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Showing results for tags 'Secondary impact'.
Found 448 results
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Content ArticleWith a lot of medical care on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, Paul Landau, founder and CEO of digital cancer care company Careology, looks at the UK’s ‘next big crisis’.
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Content ArticleIn this article, published by The Justice Gap, Theo Huckle QC discusses the issue of people not receiving treatment because of diversion of pre-existing NHS resources to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. There are legal issues which arise about the rights of citizens to receive – and continue to receive – treatment from their health service. What are those rights and what right do Governments in the UK or the health Trusts have to reduce services and not treat existing patients because of the current global health crisis?
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Content ArticleIn her latest blog for the hub, topic lead Eve Mitchell discusses the impact COVID-19 is having on the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare staff who are now having to absorb the anger of the public, patients, and their carers.
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Content ArticleCancer is the leading cause of death in the UK, and cancer doesn’t just stop because of a pandemic. Before COVID-19 there were around 367,000 new cases of cancer in the UK and, sadly, around 165,000 deaths. Early diagnosis followed by swift access to the most effective treatment remains as important as ever for survival. It is also essential to preserve cancer patients’ quality of life through a personalised, holistic approach to their care. Over 2 million people were estimated to be waiting for cancer screening, testing and treatment. In addition to this, many cancer patients may have been asked to shield, causing immediate disruption to daily life including not being able to see family and friends or do food shopping. In response to this crisis, Cancer Research UK conducted a survey aiming to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients’ testing, treatment and care, day-to-day lives and wellbeing, and support for government policies.
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Content ArticleCompulsory face coverings pose particular challenges when patients are deaf or have dementia. This blog by Lesley Carter give practical advice on how to communicate clearly with patients when wearing a face mask.
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Content ArticleThis article from Susan Carr discusses how fear is keeping patients from getting the care they need. The author highlights the importance of recognising that rebuilding trust in the system disrupted by COVID-19 will take time and the role of leaders to anchor this effort.
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The world turned upside down: Uncertainty and COVID-19
lzipperer posted an article in Letter from America
This month’s Letter from America explores uncertainties stemming from the COVID pandemic. Letter from America is the latest in a Patient Safety Learning blog series highlighting new accomplishments and patient safety challenges in the United States. -
Content ArticleFrom bereavement to job losses, to loneliness and relationship breakdown, the psychological strains caused by the coronavirus crisis have affected our mental wellbeing. The psychological impact of the pandemic is an evolving and complex picture that is unlikely to be fully understood for some time. To help navigate the emerging landscape, the Guardian has collected data on five issues faced by the population to measure what life has been like in Britain over the past four months. The Guardian also spoke to charities providing support to people for insight on the trends behind the data.
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Content ArticleLea Lane is a US travel writer who hasn’t left her home in over four months, except for medical reasons. Lea gives her own personal account of having coronavirus and the longer term effects it is having on her "Trump has claimed that 99% of cases of COVID-19 are 'totally harmless.' His take is 'live with it.' Many thousands of COVID-19 survivors are unfortunately doing just that, suffering strange, debilitating symptoms that come and go for months after first coming down with the novel virus. Unfortunately we are discovering that the disease can not only be deadly, but chronic — or as sufferers call it, 'long-haul.'
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Content ArticleResearch by the British Medical Association (BMA) concludes that over a million planned operations and treatments as well as over twenty thousand cancer treatments have been cancelled or delayed between April and the end of June this year because of the pandemic. The Association’s research also estimates that more than two and a half million first time outpatient appointments were cancelled during the same time period. This paper coincides with the BMA’s latest survey of 5,905 doctors in England and Wales, asking about the impact of the pandemic on their patients and their working lives. As part of the survey, they were asked if, within the last week, they had treated patients with conditions at a later stage (e.g. cancer, heart disease) than they would normally expect. A little over 40% said that they had. Behind this data are the scores of patients whose routine surgery or procedure has been put aside in the rush to reconfigure the NHS to cope with COVID-19. Even worse, doctors know there are those whose illnesses are far more serious than they were, some now beyond cure.
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Content ArticleFollowing the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, facilities began submitting patient safety reports to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System related to management of this emerging infection. Events in the analysis most often took place in the Emergency Department, on a Medical/Surgical Unit, or in the Intensive Care Unit. This is a study of 343 Event Reports From 71 Hospitals in Pennsylvania. The table within this document outlines the factors associated with patient safety concerns within COVID-19.
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Content ArticleThe study by Traverse aimed to explore the knock-on effects of coronavirus for health and wellbeing in the UK by understanding the experiences of people whose care has been disrupted. It is based on interviews with 12 people in the week beginning 20th April, just after the second 3-week lockdown period was announced in the UK.
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Content ArticleThe scale of the challenge facing the NHS after the first wave of COVID-19 in England is only just coming to light. The NHS adapted at speed to redeploy staff, change estate configurations, reduce non-COVID-19 face-to-face appointments and redesign patient pathways. The deployment of the NHS physician workforce provides an insight into the NHS response. In the middle of May, 32% of Royal College of Physicians (RCP) members reported working in a clinical area that was different from their normal practice.By the start of June this had reduced by 10% to 22%, but that still means one-fifth of the workforce were working outside their usual area. This has knock-on effects for patients and the resumption of services. The RCP, in partnership with our specialist societies, has been working with NHS England to plan specialty-specific restart activity. This is based on different scenarios regarding specialty capacity across the country, and the impact of COVID-19 is being felt unevenly. Consultants in respiratory medicine and gastroenterology expect it to take 2 years to recover from the backlog created by COVID-19, while those in cardiology are expecting it to take 18–21 months. Providing accurate estimates and projections about what the next 12 months hold for the NHS is difficult, as we can’t be certain about whether there will be future outbreaks and waves of COVID-19. This report highlights just why it is so important that the government, the NHS and politicians openly discuss the significant unmet need in the patient population.
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Content ArticleIMPARTS is an evidence based website with guides aimed at people with long term conditions (such as acute kidney injury, COPD and diabetes) and COVID-19. IMPARTS has put together a list of resources from condition-specific charities which they hope will help and provide reassurance during this time. This includes specific advice on the following: Coping with stress during COVID-19 (World Health Organisation) Sleep anxiety: tips to manage and improve sleep (The Sleep Council) Looking after your mental health during Coronavirus (The Mental Health Foundation) Coronavirus and your wellbeing (MIND) COVID recovery online course (Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) Health unlocked – a holistic approach to healthcare OCD and COVID-19 survival tips (OCD UK).
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Emerging evidence on health inequalities and COVID-19: May 2020
Claire Cox posted an article in Health inequalities
A recent Health Foundation long read suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic could be a watershed moment in creating the social and political will to build a society that values everyone’s health – now and in the long term. The global pandemic and the wider governmental and societal response, is certainly bringing health inequalities into sharp focus. And it has been apparent from the early stages of the pandemic that some groups are at much higher risk of catching and dying from the virus than others. Factors such as age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation are all known to be important. Critically, these factors combine in complex ways to put some people at much greater risk. In addition, the measures taken to control the spread of the virus are having unequal socioeconomic impacts, which are likely to deepen health inequalities in the long term. Over the coming months, the Health Foundation will continue to round up key evidence on COVID-19 and inequalities. In this article the Health Foundation give an overview of some key themes emerging from recent work on the unequal impact of COVID-19, focusing on how children and young people are being affected, and the economic effects of the pandemic. -
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COVID Trauma Response Working Group
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Good practice and useful resources
The COVID Trauma Response Working Group has been formed to help coordinate trauma-informed responses to the COVID outbreak. It is made up of psychological trauma specialists, coordinators of the psychosocial response to trauma, wellbeing leads at NHS Trusts and people with lived experience of psychological trauma. The working group is being coordinated by staff at University College London and the Traumatic Stress Clinic at Camden and Islington NHS Trust. On their website you will find many resources and information on the work they are doing. -
Content ArticleProf Nick Bishop, VP for Science and Research at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), outlines some of the key developments in the College's Research and Quality Improvement Division, recognising ongoing work despite the disruptions to members' schedules. He also discusses research on the effects of COVID-19 on child health and well-being.
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Content ArticleThe prone position is defined as lying in a horizontal position with the front of the body facing downwards. Its use with critically ill patients with respiratory compromise is known to improve short-term oxygenation and lung compliance. The desired outcome of prone positioning is to improve lung perfusion and oxygenation in patients who are in the early stages of pneumonia or who have an acute lung injury (ALI) or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) which is common in COVID–19 patients. One of the most common complications of nursing patients in the prone position is the occurrence of pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers are likely to occur as patients are repositioned far less frequently once in prone (generally only after 16 hours) and also the patient may develop significant facial oedema. It is important therefore to take precautions to reduce the risk of pressure ulcers when preparing for and caring for the patient in the prone position. This NHS guidance promotes good skin care during prone positioning.
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Content ArticleThis blog has been written for the Health Foundation and looks at the impact COVID 19 has had on patients with long term condions.
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Content ArticleWe all can experience mental health problems, whatever our background or walk of life. But the risk of experiencing mental ill-health is not equally distributed across our society. Those who face the greatest disadvantages in life also face the greatest risk to their mental health. The distribution of infections and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown and associated measures, and the longer-term socioeconomic impact are likely to reproduce and intensify the financial inequalities that contribute towards the increased prevalence and unequal distribution of mental ill-health.
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Understanding the needs of youth during the COVID-19 crisis
Claire Cox posted an article in Blogs
While COVID-19 coverage has been saturated with news of clinical cases, deaths, hospital shortages, and financial losses, it seems as though a key population has been excluded from the concern. The youth and young adult population, of all ethnicities and backgrounds, have not had the proper attention to their needs as other groups impacted by COVID-19 have. Particularly, these populations are at risk of severe mental health distress due to COVID-19 related financial, academic, and housing instability. -
Content ArticleThis data snapshot from Santoli et al. highlights the results of an examination of two data sets (Jan to April 2019 and Jan to April 2020) to assess the impact of the pandemic on pediatric vaccination in the United States. The authors found significant vaccination declines and highlight the importance of childhood vaccination to prevent future disease outbreaks.
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Content ArticleCancer diagnostics and surgery have been disrupted by the response of healthcare services to the COVID-19 pandemic. Progression of cancers during delay will impact on patient long-term survival. Sud et al., in a paper published in Annals of Oncology, found: Lockdown and re-deployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant disruption to cancer diagnosis and management. 3-month delay to surgery across all Stage 1-3 cancers is estimated to cause >4,700 attributable deaths per year in England. The impact on life years lost of 3-6 month to surgery for Stage 1-3 disease varies widely between tumour types. Strategic prioritisation of patients for diagnostics and surgery has potential to mitigate deaths attributable to delays. The resource-adjusted benefit in avoiding delay in cancer management compares favourably to admission for COVID-19 infection.
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Content ArticleHow will the coronavirus pandemic affect the nation’s mental health? Covid-19 and the nation’s mental health: Forecasting needs and risks in the UK is the first assessment from the Centre for Mental Health of the likely impacts of COVID-19 on mental health in Britain. It uses evidence from previous epidemics internationally and from the aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis to estimate what effect COVID-19 will have on mental health at population level in the UK.
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Rethink Mental Illness: COVID-19 and mental illness
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
The charity Rethink Mental Illness have set up an online hub to provide practical support and information that is useful for people living with, or supporting people with mental illness during the coronavirus pandemic.
