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Found 456 results
  1. Content Article
    In this article for The Guardian, psychiatrist Rebecca Thomas talks about the benefits and problems related to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments, which are used in cases of severe depression. Having had 70 individual ECT treatments for depression herself, Rebecca highlights that although the therapy can be very effective, doctors need to acknowledge the issues it can cause for patients. She talks about the memory issues ECT can cause, and highlights that as a therapy it has been stigmatised, which spreads fear about a treatment that can be necessary and life-saving. Concluding that decisions around ECT therapy should be clinical and not moral, she urges doctors not to be complacent about the risks, and patients to be careful about stigmatising an effective treatment.
  2. News Article
    The number of children in England needing treatment for serious mental health problems has risen by 39% in a year, official data shows. Experts say the pandemic, social inequality, austerity and online harm are all fuelling a crisis in which NHS mental health treatment referrals for under-18s have increased to more than 1.1m in 2021-22. In 2020-21 – the first year of the pandemic – the figure was 839,570, while in 2019-20 there were 850,741 referrals, according to analysis of official figures by the PA Media. The figures include children who are suicidal, self-harming, suffering serious depression or anxiety, and those with eating disorders. Dr Elaine Lockhart, chair of the child and adolescent psychiatry faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the rise in referrals reflected a “whole range” of illnesses. She said “specialist services are needing to respond to the most urgent and the most unwell”, including young people suffering from psychosis, suicidal thoughts and severe anxiety disorder. Lockhart said targets for seeing children urgently with eating disorders were sliding “completely” and that more staff were needed. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 January 2023
  3. News Article
    Almost one in four people have bought medicine online or at a pharmacy to treat their illness after failing to see a GP face to face, according to a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself treatment. Nearly one in five (19%) have gone to A&E seeking urgent medical treatment for the same reason, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows. One in six (16%) people agreed when asked by the pollsters Savanta ComRes if the difficulty of getting an in-person family doctor appointment meant they had “carried out medical treatment on yourself or asked somebody else who is not a medical professional to do so”. Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said delays and difficulty in accessing GP appointments constituted a national scandal, and face-to-face GP appointments had become “almost extinct” in some areas of the country. He said: “We now have the devastating situation where people are left treating themselves or even self-prescribing medication because they can’t see their local GP.” Dr Richard Van Mellaerts, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee in England, said: “While self-care and consulting other services such as pharmacies and NHS 111 will often be the right thing to do for many minor health conditions, it is worrying if patients feel forced into inappropriate courses of action because they are struggling to book an appointment for an issue that requires the attention of a GP or a member of practice staff.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 January 2024
  4. Content Article
    This article in The Lancet aimed to review published work about the efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) with simulated ECT, ECT versus pharmacotherapy and different forms of ECT for patients with depressive illness. The authors designed a systematic overview and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. They concluded that: ECT is an effective short-term treatment for depression, and is probably more effective than drug therapy. bilateral ECT is moderately more effective than unilateral ECT. high dose ECT is more effective than low dose.
  5. Content Article
    This webpage by mental health charity Mind provides information on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). It explains when ECT might be used and what happens during the treatment, as well as describing the potential short- and long-term side effects of ECT, including memory loss.
  6. News Article
    The antiviral, molnupiravir, does not reduce coronavirus hospital admissions or deaths in vaccinated people at high risk, new research suggests. But the treatment was associated with a shorter recovery time, by four days, and reduced viral load. People who received molnupiravir reported feeling better compared to those who received usual care, the study found. Researchers suggest that while the drug could have some benefits in terms of symptom reduction, the cost of the drug may mean it is not the best choice for the general population, given the study findings. But it may be useful in reducing the pressure on UK health systems, they added. Chris Butler, professor of primary care in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and co-chief investigator of Panoramic, said: “Finding effective, safe and scalable early treatments for Covid-19 in the community is the next major frontier in our research response to the ongoing worldwide pandemic. “It is in the community where treatments could have a massive reach and impact. “But decisions about who to treat should always be based on evidence from rigorous clinical trials that involve people who would most likely be prescribed the drugs.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 December 2022
  7. Content Article
    The safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of molnupiravir, an oral antiviral medication for SARS-CoV-2, has not been established in vaccinated patients in the community at increased risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. In this study, Butler et al. aimed to establish whether the addition of molnupiravir to usual care reduced hospital admissions and deaths associated with COVID-19 in this population. The authors conclude that molnupiravir did not reduce the frequency of COVID-19-associated hospitalisations or death among high-risk vaccinated adults in the community.
  8. Content Article
    A Channel 5 News investigation has found nearly three quarters of people getting help for Long Covid weren't given a face-to-face appointment. It's estimated 2.1 million UK people have the condition. A Long Covid hauler herself, 5 News reporter Ruth Liptrot looks at where we're at with finding a treatment.
  9. Content Article
    Patients are facing increased delays at almost every stage of their NHS treatment, as the health system struggles to find the resources to deal with demand. The latest data shows waiting lists across England have surpassed record highs every month for two years running, one of many major challenges currently facing the NHS. But what impact does this have on ordinary people trying to access the NHS in 2022? Through a combination of interviews with health professionals and analysis of official data, the Guardian has plotted the journeys of four fictional patients through their NHS journey and how waiting times have changed at each stage of their treatment and recovery.
  10. News Article
    Rare genetic disorders will be diagnosed and treated in babies thanks to a project to sequence the complete DNA of 100,000 newborns. It should spare hundreds of families in England months, or years, of anguish waiting to find out why their children are ill. The project is the first time that whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been offered to healthy babies in the NHS. It will screen for around 200 disorders, all of them treatable. The Newborn Genomes Programme, to begin next year, is thought to be the biggest study of its kind in the world. If successful, it could be rolled out across the country. Owen, 9, has an extremely rare genetic condition which affects his growth and development. Called THRA-related congenital hypothyroidism, it is one of the disorders which will be included in the new genetic test. Father, Rob Everitt, told the BBC: "I think of all the hours we spent in hospital waiting rooms, getting referred around different departments, all the tests - some of which were quite invasive - that drew a blank every time. I lost count of how many doctors and consultants we went to see and how many tests they did on him." Mother, Sarah Everitt, says getting the diagnosis was life-changing: "It was like winning the lottery….because we knew there was a treatment pathway; we knew we could get him support and he could attend a mainstream school." Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 December 2022
  11. News Article
    The number of people waiting more than two months to start cancer treatment remained over 30,000 — double the pre-covid level — for three months to the end of October, according to new data published. NHS England previously committed to bringing the number of people waiting longer than 62 days to be diagnosed and begin treatment, after referral for suspected cancer, to pre-pandemic levels – roughly 14,000 – by March 2023. But the number has been generally growing since the spring, and remained above 30,000 from August through to the end of October, the latest figures available. September and October’s monthly totals were higher than the previous monthly peak in May 2020, after services were disrupted in the first covid wave. The increase in waiters this year has been caused by diagnostic and treatment capacity falling short of an increased number of referrals. Matt Sample, policy development manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “While it’s good to see significant numbers of people coming forward with potential cancer symptoms, performance against key targets are among the worst on record, continuing a trend that existed long before the pandemic hit, with one target having been missed for almost seven years.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 December 2022
  12. News Article
    The government is setting up 19 more diagnostic centres in communities across England to help tackle the Covid backlog. Ninety one are already open and have delivered more than 2.4 million tests, checks and scans since last summer, ministers say. It is hoped the centres will speed up access to services for patients, thereby reducing waiting times. Seven million people in England are now waiting for hospital treatment. GPs can refer patients to community diagnostic centres so that they can access life-saving checks and scans, and be diagnosed for a range of conditions, without travelling to hospital. Some are located in football stadiums and shopping centres and can offer MRI and CT scans, as well as x-rays. In September, according to the government, the hubs delivered 11% of all diagnostic activity - and its ambition is for 40% to be achieved by 2025. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 December 2022
  13. Content Article
    This is an Adjournment Debate from the House of Commons on Wednesday 30 November 2022 on patient safety concerns relating to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolisms.
  14. News Article
    With flu cases rising, UK Covid scientists are turning their attention to finding the best life-saving drugs to fight the winter virus. A trial will run across 150 hospitals this year and next, recruiting thousands of patients. Flu vaccines help prevent infection but each year some people become very sick. And antiviral tablets - given within a couple of days of symptoms developing - are designed to reduce the severity of these bad infections. One of the pills the Imperial College London team will be testing is oseltamivir, or Tamiflu. It is recommended to treat severe flu - but whether it saves lives is unclear. Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial, Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (Remap-Cap) will study how good the treatments are at reducing deaths and intensive care admissions. Chief investigator Prof Anthony Gordon told BBC News: "We want to learn at pace what works, just like we did during Covid. "We'll test multiple treatments in different combinations. Some are antivirals that stop the virus, others are steroids or other treatments that work on how the body responds to infections. "We hope that our trial will help to find urgently needed flu treatments rapidly. Our Covid trial changed clinical practice globally and we hope we can impact flu treatment and reduce winter pressures on the NHS in the same way." Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 November 2022
  15. News Article
    A flagship programme intended to bring down NHS waiting backlogs is to be delayed after becoming mired in bureaucracy. The £360 million federated data platform is seen as critical to reducing waiting lists, with a record 7.1 million people now waiting for treatment. When the plans were announced in the spring, health chiefs said that the system would be an “essential enabler to transformational improvements” across the NHS. Experts have warned that progress in clearing the lists has been set back by chaotic recording systems. While NHS data was found to be littered with errors, such as duplicate entries and dead patients, many patients in need of follow-up care are not recorded once they have had their first slot. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 25 November 2022
  16. News Article
    Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of running a two-tier NHS after it emerged that tens of thousands of patients are going private for crucial operations and healthcare. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, cited figures that showed more than 39,000 patients underwent private procedures in the past year. These included thousands of hip and knee surgeries, costing an average of £12,500 per patient. “Often these are people who are forced to borrow money, turn to family and friends, or even remortgage their home to get healthcare that should be free at the point of need,” Sarwar told MSPs at first minister’s questions. He said that almost 2,000 people had gone for private treatment for endoscopies and colonoscopies, more than 7,800 for cataract surgery and 3,500 have had a hip or knee replacement in a private hospital. “These figures make clear that under the SNP, healthcare in Scotland is already a two-tier system,” he added. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 24 November 2022
  17. Content Article
    A complaint from a patient was made to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) about the care and treatment provided during the period January 2018 to September 2021. In January 2018 the patient underwent emergency surgery for a perforated sigmoid diverticulum (a complication of diverticulitis, an infection or inflammation of pouches that can form in the intestines). An emergency Hartmann's procedure (a surgical procedure for the removal of a section of the bowel and the formation of a stoma - an opening in the bowel) was performed. In April 2018, the patient was seen in an outpatient clinic and informed it would be possible to have a stoma reversal. The patient complained that the Board had continually delayed the stoma reversal surgery which they required, which as of September 2021 had not taken place. The patient also complained that Covid-19 could not account for the delays between the Board informing patient they were ready for surgery around December 2018 and the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The patient noted that as a consequence they had developed significant complications: a large hernia. The patient added that this had severely impacted their personal life and self-esteem, and left them unable to work and reliant on welfare benefits.
  18. News Article
    A young mother lost both her feet and all 10 fingers to sepsis after a significant delay in treatment, an investigation has found. Sadie Kemp has been left permanently disabled from the “dangerous condition”, whilst an NHS hospital probe found a 3.5 hour delay in starting her care. Sadie is now calling for lessons to be learned after the internal report found numerous concerns in her treatment that ultimately led to her needing multiple amputations. The 35-year-old mother-of-two first attended A&E with agonising back pain caused by a kidney stone on Christmas night 2021. She was given pain relief at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Cambridgeshire, and sent home to return the following morning for a kidney scan. She returned the same night at 4am as her pain endured. An assessment at 5.40am found she may have also been suffering from sepsis, but the step-by-step guide to chart and treat the illness was not found in her notes as being done at the time. The investigation found not only should the sepsis have been discovered and treated sooner, but the “lack of effective treatment” of the sepsis prior to the surgery meant she needed prolonged critical care. Read full story Source: The Independent, 22 November 2022
  19. News Article
    Experts have warned that Europe faces a “cancer epidemic” unless urgent action is taken to boost treatment and research, after an estimated 1m diagnoses were missed during the pandemic. The impact of Covid-19 and the focus on it has exposed “weaknesses” in cancer health systems and in the cancer research landscape across the continent, which, if not addressed as a matter of urgency, will set back cancer outcomes by almost a decade, leading healthcare and scientific experts say. A report, European Groundshot – Addressing Europe’s Cancer Research Challenges: a Lancet Oncology Commission, brought together a wide range of patient, scientific, and healthcare experts with detailed knowledge of cancer across Europe. One unintended consequence of the pandemic was the adverse effects that the rapid repurposing of health services and national lockdowns, and their continuing legacy, have had on cancer services, on cancer research, and on patients with cancer, the experts said. “To emphasise the scale of this problem, we estimate that about 1m cancer diagnoses might have been missed across Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic,” they wrote in The Lancet Oncology. “There is emerging evidence that a higher proportion of patients are diagnosed with later cancer stages compared with pre-pandemic rates as a result of substantial delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment. This cancer stage shift will continue to stress European cancer systems for years to come. “These issues will ultimately compromise survival and contribute to inferior quality of life for many European patients with cancer.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 November 2022
  20. Content Article
    Cancer research is a crucial pillar for countries to deliver more affordable, higher quality, and more equitable cancer care. Patients treated in research-active hospitals have better outcomes than patients who are not treated in these settings. However, cancer in Europe is at a crossroads. Cancer was already a leading cause of premature death before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the disastrous effects of the pandemic on early diagnosis and treatment will probably set back cancer outcomes in Europe by almost a decade. Recognising the pivotal importance of research not just to mitigate the pandemic today, but to build better European cancer services and systems for patients tomorrow, the Lancet Oncology European Groundshot Commission on cancer research brings together a wide range of experts, together with detailed new data on cancer research activity across Europe during the past 12 years.
  21. News Article
    There has been a sharp rise in long waits for cancer therapy in the past four years, BBC analysis shows. The number waiting more than the 62-day target time for therapy in the past year has topped 67,000 across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland - twice as many as the same period in 2017-18. Waits are also getting worse in Wales, but data does not go that far back. The national cancer director for the NHS in England said staff were striving to catch up on the backlog of care, but experts warned the problems could be putting patients at risk. Steven McIntosh, of Macmillan Cancer Support, told the BBC that the delays were "traumatic" and people were living "day-by-day with fear and anxiety". He said the situation was "unacceptable" and could even be having an impact on the chances of survival. Describing the NHS as "chronically short-staffed", he said: "The NHS doesn't have the staff it needs to diagnose cancer, to deliver surgery and treatment, to provide care, support and rehabilitation." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 November 2022
  22. Content Article
    For specialist treatment, Palestinians often need to be referred to a hospital outside Gaza – then apply for a travel permit. Tight budgets and restrictions mean few are granted. Int this Guardian article, one woman details the obstacles she has faced.
  23. Content Article
    This anonymous blog by a doctor examines the link between Covid-19 and cardiovascular disease. The author calls for greater awareness amongst healthcare professionals and the public to reduce the risk of patients experiencing cardiovascular problems during and after Covid-19 infection.
  24. News Article
    Patients from minority groups are facing longer wait times for potentially life-saving lung cancer treatment compared to their white counterparts, according to a study. Experts warn that disparities can have real consequences – the earlier treatment is initiated, the better the health outcomes for patients. Researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA) Cancer Centre reviewed data from more than 222,700 patients with non-small cell lung cancer across the US. The findings, published in the scientific journal Health Equity, showed that the mean time for radiation initiation was 61.7 days. Broken down by ethnicity, white patients had to wait only 60.9 days, while Black patients had a wait time of 65.9 days, meanwhile for Asian patients, it was 71.9 days. A single-week delay in treatment could lead to a 3.2% and 1.6% increase in the risk of death for patients with stage I and stage II non-small cell lung cancer, respectively. “Our results suggest that non-white lung cancer patients have delayed time to cancer treatment compared with white patients, and this is not limited to a particular type of treatment facility,” said senior researcher Rajesh Balkrishnan, PhD, of UVA Cancer Center and the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences. “Collaboration among providers and community stakeholders and organisations is much needed to increase accessibility and patient knowledge of cancer and to overcome existing disparities in timely care for lung cancer patients.” Scientists cite multiple reasons for the racial disparities, including health insurance – non-white patients are more likely to be uninsured, face greater socioeconomic barriers to care and may be perceived by doctors as being at risk for not following through with treatment plans. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 October 2022
  25. News Article
    A Harley Street doctor suspended for working while testing positive for Covid at the height of the pandemic has said that his patient’s cancer treatment took priority. Dr Andrew Gaya was found to have “blatantly disregarded” the rules by going to work at a centre for patients with brain tumours after he tested positive for the disease. The “highly regarded” consultant oncologist “dishonestly” misled colleagues that he was safe to work by keeping his positive test secret, a tribunal found. Dr Gaya, whose work is at the forefront of tumour care and has been described as “world class”, said he defied Covid-19 rules because he believed “the risk of harm to his patient” in delaying treatment was “greater than the risk he posed”. Now, the doctor of 27 years has been suspended for three months at a Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 20 Ocotober 2022
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