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Found 196 results
  1. News Article
    England’s test-and-trace system has been hit with fresh problems after there were delays in contacting nearly 2,000 people infected with coronavirus, and one in seven home tests failed to produce a result. An internet outage meant nearly 3,000 more people than usual were transferred to the contact-tracing system after testing positive for COVID-19 in the week ending 19 August. Two-thirds of these people had been tested days or weeks earlier, meaning there was a delay in reaching them and their close contacts when they should have been self-isolating. The proportion of home tests kits failing to produce a result that week rose sharply, from 4% to 15% of the total, equating to more than 18,000 tests. The Department of Health and Social Care figures also show that test and trace failed for a ninth week running to reach its target of contacting 80% of close contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, acknowledged on Thursday that the programme was “not quite there” in reaching that target. He told LBC radio: “One of the challenges is we want to get NHS test and trace up to over 80% of contacts, getting them to self-isolate – we’re at just over 75%, so we’re nearly there but not quite there.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 August 2020
  2. Content Article
    This article, by Nisreen Alwan, argues that defining and measuring recovery from COVID-19 should be more sophisticated than checking for hospital discharge, or testing negative for active infection or positive for antibodies. She highlights the number of previously healthy people with persistent symptoms such as chest heaviness, breathlessness, muscle pains, palpitations and fatigue, which prevent them from resuming work or physical or caring activities.
  3. News Article
    A new study has highlighted the number of NHS staff who can be infected with coronavirus but be completely unaware they are a risk to their colleagues and patients. The research by doctors at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) found a third of staff working in two maternity departments at UCLH and St George’s Hospital tested positive for the virus but had no symptoms. Overall, one in six staff who had not previously been diagnosed with the virus were tested for COVID-19 antibodies and were found to be positive for infection. Prof Keith Neal, emeritus professor of epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham, who was not involved in the research, said: “Asymptomatic healthcare workers with COVID-19 pose a risk of spreading the virus depending on the personal protective equipment in use. We know many cases were acquired in hospital. “Regular testing of healthcare workers is clearly warranted.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 August 2020
  4. News Article
    Up to 750,000 unused coronavirus testing kits are being recalled due to safety concerns. The UK's medicines and healthcare products regulator (MHRA) asked Randox to recall the kits sent out to care homes and individuals. The government said it was a "precautionary measure" and the risk to safety was low. It comes weeks after the health secretary said Randox kits should not be used until further notice. A spokeswoman said: "We have high safety standards for all coronavirus tests. Following the pausing of Randox kits on 15 July, Randox have now recalled all test kits as a precautionary measure." Care home residents or staff with symptoms of coronavirus can continue to book a test, she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 August 2020
  5. News Article
    Two new tests for COVID-19 that are said to deliver results within 90 minutes are to be introduced across NHS hospitals and care homes, to speed up diagnosis ahead of winter and differentiate coronavirus infection from flu, the government says. But some experts were surprised by the government’s decision, saying the particular tests were not well-known. No data had been published concerning their evaluation. The government had made mistakes in buying tests that turned out to be sub-standard in the past, they said. “Repeatedly through the pandemic the government has raced ahead purchasing tests on the basis of manufacturer’s claims, and have found later when independent studies are done that the tests do not have adequate performance for use in the NHS,” said Professor Jon Deeks from Birmingham University, part of a team who have been evaluating tests of this sort. “We would hope that the government would wait for proper evaluations, and consider the scientific evidence for all available tests before signing further contracts. The mistakes made in test purchasing have wasted millions of pounds as well as put lives at risk.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 August 2020
  6. Content Article
    This article from Ashton et al. outlines how one health system in the United States sought to make antibody testing available to staff as a strategy to decrease anxiety and improve sense making around the crisis.
  7. News Article
    Initial data from the COVID-19 Infection Survey. This survey is being delivered in partnership with IQVIA, Oxford University and UK Biocentre. Full article here Table of contents in the report: 1. Main points 2. Number of people in England who had COVID-19 3. Regional analysis 4. Incidence rate 5. Test sensitivity and specificity 6. COVID-19 Infection Survey data 7. Collaboration 8. Glossary 9. Measuring the data 10. Strengths and limitations 11. Related links
  8. News Article
    More than a quarter of black, Asian and minority ethnic NHS staff had not yet had a risk assessment in relation to their exposure to coronavirus, according to the latest data collection by national NHS leaders. Full article here on the HSJ website (paywalled)
  9. News Article
    Healthcare staff working at the height of the covid-19 pandemic in England were not properly protected and were forced to work in an unsafe environment, MPs have been told. Appealing before the health and social care committee on 21 July, experts criticised the government and NHS management for their failure to provide staff with sufficient testing and personal protective equipment (PPE). The committee was gathering evidence for its inquiry into the management of the COVID-19 outbreak. Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, said he believed that the failure to implement better testing systems in the early days of the pandemic had contributed significantly to the problems. He said, “At the height of the pandemic, our own research—which backs up what’s been done elsewhere—found that up to 45% of healthcare workers were infected and they were infecting their colleagues and infecting patients, yet they weren’t being tested systematically. “In the healthcare environment we weren’t providing proper protection, and it’s important because it protects the most vulnerable in our society and it protects our healthcare workers. They deserve to work in a safe environment, and some of them are dying because of what they do. They deserve better.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 22 July 2020
  10. Content Article
    THIS Institute at the University of Cambridge has undertaken a rapid response project to develop an ethical framework for COVID-19 testing for NHS workers. It sought to identify and characterise the ethical considerations likely to be important to the testing programme, while recognising the tension between different values and goals. The project was guided by an expert group and by an online consultation exercise held between 27 May and 8 June 2020 to characterise the range and diversity of views on this topic. The 93 participants in the consultation included NHS workers in clinical and non-clinical roles, NHS senior leaders, policy-makers, and relevant experts. The project report emphasises that getting the COVID-19 swab testing programme for NHS workers right is crucial to support staff and patient safety and broader public health. It also recognises that COVID-19 does not affect all population groups equally. People who are socio-economically disadvantaged or members of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups may face distinctive issues in relation to testing.
  11. News Article
    GP systems will now be updated in 'near-real time' to reveal the result of Covid-19 tests taken by all of their patients. GPs will not need to act on the information, which will be visible on systems whether the patient tested positive or negative. This will apply to all patients where it has been possible to identify the patient's NHS number, NHS Digital said. EMIS Health chief medical officer Shaun O’Hanlon said: "Technology has played a pivotal role in the response to COVID-19 across the board and keeping the medical record up to date with COVID-19 test results means everyone who can share that record has a full picture of the patient’s health, including the patient themselves via Patient Access." "This will not only help day to day patient care, and it will also help on a wider population health level, as data-led insight relies on full and complete medical records as analysts continue to research COVID-19 and its short- and long-term impact on the nation." Read full story Source: Pulse, 20 July 2020
  12. News Article
    Almost half of healthcare workers at some hospitals were infected with COVID-19 during the height of the first wave, the director of a biomedical research centre has told MPs. Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, told MPs today that COVID-19 had infected up to 45% of healthcare workers during ”the height of the pandemic” at some hospitals, according to the centre’s research. Chief medical officer Chris Whitty also told the Health and Social Care Committee that there was more evidence that COVID-19 was transmitted between staff, rather than from patients to staff, and there was “just as much risk as people being in their break rooms than on wards”. Sir Paul told MPs the Francis Crick Institute contacted Downing Street in March and wrote to health secretary Matt Hancock in April to emphasise the importance of regular systematic testing for all healthcare workers as it was “quite clear” that those without symptoms were likely to be transmitting the disease. He said hospital staff “were infecting their colleagues, they were infecting their patients, yet they were not being tested systematically.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 21 July 2020
  13. Content Article
    Regularly updated data from GOV.UK on tests processed and testing capacity in the UK.
  14. News Article
    Staff working in care homes are to be tested every week starting on Monday, with residents tested every month, the government has said. The expansion of testing comes as a whistleblower at one of the testing laboratories revealed dozens of shifts had been cancelled throughout May and June because of a lack of test samples. Ministers hope that the expansion of testing will help to prevent the spread of infection to vulnerable residents. Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 July 2020
  15. News Article
    The government’s contact-tracing programme failed to reach almost 30% of people who tested positive for the coronavirus in England last week, the latest figures show. Only 70% of the 6,923 people who tested positive for COVID-19 during the period were reached by NHS Test and Trace staff, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. This means that 2,054 people with the virus – and potentially thousands of their close contacts – could not be traced by the new system. The fact that one in four people with the virus had not been reached since the launch was “surprising and worrying”, said Keith Neal, emeritus professor of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 June 2020
  16. News Article
    COVID-19 antibody tests for NHS and care staff are being rolled out without "adequate assessment", experts warn. The tests could place an unnecessary burden on the NHS, the 14 senior academics say in a letter in the BMJ, Last month, the government said it had bought 10 million antibody tests and asked NHS trusts and care homes to make them available to staff in England. Officials say the blood tests - to see if someone has had the virus - will play an "increasingly important role". The group of scientists say as a positive result is unable to prove immunity, the tests offer "no benefit" to hospitals and care staff. The results do not change what personal protective equipment staff must wear, for example. The academics also suggest there is little data on how well the test works for people at highest risk - including people belonging to some ethnic minorities and older patients. Instead, they call for other carefully designed strategies to help monitor the spread of the virus. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 June 2020
  17. News Article
    A new coronavirus test which could replace the existing a nose and throat swab is being piloted in Southampton. People will be able to simply spit into a pot at home before the sample is sent off to check whether they have COVID-19. If successful, the saliva test could become an alternative to the existing swab which some people find uncomfortable and can provoke coughing and spluttering. Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 June 2020
  18. News Article
    The UK’s failure to report how many people have recovered from COVID-19 has been criticised by public health experts, who say a huge proportion of cases have remained “invisible” to the health service. Britain is an outlier internationally in not reporting the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 alongside statistics on deaths and numbers of identified cases. Chile is the only other nation not to share this information out of the 25 countries with the highest reported incidence. A failure to monitor those who test positive for COVID-19 outside of hospital has left people feeling unsupported and alienated from the health system, the experts say. There is concern that because the majority of community cases have not been logged in patient records, it will be more challenging to research the long-term consequences of the disease. Prof Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Not tracking people in the community, for me, [is] so astonishing. These people are completely invisible in the health system.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 June 2020
  19. News Article
    Nurses' leaders want all healthcare employers - including the NHS - to "care for those who have been caring" during the coronavirus crisis. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is calling for better risk assessments; working patterns and mental health care for those on the front line. It warns many may be suffering from exhaustion, anxiety and other psychological problems. The Department of Health and Social Care said support was a "top priority". The RCN has released an eight-point plan of commitments it wants to see enforced to mark the 100 days since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic. Amongst its suggestions are a better COVID-19 testing regime for healthcare workers and more attention paid to the risks posed to ethnic minority nurses. It says employers and ministers "must tackle the underlying causes which have contributed to worse outcomes for Bame staff". Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 June 2020
  20. News Article
    A leading surgeon has said NHS staff must be routinely tested for coronavirus up to twice a week. Prof Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said it was vital, to reassure patients staff were not unwittingly carrying the virus. But hospital trust bosses say they are still waiting for clarity on plans for regular testing. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was focusing on routine testing in care homes. Prof Alderson was speaking at a Health Select Committee meeting about the necessary steps to get all NHS services back up and running. He said: "It's absolutely essential to regain public confidence that we are able to test our staff regularly." It would be "pragmatic" for testing to take place "about twice weekly", he added, because it was known that the available tests were not perfect. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 June 2020
  21. Content Article
    This poster by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, gives an overview on the different types of test for COVID-19 for patients and the general public. It explains the differences between the antigen PCR test and the antibody test.
  22. News Article
    Care homes have been ordered to destroy a batch of faulty COVID-19 test kits after it was discovered that the swabs could break off while being used to gather samples from residents’ tonsils and noses. Care home managers were told on Sunday not to use the tests because they had “brittle stems at risk of snapping”. The kits were manufactured by Citotest, a company based in China, and were distributed by the government’s COVID-19 care home testing programme. It is tasked with providing tests for all staff and residents in care settings, not just people displaying symptoms. The affected batch should be destroyed or kept in a safe area clearly marked with warnings not to use them, officials said, adding that the problem emerged on Saturday and they were working as quickly as possible to resolve it. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the batch could have contained tens of thousands of tests and that a complaint had been raised with the manufacturer, with whom discussions were ongoing. “We are aware of an issue with one batch of swab sticks which are being replaced where needed but this does not affect any tests, or the results of tests, previously taken,” a DHSC spokesperson said. “Testing is unaffected and people should still arrive for their booked tests.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 June 2020
  23. Content Article
    The government has unveiled a COVID-19 test and trace strategy for England, but it wasted valuable time in recognising what needed to be done after the lockdown was imposed and has been playing catch up ever since writes Chris Ham in a BMJ Opinion article. Chris says responding effectively to COVID-19 requires a blend of national and local leadership. Tragically, the government has been slow to recognise this, no more so than in plans to resume community testing and contact tracing as the lockdown is relaxed. These plans are essential to identify further outbreaks when they occur and to contain their impact. The challenge now is to ensure that every area of England has effective arrangements in place ahead of further relaxations of the lockdown in June. These arrangements must involve people being able to access tests in convenient locations, including their own homes, and for tests to be analysed rapidly. Agreement is needed on sharing test results with GPs and contact tracing staff to enable effective follow up.
  24. News Article
    A contact tracing system has this week been launched in Wales, initially a telephone based process, followed by an online system next week. Anyone who has a positive coronavirus test result will be contacted by a team of contact tracers and asked for details of everyone they have had close contact with while they have had symptoms. From Monday 8th June, a new online system will be used to support the process. People will have the option to use the system to provide details of their close contacts electronically. The system has been trialled in four health board areas over the last two weeks and more than 600 contact tracers have so far been employed, with more to be employed. Health Minister, Vaughan Gething said “Today’s roll-out of the contact tracing element of our Test, Trace, Protect strategy is a significant step forward in the gradual move out of lockdown.” Read full story Source: HTN, 2 June 2020
  25. News Article
    The head of NHS test and trace has refused to give MPs any data on the first six days of the new service, leading health committee chair Jeremy Hunt to warn that a lack of transparency could “destroy confidence” in its work. Baroness Dido Harding, who is leading the new effort, said she was working to validate performance data, which relies on people with COVID-19 symptoms isolating and being called by a team of tracers to identify others they have been in contact with. MPs had wanted to know how many patients had been contacted within 24 hours as well as how many were willing to share their contacts, and the compliance with self-isolation advice. But Baroness Harding said she would not share the information until the UK Statistics Authority was happy with the data and could ensure it can be trusted. The UKSA criticised the government earlier this week over its public use of test results data. Chair of the committee and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was “disappointed” with her refusal and said it was hard for the committee to scrutinise services if it did not have the data, which she had been pre-warned it would ask for. Leaked information on Tuesday suggested only two-fifths of coronavirus patients and one-third of their contacts were identified and contacted by the tracing service. Read full story Source: The Independent, 3 June 2020
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