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Found 447 results
  1. News Article
    Blood cancer patients are one of the most vulnerable groups of people at risk of COVID-19, according to research, being 57% more likely to suffer severe disease compared to other cancer patients. Despite the high risk these patients face, charities such as Anthony Nolan, which assist blood cancer patients with finding a stem cell match, were left out of the allocated government budget that was announced in March. The cancellation of face-to-face fundraising and events, despite the increase in demand for services, have led their gross income to be down by an estimated £5.5m for 2021. Henny Braund, chief executive of the charity, said people with blood cancer and blood disorders were “heavily impacted by the pandemic and everyone who needs treatment and support must be able to access it without delay”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 9 May 2021
  2. News Article
    Women and younger adults were more likely to feel depressed during the second UK coronavirus peak than men and other age groups, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data suggests. Four in 10 women aged between 16 and 29 were affected, compared to 26% of men. One in five adults experienced depression in early 2021 - more than double pre-pandemic levels. But GPs in England diagnosed fewer cases of depression in adults in 2020 compared with the year before. Many people may not be seeking medical help, the ONS says. Health experts have always warned that the combined effects of ill health, isolation and job losses during the pandemic would have a negative impact on people's mental health and wellbeing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 May 2021
  3. News Article
    The number of people being diagnosed with cancer early in England has plummeted during the Covid pandemic, sparking fears that many will only be treated when it is too late to save them. Official figures show a third fewer cancers were detected at stage one, when the chances of survival are highest, in the early months of the pandemic than during the same months a year before. Cancer experts fear that the figures, which have been collected by Public Health England’s National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, mean thousands of people have the disease but have not yet started treatment because of “a shift to later diagnosis”. They urged anyone with possible symptoms of the disease to get them checked out immediately. “While it’s fantastic that Covid rates are dropping and lockdown is easing, the knock-on impact of the pandemic on cancer care cannot be overstated,” said Steven McIntosh, the executive director of advocacy and communications at Macmillan Cancer Support. “We are likely to be dealing with Covid’s long shadow for many years to come.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 May 2021
  4. News Article
    Thousands of UK doctors are planning to quit the NHS after the Covid pandemic because they are exhausted by their workloads and worried about their mental health, a survey has revealed. Almost one in three may retire early while a quarter are considering taking a career break and a fifth are weighing up quitting the health service to do something else. Long hours, high demand for care, the impact of the pandemic and unpleasant working environments are taking their toll on medics, the British Medical Association findings show. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the leader of the BMA, said the high numbers of disillusioned doctors could worsen the NHS’s staffing problems and leave patients waiting longer for treatment. “It’s deeply worrying that more and more doctors are considering leaving the NHS because of the pressures of the pandemic – talented, experienced professionals who the NHS needs more than ever to pull this country out of a once-in-a-generation health crisis,” Nagpaul said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 May 2021
  5. News Article
    Health resources diverted to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a major drop in critical preventative care in the US, including childhood vaccinations and lead screenings, sexually transmitted disease testing and substance abuse services. In short, many of the routine measures meant to keep Americans healthy – and keep American health from slipping further behind that of other developed, peer nations – have hit a worrying cliff. As attention has focused on the immediate crisis of the pandemic and the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in America, this other hidden crisis represents another layer of disaster that also has profound implications. “This is either the second or first worst pandemic in modern human history,” said Dr Howard Markel, a pandemic historian and pediatrician at the University of Michigan. “We knew there would be repercussions and unintended consequences.” Now, there is a “whole menu of neglect” to address as a national vaccine campaign allows people to slowly emerge from a year of lockdowns and social distancing. “There is no historical precedent for this,” added Markel. In the first few months of the pandemic alone, at least 400,000 children missed screenings for lead, a toxic heavy metal. Doctors and nurses ordered 3m fewer vaccines for children and 400,000 fewer for measles specifically. For the first time, clinics were forced to ration lab tests for sexually transmitted diseases as lab capacity and supplies were diverted to test for COVID-19. Contact tracers were also re-deployed from tracking chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases to finding people in contact with COVID-19 patients. Data from one large commercial lab showed 669,000 fewer HIV tests were processed. Compared to 2019, the lab diagnosed nearly 5,000 fewer cases of HIV. Delayed diagnosis can lead to people unwittingly transmitting the virus. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 April 2021
  6. News Article
    Around 4.7 million people were waiting for routine operations and procedures in England in February - the most since 2007, NHS England figures show. Nearly 388,000 people were waiting more than a year for non-urgent surgery compared with just 1,600 before the pandemic began. During January and February, the pressure on hospitals caused by COVID-19 was particularly acute. NHS England said two million operations took place despite the winter peak. However, surgeons said hospitals were still under huge pressure due to the second wave of Covid, which had led to "a year of uncertainty, pain and isolation" for patients waiting for planned treatment. Speaking on a visit to Dartmouth, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would "make sure that we give the NHS all the funding that it needs... to beat the backlog". He said the situation had been "made worse by Covid", and added: "We do need people to take up their appointments and to get the treatment that they need." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 April 2021
  7. News Article
    The NHS must think “very radically” about how it redesigns its elective pathways following the coronavirus pandemic, Sir Simon Stevens has told HSJ. Speaking at the HSJ Leadership Congress yesterday, NHS England’s chief executive said the service should ensure as much elective work is done as possible, while covid prevalence is low, while at the same time thinking about “different ways of doing things”. He declined to outline how many very long-waiters the service had or would have in coming months, explaining that some predictions have been “significantly off” in the past, and that future demand is unknown. The NHS chief stressed that other areas of the service would also face post-covid pressures, announcing a further investment in and expansion of long-covid clinics. “We want to see equivalent attention paid to the increased needs we’ve seen in mental health services, including eating disorders, and we want to make sure that the health service continues to expand its offer for long covid,” he said. “To that end we have 69 clinics identified last year, we will have 83 long covid clinics in place by the end of this month, so a significant expansion there.” There will be at least one in each integrated care system area, he said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 14 April 2021
  8. News Article
    Britain is facing a “terrifying” mental health crisis with tens of thousands more children needing specialist help since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Experts from the Royal College of Psychiatrists have warned the problem facing the country will get worse before it gets better with new analysis revealing almost 400,000 children and 2.2 million adults sought help for mental health problems during the crisis. While the effect of lockdown and coronavirus has affected people of all ages, children appear to be particularly susceptible. Some 80,226 more children and young people were referred to specialist mental health services between April and December last year, up by 28% on the same months in 2019 to 372,438. Dr Bernadka Dubicka, chairwoman of the child and adolescent faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: "Our children and young people are bearing the brunt of the mental health crisis caused by the pandemic and are at risk of lifelong mental illness." "As a frontline psychiatrist I've seen the devastating effect that school closures, disrupted friendships and the uncertainty caused by the pandemic have had on the mental health of our children and young people." Read full story Source: 9 April, 2021
  9. News Article
    Patients could be waiting as much as two years for vital operations by the time of the next election due to a “truly frightening” backlog of care caused by the pandemic, the NHS’s former boss has said. Lengthening delays in getting treatment in England are will become a major political problem for Boris Johnson and pose a risk to patients’ health, Sir David Nicholson told the Guardian. “The backlog is truly frightening. We can very easily get to the next election with people waiting over two years. It’s easy to do that,” said Nicholson, citing an explosion in the number of people waiting at least a year since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. “The whole issue of access [to care] is a greater threat to the NHS than privatisation because poor access undermines confidence amongst those people who fund the service – taxpayers,” he added. The widespread suspension of normal NHS diagnostic tests and surgery during the pandemic as hospitals prioritised Covid care has left the service in England with a record 4.59 million people waiting for hospital treatment. That number is set to rise to what the NHS Confederation believes could be as much as 6.9m cases by the end of the year as people on a “hidden waiting list” – who put off seeking help after discovering symptoms of illness – finally visit a GP. According to the most recent figures, the number of people who have been waiting for at least a year has rocketed from 1,613 before the pandemic struck to 304,044. Under the NHS Constitution, 92% of people waiting are meant to be treated within 18 weeks. However, a third of the 4.59 million people have already waited longer than that. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 April 2021
  10. News Article
    The Covid pandemic is casting a wide shadow over the nation’s health, according to new data revealing a dramatic drop in urgent referrals for suspected cancers in England, and a plummeting quality of life among patients awaiting hip and knee surgery in the UK. The crisis has caused huge disruption to healthcare services: in November NHS England revealed that the number of people waiting more than a year for surgery had reached its highest level since 2008, while patients have reported that their procedures, from cancer surgery to hip replacements, have been repeatedly cancelled. It has also been linked to a fall in MRI and CT scans, while among other consequences breast screening programmes were paused last year. Experts have warned the pandemic may also have led to people avoiding GPs and hospitals, meaning they may have missed out on crucial care. Now an analysis of NHS England data by Cancer Research UK has found that the number of people urgently referred for suspected lung cancer fell by 34% between March 2020 and January 2021 compared with the same time period in 2019/2020 – adjusted for working days. That, they say, equates to about 20,300 fewer people being urgently referred. Declines were also found for other suspected cancers including urological cancer and gynaecological cancer, with about 51,000 fewer patients urgently referred for the former, a 25% drop, and 19,800 fewer patients urgently referred for the latter, a 10% drop, compared with the year before. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 March 2021
  11. News Article
    Pregnant women and new mothers are three times as likely to suffer from poor mental health in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study. The report, carried out by a coalition of leading maternal mental health organisations, suggested before that the public health crisis up to 20% of women developed a mental illness during pregnancy or within the first year after having a baby. But in lockdown, 6 in 10 mothers had substantial concerns around their mental health, according to researchers who polled more than 5,000 pregnant women and parents. The study warned women were more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, loneliness and suicidal thoughts during the COVID-19 crisis. The Maternal Mental Health Alliance is one of the organisations behind the research. Luciana Berger, a former Labour MP who is now chair of the group, said: “Today’s report should serve as an ear-splitting warning siren about the dangers to women’s maternal mental health and potential risks to the wellbeing of their babies." Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 March 2021
  12. News Article
    A group of 47 cancer charities says that without urgent action, the UK's cancer death rate will rise for the first time in decades. NHS figures suggest tens of thousands fewer people started cancer treatment since the first lockdown compared to normal times. One Cancer Voice says that the NHS needs more resources. The government says cancer treatment remains a top priority and urges people to see their GP if they have symptoms. Radio 1 Newsbeat has spoken exclusively to One Cancer Voice about the impact of coronavirus on cancer care. The group of charities wants to see more staff available to diagnose and treat cancer, with greater NHS access to private facilities in order to "clear the backlog". "We are calling on the government to invest more money in ensuring the backlog of cancer cases is reduced and eliminated," says Michelle Mitchell, the boss of Cancer Research UK, which heads up One Cancer Voice. "We could face, in this country today, the prospect of cancer survival reducing for the first time in decades. That's why urgent action is required by the government." Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 March 2021
  13. News Article
    NHS England’s cancer director has said it could take another year for the level of cancer treatments and diagnosis carried out to return to normal, after being impeded by COVID-19. National cancer director Dame Cally Palmer told HSJ’s national cancer forum event last week that activity over the past 12 months had been 89% of the previous year, but the service was committed to getting “fully reset” to 2019 levels by March 2022. She shared information showing that, by December 2020, the amount of treatment being carried out following an urgent referral, for most cancers, exceeded December 2019 levels, but that there are still significant treatment backlogs. And, for lung cancer patients, the number of treatments carried out in December 2020 was only 73% of that a year earlier — a decrease from September and October 2020 levels — as covid pressures rose during the third wave. Lung cancer is one of the most amenable to treatment if picked up early. Other areas of diagnostics and treatment have also been severely impeded because of requirements to change practice to reduce the risk of spreading covid, particularly to vulnerable patients. Dame Cally, also chief executive of the Royal Marsden Foundation Trust, said the service was committed to returning to at least normal levels of activity across the board by March next year. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 12 March 2021
  14. News Article
    The Covid surge in January hit key services including cancer and routine surgery, NHS England figures show. Less than half the expected number of operations were done, pushing the waiting list to a record-high of 4.6m. More than 300,000 of those have been waiting more than a year for treatment - compared to 1,600 before the pandemic began. Surgeons described it as a dire situation which would take a long time to turnaround. Tim Mitchell, of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: "Behind today's statistics are people waiting in limbo. Many will be in considerable pain, others will have restricted mobility and be at risk of isolation and loneliness." "Dealing with this daunting backlog will take time, and also sustained investment in the NHS," he said. Similar problems are also being seen in Scotland where 39,000 people have been waiting over a year for treatment. The NHS Confederation has warned the true picture could be much worse with nearly 6 million fewer referrals made by GPs in England for routine treatments, which includes operations such as knee and hip replacements, last year, suggested there was an additional hidden backlog. The organisation, which represents hospitals, said it was likely people have not sought help or found it difficult to access services during the pandemic. Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 March 2021
  15. News Article
    NHS clinics were still seeing just two-thirds of the number of chronic pain patients they normally would by the end of last year, with some patients having waited a year or more. In Ayrshire and Arran, 94 of the 112 chronic pain patients seen between October and December – equivalent to nearly 84% – had been on the waiting list for their first appointment for 52 weeks or longer. Only nine were seen within the 18-week target. This was by far the worst performance for any health board in Scotland. Pain relief clinics across NHS Scotland were paused for four months at the beginning of the pandemic, leading to reports that some patients with problems such as nerve damage and arthritis were paying thousands of pounds to travel to private facilities in England for medical infusions or injections to ease their symptoms. In a statement at the end of last year, Joanne Edwards, the director of acute service at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, apologised for the delays, saying the coronavirus pandemic "has had a significant impact on the capacity of the chronic pain service". Ms Edwards said the health board was increasing the number of face to face and telephone clinics that the chronic pain team can undertake, adding that an "enhanced clinical review" of the waiting list was also being carried out to prioritise patients for appointment based on clinical need. Read full story Source: The Herald, 10 March 2021
  16. News Article
    As many as 6 million “hidden” patients could join the queue for NHS treatment in the coming months, swelling official waiting lists to records not seen for more than a decade, health chiefs have warned. In the wake of a Budget that offered no new investment for the health service ministers must level with the public that previous guarantees on waiting times are now impossible to meet, the head of the NHS Confederation has said. In an interview with The Independent, Danny Mortimer said some patients should expect to wait many months, or possibly even beyond a year, for their treatment. He said: “It's going to take many years to recover the waiting list position to where we want it to be. “We have to be realistic about the time that it will take us to address these issues, and the government have to be realistic about what it will take particularly if this week’s Budget is an indication that actually there won’t be money made available to the NHS to truly address these issues. “The government has to take responsibility for explaining to the public what the consequences of that are.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 March 2021,
  17. News Article
    The government has been called on to take action over the national “backlog” for a specialist mental health service after a woman died after a substantial wait to access treatment. Carole Mitchell, who died by suicide on 22 November 2019, waited almost seven months for a first appointment after being referred to Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust for psychology services. In a prevention of future deaths report, published earlier this month, coroner Alison Mutch said the inquest was told waits had since increased and “someone in Mrs Mitchell’s position today would be more likely to wait nine months”. The coroner added evidence heard suggested the delay experienced was “reflective of both the regional and national backlog for appointments”. The report has been sent to both the Department of Health and Social Care and Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 March 2021
  18. News Article
    Delays due to the COVID-19 crisis have created tens of thousands of year-long waiters for ophthalmology treatment, and a surgery backlog which experts say may never be recovered. NHS England provisional data shows the number of people waiting 52 weeks or longer for ophthalmology treatment increased to more than 23,000 in December, up 57,580% on just 40 the year before. Experts say ophthalmology procedures have been hit particularly hard by the cancellation of elective work due to COVID-19 pressures. On average, roughly 130,000 ophthalmology patients completed treatment per month in England in 2019, most of which would likely have been cataract surgeries. Royal College of Ophthalmologists professional standards chair Melanie Hingorani told HSJ that many in the discipline feared “traditional” ways of working were too “fragmented” to address the size of the challenge. She said that without a “much more innovative” approach it would be “really difficult” to deal with the surgery backlog on ophthalmology and that clearing it could take “two years, maybe longer”. There remained a danger, however, she added that: “Maybe we never catch up”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 March 2021
  19. News Article
    Hospitals across London are racing to tackle a backlog of tens of thousands of urgent operations that need to be carried out in the coming weeks to prevent patients dying or losing limbs, The Independent has learnt. The slow decline in Covid patient numbers means many hospitals across the capital are warning they will still be relying on extra staff, and “surge” beds opened at the height of the crisis, well into March. NHS bosses have been briefed that across the city there are about 15,000 priority two (P2) patients. These are classed as needing urgent surgery, including for cancer, within 28 days, or they could die or be at risk of losing a limb. But the lack of available operating theatres, nurses and anaesthetists mean the city has a shortfall of more than 500 half-day surgical lists a week. The Independent has spoken with multiple NHS insiders and seen briefing documents detailing the challenges facing the capital’s hospitals, which are expected to last up to 21 March in some areas. One briefing warned: “Hospitals have insufficient capacity to meet urgent elective demand for P2. P2 demand is intended to be seen within 28 days, the surge has occurred for over 28 days. Patients who would normally have been seen are waiting longer than clinically advisable." Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 February 2021
  20. News Article
    Almost half of people with potential cancer symptoms did not contact their GP during the first wave of the pandemic, a survey suggests. Symptoms left unchecked included coughing up blood, lumps and changes to the appearance of moles. NHS figures showed a fall in referrals to cancer services last spring. However, this study, of almost 8,000 people, captures the fall in people contacting their GP in the first place. The team that carried out the study, from Cardiff University and Cancer Research UK, said this raised concerns that people could be diagnosed later - and so be less likely to be treated successfully and recover. They surveyed a representative sample of people across the UK and found that of 3,025 people who said they had experienced at least one symptom which could be a warning sign of cancer, 45% did not seek help. They also found that: 31% did not seek help after coughing up blood 41% did not seek help for an unexplained lump or swelling 59% did not seek help after noticing changes to the appearance of a mole. Some of the reasons given by people who did not contact their GP were not wanting to waste doctors' time or put extra strain on the NHS; not wanting to be seen as someone who made a fuss; and fear of catching Covid at appointments. But people who did contact their GP reported feeling "safe" and "secure" when attending face-to-face appointments. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 February 2021
  21. News Article
    The NHS is setting up dozens of mental health hubs to help staff who have been left traumatised by treating Covid patients during the pandemic. There is mounting concern that large numbers of frontline workers have experienced mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder over the last year. NHS personnel will be able to ring one of the 40 new hubs in England, receive advice and be referred for support from psychologists, mental health nurses, therapists and recovery workers. Frontline workers who are struggling with their mental health will be encouraged to use the service, and hub staff will call workers deemed at highest risk directly to offer their help. Higher-risk groups are likely to include those who work in intensive care, on Covid wards and in A&E units. Almost half of doctors, nurses and other ICU staff have reported symptoms of PTSD, severe depression or anxiety, according to research published last month. Of these, about 40% had probable PTSD – far higher than the rates seen among military veterans. Sir Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, announced the hubs in an interview with the House magazine. They are being set up at locations across England including Bedfordshire, Lancashire and north-east London. A handful are already in operation. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 February 2021
  22. News Article
    Waiting lists for NHS surgery in England could hit 10 million by April, a think tank has claimed while calling for NHS hospitals to use more private sector capacity to reduce delays for patients. In a new report the right-wing think tank Reform said the worst case scenario for patient waits could see one in six people in England waiting for treatment by April. It said the impact of coronavirus had turned the NHS into a “national Covid service” with six million fewer referrals for treatment in 2020. It warned the delays in treatments could have dire consequences for patients with an estimated 1,660 additional lung cancer deaths. But NHS bosses have hit back at the report saying it is inaccurate to say the NHS focused only on Covid, and that despite widespread cancellations it has continued to treat other patients. Predictions that the NHS waiting list would hit 10 million were made last year and proved wrong after hospitals ramped up routine services during the summer – although the second wave of the virus has again led to widespread cancellations including for surgery patients. The new Reform report claims capacity in private sector hospitals, where NHS England has secured new contracts to take on additional work during the Covid surge, have not been effectively used. The think tank wants NHS England to mandate the publication of ‘waiting list recovery plans’ by NHS trusts setting out how each hospital will use the private sector. Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 February 2021
  23. News Article
    Availability of inpatient child and adolescent mental health services beds — particularly for eating disorders — has reached ‘crisis point’, with young people left waiting on a standard paediatric ward or at home as demand surged during the covid pandemic. A report to Surrey Heartlands Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in January read: “Availability of tier four beds [inpatient mental health beds for children and adolescents, commissioned centrally by NHS England] in the South East and across the country is at crisis point and providers have to compete for the small pool of beds." “Waits for beds or being placed far from home is a distressing and unacceptable experience for children and young people and families and places an additional burden on other parts of the system such as paediatric wards.” The report noted a “demand upsurge to the highest levels in the last three years” since the pandemic. It stated, in mid-January, the CCG had two patients awaiting eating disorder beds being managed on paediatric wards as they had become “physically too unwell to be managed at home”. Four others also waiting for a CAMHS bed were being managed at home. Read full story Source: 16 February 2021
  24. News Article
    More than 100,000 people were waiting for ‘urgent’ priority two operations in late January, as planned care rates plummeted amid the covid third wave, according to NHS data seen by HSJ. However, the rate of elective procedures carried out last month appears to have been a lot higher than in the spring wave of coronavirus, despite there being more covid patients in hospital this time. In the three weeks to 20 December, the NHS was reporting around 110,000 day cases and 18,000 planned overnight admissions each week. But during January these totals dropped to around 85,000 day cases and 10,000 planned overnight admissions per week. This equates to a reduction of 23% and 44%, respectively. Regions that were more severely impacted by the third wave of coronavirus saw steeper reductions as covid pressures forced staff working in routine care services to be redeployed. In London and the South East, day case activity reduced by around 40% between the same periods, while elective overnight admissions fell by around 57%. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 February 2021
  25. News Article
    The pandemic has had a deep impact on children, who are arriving in A&E in greater numbers and at younger ages after self-harming or taking overdoses, writes Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary. Children are a lost tribe in the pandemic. While they remain (for the most part) perplexingly immune to the health consequences of COVID-19, their lives and daily routines have been turned upside down. From surveys and interviews carried out for the Born in Bradford study, we know that they are anxious, isolated and bored, and we see the tip of this iceberg of mental ill health in the hospital. Children in mental health crisis used to be brought to A&E about twice a week. Since the summer it's been more like once or twice a day. Some as young as 10 have cut themselves, taken overdoses, or tried to asphyxiate themselves. There was even one child aged eight. Lockdown "massively exacerbates any pre-existing mental health issues - fears, anxieties, feelings of disconnection and isolation," says A&E consultant Dave Greenhorn. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 February 2021
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