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Found 2,339 results
  1. News Article
    One of the earliest signs that black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people were being disproportionately harmed by the coronavirus pandemic came when the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNAR) published research in early April showing that 35% of almost 2,000 Covid patients in intensive care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were non-white. A lot has happened in the intervening six months with numerous reports, including by the Office for National Statistics and Public Health England (PHE), confirming the increased risk to ethnic minorities and recommendations published on how to mitigate that risk. However, as the second wave intensifies, the demographics of those most seriously affected remain remarkably similar. ICNARC figures show that the non-white proportion of the 10,877 Covid patients admitted to intensive care up to 31 August was 33.9% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This rises to 38.3% of patients admitted since 1 September, albeit of a much smaller cohort (527 intensive care admissions). The government mantra “we’re all in this together” proved to be little more than an empty rallying cry early in the pandemic and the ICNARC figures show it remains the case that people in the most deprived socioeconomic groups make up a greater proportion of patients in critical care. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 October 2020
  2. Content Article
    There are few better known authorities on the covid-19 pandemic than Anthony Fauci. One of the world’s most respected infectious disease experts, he spoke with The BMJ’s editor, Fiona Godlee, about the pressures of advising the US president, the challenging nature of the new coronavirus, and how the pandemic might end.
  3. News Article
    Women are being disproportionately affected by a rise in mental health problems caused by increasing workloads as people do their jobs from home amid the pandemic. The length of the working day has increased steadily, resulting in a 49% rise in mental distress reported by employees when compared with 2017-19. Women are bearing the brunt of problems as they juggle work and childcare, according to a report by the 4 Day Week campaign and thinktanks Compass and Autonomy. The report, Burnout Britain, cshows that women are 43% more likely to have increased their hours beyond a standard working week than men, and for those with children, this was even more clearly associated with mental health problems: 86% of women who are carrying out a standard working week alongside childcare, which is more than or equivalent to the UK average, experienced problems in April this year. The report warns that “as well as an impending recession and mass unemployment, we are heading into an unprecedented mental health crisis”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 October 2020
  4. Content Article
    The COVID-19 pandemic clearly illustrates the intersection of structural racism, social risk factors, and health. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on COVID-19 infection and mortality rates show high incidences in specific geographic regions. Further investigation within Louisiana revealed that rates of hospitalisation and death in Black patients were twice as high as would be expected on the basis of demographic representation. It has been hypothesised that increased exposure to COVID-19 among Black Americans is attributable to greater representation in service occupations and a greater likelihood of living in inner cities with high population density.
  5. Content Article
    The COVID-19 pandemic provides a stark reminder of the importance of health worker safety. Inadequate personal protection equipment (PPE) has been a problem in many settings and there have been too many examples of health workers becoming infected and dying from COVID-19.The harsh consequences of inequalities have also been laid bare by the pandemic. In countries such as the UK and USA, a disproportionate number of infections and COVID-19 deaths have occurred among Black and ethnic minority communities and people in the lowest socioeconomic groups. But what the COVID-19 pandemic has also made clear is how dependent patient safety is on health worker safety. It is crucial to highlight that there can be no patient safety without health worker safety. As in previous outbreaks of Ebola virus disease, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and severe acute respiratory syndrome, only when health workers are safe can they keep patients safe and provide health systems with stability and resilience.
  6. News Article
    Young people's risk of becoming ill with COVID-19 is tiny - but could the long-term mental health impact of virus restrictions be far more damaging? A growing number of psychologists, psychiatrists and child health experts believe the needs of the young are being ignored in this pandemic. Prof Ellen Townsend, an expert in child and adolescent self-harm and suicide from Nottingham University, says the way students are being treated "is massively damaging for their mental health". "It doesn't make sense to lock up young people," she says. "We have to move past this one disease - a more nuanced approach is needed." She is not alone - a group of UK academics who work with children and adolescents have set up an online noticeboard collecting scientific evidence that these age groups are being forgotten by policy-makers. Problems such as self-harm and anxiety were already on the rise before lockdown, particularly among teenagers, with one in eight children and young people estimated to have a mental health condition. There is a lack of hard evidence, but research suggests growing feelings of loneliness and social isolation during the pandemic have had a negative impact. A study in The Lancet Psychiatry found children's mental health deteriorated most during that period compared with other age groups. More worrying was the "massive drop-off" in troubled children and teenagers being sent to specialist psychiatrists over several months - from 40 a day to four a day, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Although services stayed open during lockdown, either the message didn't get through or people were too frightened to make contact. The fear is that these young people could now become more seriously ill without the help they need. Eating disorders, which have a high death rate, are a particular concern. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 October 2020
  7. News Article
    Famous faces, including TV chefs Gordon Ramsay, Nadiya Hussein, and actress Emma Thompson are backing a major new campaign urging anyone concerned about cancer to get checked and to keep routine appointments, as new research found that even now, nearly half (48%) of the public would delay or not seek medical help at all. A fifth (22%) would not want to be a burden on the health service while a similar number said that fear of getting coronavirus or passing it onto others was a major reason for not getting help. More than four in ten people would leave it longer to get health advice than they normally would have before the coronavirus outbreak, however delaying can have serious consequences for some cancers. NHS staff have pulled out all the stops to keep cancer services going throughout the pandemic, with almost one million people referred for checks or starting treatment since the virus took hold. The NHS’s Help Us Help You access campaign will use TV adverts, billboards and social media to urge people to speak to their GP if they are worried about a symptom that could be cancer, and also remind pregnant women to attend check-ups and seek advice if they are worried about their baby. People with mental health issues are also been encouraged to access NHS support. Read full story Source: NHS England, 9 October 2020
  8. News Article
    Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people living in coronavirus hotspots could be told to "shield" this winter as infections continue to rise. Ministers are expected to outline a three-tier local lockdown system next week, which may see those most at risk if they catch COVID-19 being told to stay at home for a month. A decision on shielding has not been finalised and may be delayed because of fears for the mental health of those told to avoid seeing other people. Around 2.2 million people in England deemed "clinically extremely vulnerable" were asked to shield at the height of the coronavirus pandemic before the scheme was "paused" at the end of July. Sky News understands that the level of self-isolation required in each area will vary depending on the restrictions in place there. It is thought the advice will be clinically led, with GPs helping guide what people should do bearing in mind possible negative effects on mental health. This compares with the more blanket advice on shielding last time around. Read full story Source: Sky News, 9 October 2020
  9. News Article
    The numbers waiting over a year for hospital treatment have hit a 12-year high in England as hospitals struggle to get services back to normal. Nearly 2m patients have been waiting more than the target time of 18 weeks for routine care with 111,000 left for over a year, NHS England figures show. The numbers starting cancer treatment and getting urgent checks are also below the levels seen a year ago. But NHS England said "progress" was being made. It pointed out more patients were starting to be seen - although there are now warnings service may have to be cut back on again as admissions for Covid continue to rise. About 500 patients a day are being admitted to hospital with the disease - double the number two weeks ago. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK was in a "perilous" position and the ability of the NHS to see non-Covid patients was under threat. Health minister Nadine Dorries predicted within 10 days hospitals would be a "critical" point. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 October 2020
  10. News Article
    Less than half of the UK population will get a Covid vaccine with the elderly being top priority - a top advisor has warned. Kate Bingham, who was appointed as the chair of the Vaccine Taskforce back in May has claimed that the public has been “misguided” when it comes to availability of a vaccine. In an interview with the Financial Times, she said the government “needs to vaccinate everyone at risk”. She said: “People keep talking about ‘time to vaccinate the whole population’, but that is misguided." “There’s going to be no vaccination of people under 18. It’s an adult-only vaccine, for people over 50, focusing on health workers and carehome workers and the vulnerable.” Read full story Source: Financial Times, 4 October 2020
  11. Content Article
    Trusts and frontline staff are working flat out to restore those services which were necessarily interrupted to cope with the first peak of the pandemic. NHS Providers' Restoring services: NHS activity tracker highlights detailed examples of the innovations trusts and their staff developing to improve capacity, and respond to unmet demand despite the constraints created by COVID-19, and the need to prepare for additional winter pressures. 
  12. Content Article
    Slow-lane logistics shouldn’t stymie fast-track science, says head of UK government’s Vaccine Taskforce, Kate Bingham, in this Nature article. Kate was appointed chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce in May. The main job of this Taskforce is to identify, manufacture and develop the most promising pandemic vaccines and deliver them rapidly to the populations that need them. COVID-19 is an opportunity to create a permanent system for supplying vaccines for future pandemics, quickly and safely; this process must become as routine and reliable as crafting the yearly influenza vaccine, says Kate. Time and again, outstanding science has been slowed down by the ‘boring stuff’ — practicalities. That includes delays in manufacturing scale-up and legal approvals slowing pivotal US trials of one of my UK company’s potentially life-saving drugs, or progress hampered by logistics, regulatory disagreements and inadequate data disclosure. Often, the problem is not the science or the clinical trials, but the infrastructure. We must take pains now to make sure this does not stall future pandemic vaccines.
  13. Content Article
    Neurological symptoms are seen in patients with COVID-19 and can persist or re-emerge after clearance of SARS-CoV-2. Recent findings suggest that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 can cross-react with mammalian proteins. Focusing on neurological symptoms, Kreye et al. discuss whether these cross-reactive antibodies could contribute to COVID-19 disease pathology and to the persistence of symptoms in patients who have cleared the initial viral infection.
  14. News Article
    A pair of Conservative former ministers have announced they are to lead a rapid, cross-party investigation into the UK’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, amid worries a government inquiry will take too long for lessons to be learned in time. In a rare set of joint hearings, the Commons health committee, led by ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt, and the science committee, chaired by Greg Clark, who was business secretary, are to hear from witnesses in the hope of producing a report by the spring. Announcing the plan, Hunt and Clark said the inquiry would aim to produce interim recommendations along the way. It will hold weekly joint sessions, with early witnesses set to include Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser. Hunt said he would expect the inquiry to cover the need for regular, large-scale coronavirus testing, an issue he has repeatedly raised in parliament, and whether this could help people visit loved ones in care homes. The hearings begin next Tuesday with a session on social care. Other promised areas of examination include the efficacy of lockdown measures; how well modelling and statistics have been used; the efficacy of government messaging; wider preparedness for a pandemic; and the impact on BAME communities. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 October 2020
  15. Content Article
    Patient Safety Learning’s response to the announcement by the NHS on the 7 October 2020 of a new five-part package of measures to boost support for Long Covid patients.
  16. Content Article
    This Take, Treat and Test webinar took place on 10 September 2020, presented by Dr Ron Daniels, Founder, and Executive Director – Clinical – Sepsis Trust UK and Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
  17. News Article
    NHS England will spend £10m on new clinics for ‘long covid’ sufferers, it was announced yesterday. Sir Simon Stevens, NHSE chief executive, told the NHS Providers annual conference the clinics would offer support to the “probably hundreds of thousands” of people suffering persisting symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and ‘brain fog’ months after being infected with COVID-19. It comes amid growing calls for wider services to support people with ‘long covid,’ as hospital follow-up clinics are generally only open to those who were previously admitted with the virus. HSJ was last month only able to identify one genuine “long covid clinic”, despite claims by health secretary Matt Hancock they had “announced them in July”. It appears that comment was a mistake. Speaking about long covid, he said: “The NHS has got to be just as responsive and agile in respect of… new needs, including long covid, as we were in repurposing critical care, and ventilators, and acute capacity in the first phase in March, April and May." “Today we are going to be allocating £10m to establish a network of designated long covid clinics across the country, which, in line with new NICE guidelines on effective treatment pathways, will offer support for the tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of patients who have got long covid.” Sir Simon also told the conference today that NHSE was “enthusiastic” about introducing regular asymptomatic covid testing for NHS staff “if and when” it is recommended by the government chief medical officer, and when Test and Trace has enough capacity. There are growing calls for regular testing of asymptomatic NHS staff, especially in hotspot areas, including from former health secretary Jeremy Hunt. Sir Simon said it was “something the chief medical officer and the test and trace programme are continuing to review”. He said: “We would be enthusiastic about doing that if and when that is the clinical recommendation and if and when the Test and Trace programme has got the testing capacity to do that. The plan was always that it would largely have to be sourced out of the total testing capacity available to the nation, not just the NHS labs.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 7 October 2020 Read Patient Safety Learning's response to this news Please share your thoughts with us on the support that is needed on our patient safety platform, the hub.
  18. News Article
    People suffering 'Long Covid’ symptoms will be offered specialist help at clinics across England, the head of the NHS announced today. Respiratory consultants, physiotherapists, other specialists and GPs will all help assess, diagnose and treat thousands of sufferers who have reported symptoms ranging from breathlessness, chronic fatigue, 'brain fog', anxiety and stress. Speaking at the NHS Providers conference today (Wednesday), NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens will announce that £10 million is be invested this year in additional local funding to help kick start and designate Long Covid clinics in every area across England, to complement existing primary, community and rehabilitation care. Sir Simon said new network will be a core element of a five-part package of measures to boost NHS support for Long Covid patients: New guidance commissioned by NHS England from NICE by the end of October on the medical ‘case definition’ of Long Covid. This will include patients who have had covid who may not have had a hospital admission or a previous positive test. It will be followed by evidence-based NICE clinical guidelines in November on the support that Long Covid patients should receive, enabling NHS doctors, therapists and staff to provide a clear and personalised treatment plan. This will include education materials for GPs and other health professionals to help them refer and signpost patients to the right support. The ‘Your Covid Recovery’ – an online rehab service to provide personalised support to patients. Over 100,000 people have used the online hub since it launched in July, which gives people general information and advice on living with Long Covid. Phase 2 of the digital platform will see people able to access a tailored rehabilitation plan. This service will be available to anyone suffering symptoms that are likely due to COVID-19, regardless of location or whether they have spent time in hospital. Designated Long Covid clinics, as announced today. This will involve each part of the country designating expert one-stop services in line with an agreed national specification. Post-covid services will provide joined up care for physical and mental health, with patients having access to a physical assessment, a cognitive assessment and a psychological assessment. Patients could also then be referred from designated clinics into specialist lung disease services, sleep clinics, cardiac services, rehabilitation services, or signposted into IAPT and other mental health services. NIHR- funded research on Long Covid which is working with 10,000 patients to better understand the condition and refine appropriate treatment. The NHS’s support will be overseen by a new NHS England Long Covid taskforce which will include Long Covid patients, medical specialists and researchers. Read full story Source: NHS England, 7 October 2020 Read Patient Safety Learning's response to this news Please share your thoughts with us on the support that is needed on our patient safety platform, the hub.
  19. Content Article
    Because COVID-19 is a new disease, much about the clinical course remains uncertain – in particular, the possible long-term health consequences, if any. This article, published by JAMA, looks at the available data on neurological, cardiovascular, pulmonary manifestations of the virus. It also looks at the impact on mental health and wellbeing. The authors conclude: "It is imperative that the care of this vulnerable patient population take a multidisciplinary approach, with a thoughtfully integrated research agenda, to avoid health system fragmentation and to allow the comprehensive study of long-term health consequences of COVID-19 on multiple organ systems and overall health and well-being. Furthermore, such an approach will provide the opportunity to efficiently and systematically conduct studies of therapeutic interventions to mitigate the adverse physical and mental health effects among hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who recover from COVID-19."
  20. News Article
    Inspectors have demanded improvements from a hospital after a report highlighted a number of failings over COVID-19 precautions. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the emergency department and medical wards at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, on 11 August. Inspection teams visited a ward where patients showed symptoms and were awaiting test results as well as a ward caring for patients who had COVID-19. A ward for patients without the virus and a fourth ward where there had been an outbreak of COVID-19 were also inspected. The CQC said it took urgent enforcement action, telling the trust to ensure there was an "effective system to manage the health and safety of people using the hospital". The report revealed staff did not always wear PPE or face coverings correctly in medical wards. One member of the nursing team was seen to be wearing a mask incorrectly in the ward where there had been an outbreak of the coronavirus. At least seven members of staff were seen entering and leaving the ward caring for people who were suspected of having COVID-19 without adhering to hand hygiene practices. Staff did not always remove PPE upon entering a new clinical area of the emergency department. Nor did they always put on or take off their PPE when entering and leaving patient bays. While equipment was said to have been cleaned on the day, inspectors found this was not always recorded. The report also detailed that five members of staff were seen in one room that was too small to enable the practised social distancing in that space. East Kent Hospitals Trust chief executive Susan Acott said: "In August, a CQC inspection team visited the William Harvey Hospital and saw examples of practice which falls short of the high standard we all want to provide for our patients." "Keeping our patients and staff safe is our priority. We have responded to the CQC with the actions we are taking and we are committed to the care and safety of every patient in our hospitals." Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 October 2020
  21. News Article
    For most people, COVID-19 is a brief and mild disease but some are left struggling with symptoms including lasting fatigue, persistent pain and breathlessness for months. The condition known as "long Covid" is having a debilitating effect on people's lives, and stories of being left exhausted after even a short walk are now common. There is no medical definition or list of symptoms shared by all patients - two people with long Covid can have very different experiences. However, the most common feature is crippling fatigue. Others symptoms include: breathlessness, a cough that won't go away, joint pain, muscle aches, hearing and eyesight problems, headaches, loss of smell and taste as well as damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys and gut. Mental health problems have been reported including depression, anxiety and struggling to think clearly. Long Covid is not just people taking time to recover from a stay in intensive care. Even people with relatively mild infections can be left with lasting and severe health problems. "We've got no doubt long Covid exists," Prof David Strain, from the University of Exeter, who is already seeing long-Covid patients at his Chronic Fatigue Syndrome clinic, told the BBC. A study of 143 people in Rome's biggest hospital, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed hospital patients after they were discharged. It showed 87% had at least one symptom nearly two months later and more than half still had fatigue. The Covid Symptom Tracker App - used by around four million people in the UK - found 12% of people still had symptoms after 30 days. Its latest, unpublished data, suggests as many as one in 50 (2%) of all people infected have long-Covid symptoms after 90 days. The number of people with long-Covid appears to be falling with time. However, the virus emerged only at the end of 2019 before going global earlier this year so there is a lack of long-term data. "We've asked, deliberately, to follow people for 25 years, I certainly hope only a very small number will have problems going beyond a year, but I could be wrong," said Prof Brightling. However, there are concerns that even if people appear to recover now, they could face lifelong risks. People who have had chronic fatigue syndrome are more likely to have it again and the concern is that future infections may cause more flare-ups. "If long Covid follows the same pattern I'd expect some recovery, but if it takes just another coronavirus infection to react then this could be every winter," said Prof Strain. It is still possible more problems could emerge in the future. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 October 2020
  22. News Article
    Much has been said about the delays to patient care during the first wave of COVID-19, but the full picture has been hard to pin down as statistics come in different forms and are released gradually. However, one recently-published poll performed by Ipsos Mori, with more than 2,000 UK adults aged between 18-75, revealed two-thirds of people who needed treatment for new or recently changed conditions had their care cancelled or delayed during March and July. The poll also revealed three-quarters of people missed out on routine treatment in the same timeframe. It is believed to be the hitherto largest patient-focused survey exploring the impact of the pandemic on non-COVID-19 care during its first peak. It found that – of the people who needed treatment for a new or changed condition – 23% chose to cancel their treatment while 42% had their treatment cancelled or delayed by their healthcare provider. Within the group of people requiring care for an ongoing problem, 31% of patients delayed or cancelled their treatment. Mark Davies, chief medical officer at IBM – which commissioned the poll – told HSJ the number of people with new or recently changed conditions choosing to cancel or delay their care was “really worrying”. “This survey backs up the anecdotal evidence we hear about people being worried about going into hospital during the pandemic,” he said. “It is striking that the proportion of this group of patients who did not get treatment is roughly similar to the proportion of patients requiring treatment for an ongoing health problem who cancelled or delayed their care." He said he would have expected the former group – those with new or changed conditions – to be more anxious to get treated, and warned of a “backlog of unmet need that is only going to emerge in the next few months”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 October 2020
  23. News Article
    NHS workers are at breaking point after months of upheaval and high pressure during the coronavirus outbreak with hospital leaders warning the health service is facing a “perfect storm” of workforce shortages and a second wave of COVID-19. In a survey of 140 NHS trust leaders almost all of them said they were worried about their staff suffering burnout ahead of winter. They also sounded the alarm over concerns there had not been enough investment into social care before this winter. NHS Providers, which carried out the survey ahead of its annual conference of hospital leaders, warned the first wave of COVID-19 had made a lasting impact on the health service which had yet to fully recover. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said there had been “no let-up in the pressure” during the pandemic, which followed a difficult winter for staff. “And while the response to the spring surge in COVID-19 cases showed the NHS at its best, the pressures took their toll on staff who gave so much,” he said. “The worry is that the sustained physical, psychological and emotional pressure on health staff is threatening to push them beyond their limits of endurance.” Almost all those who responded to the survey, 99 per cent, said they were either extremely or moderately concerned about the current level of burnout across the workforce. Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 October 2020
  24. Content Article
    The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented level of public scrutiny of patient care, and developing highly reliable systems is no longer going to be optional for organisations in the future. Healthcare leaders are now challenged to implement new cultures focussed on sustaining safe, person-centred care for both patients and health workers.  HealthManagement.org features The Patient Safety Movement Foundation's Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Donna Prosser, to offer insight regarding the unprecedented level of public scrutiny of patient care and how we can adjust moving forward. 
  25. News Article
    Senior doctors specialising in infectious diseases have written an open letter expressing "concern" about the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in Northern Ireland. The letter is signed by 13 medics from hospitals across Northern Ireland. It calls for the public to stick to government guidance on reducing social interactions and also warns against "stigmatising people and areas with high levels of infection." The letter reads: "We need to support people who test positive. This pandemic requires us to work together to bring it under control urgently. We need to reduce the potential for transmission to protect our health service, and we need to fix our test and trace system to try and gain better control of this virus in our community." On Monday, 616 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in Northern Ireland, bringing the total during the pandemic to 14,690. The number of deaths recorded by the Department of Health remains at 584. Among those who have signed the letter are Dr Claire Donnelly, a consultant physician who specialises in infectious diseases; consultant virologist Dr Conall McCaughey and consultant paediatrician Dr Sharon Christie. Entitled an "appeal to people to adhere to Covid public health guidance", the letter lays bare the stark reality of the infections rates. The letter adds: "Worryingly the number of cases is increasing rapidly in many areas over the last week, indicating that we have widespread community transmission in many parts of Northern Ireland." Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 October 2020
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