined impact of patients not coming forward for treatment during the pandemic, and hospitals having to cancel non-urgent procedures and routine clinics, has led to a huge backlog of patients living with conditions that are gradually getting worse. It is primary care that has to support these patients in the absence of capacity in secondary care. Consultant-led hospital services rejecting GP referrals due to lack of capacity is a major problem, with the number of GP referrals rejected due to lack of slots jumping from 238,859 in February 2020 to 401,115 in November 2021. Farah argues that emphasis must be placed on how tackling the build-up of care in our communities can help the wider system. For example, making GP continuity of care a policy priority would be a cost-effective way of improving patient outcomes and reducing the burden on other parts of the healthcare system, including secondary care.
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Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the amount of planned care the NHS has been able to provide. This delivery plan sets out how the NHS will recover elective care over the next three years. It has been developed with a wide range of expert partners and explains how the NHS will capitalise on current success and embed new ideas to ensure elective services are fit for the future.
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Content ArticleA delayed discharge is when a patient no longer requires hospital care but isn’t able to leave. Earlier this winter, hospital trusts in England were asked to work with local partners to cut delayed discharges by half by the end of January. Natasha Curry and Liz Fisher show how the situation has actually got worse since, and discuss the possible reasons why.
