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Found 2,339 results
  1. Content Article
    Face coverings have become a flashpoint in the US, particularly now as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in Texas, Florida, and Arizona, among other states. Misinformation and mixed signals about masking have spread almost as quickly as the virus. And political debates pitting civil liberties vs. civic responsibilities have drowned out the growing body of evidence that shows wearing masks significantly reduce infection risk. Sonja Bartolome is a specialist in lung disorders and pulmonary disease, treating respiratory infections every day and has seen firsthand the aggressive nature in which they can spread. She lists the most common myths surrounding masks and separate them from the medical and scientific realities of the current situation.
  2. News Article
    A new report by Research Australia details more than 200 ongoing COVID-19 studies that extend far beyond the search for a vaccine. Almost every COVID-19 research project being led by Australians has been in the new report, including studies of breastfeeding guidelines for parents with COVID-19, filter systems to remove the virus via air-conditioning systems, monitoring of sewage to detect the prevalence of COVID-19, and repurposing technology normally used to identify explosives to see if it can detect the presence of COVID-19. The report was compiled by Research Australia, the national peak body for health and medical research. It’s chief executive, Nadia Levin, said the report was not a complete catalogue of COVID-19 related research in Australia, but provided a useful insight into the scale of the response from the health and innovation sectors. “All of this Australian research kept popping up and we were blown away by the scale and scope of it, so we asked all of our members to share what they are working on,” Levin told the Guardian Australia. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 June 2020
  3. News Article
    The NHS will not be able to get back to providing its full range of services for as long as four years because of the huge disruption caused by COVID-19, hospital bosses have warned. Patients will face much longer waits than usual for operations and diagnostic tests because hospitals’ drive to remain infection-free means they are closing beds, and surgeons’ need to wear protective clothing means they are carrying out fewer procedures than before the pandemic. In a stark admission of the complexity of reopening the NHS, a key health service leader has predicted that some hospitals will be able to provide only 40% of the care they previously delivered. Hospitals are under pressure from ministers and health charities to restart services as soon as possible for patients with conditions such as cancer, obesity and joint problems. But the chief executives of three NHS trusts in England have told the Observer that the “sheer complexity” of getting back to normal amid the lingering effects of COVID-19 means progress will be very slow. “It could be four years before waiting times get back to pre-Covid levels. We could see that. It’s certainly years, not months,” said Glen Burley, the group chief executive of Warwick hospital, George Eliot hospital in Nuneaton and County hospital in Hereford. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 June 2020
  4. News Article
    After new analysis showed pregnant black women were eight times more likely and Asian women four times as likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19, the NHS is rolling out additional support for pregnant women of a Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) background. Given evidence of the heightened risk to BAME expectant mums, urgent action is being taken in England including increasing uptake of Vitamin D and undertaking outreach in neighbourhoods and communities in their area. Research carried out by Oxford University has shown 55% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with coronavirus are from a BAME background, even though they represent only a quarter of the births in England and Wales. In response, England’s most senior midwife, Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, has written to all maternity units in the country calling on them to take four specific actions to minimise avoidable COVID-19 risk for BAME women and their babies. The steps include: Increasing support of at-risk pregnant women – e.g. making sure clinicians have a lower threshold to review, admit and consider multidisciplinary escalation in women from a BAME background. Reaching out and reassuring pregnant BAME women with tailored communications. Ensuring hospitals discuss vitamins, supplements and nutrition in pregnancy with all women. Women low in vitamin D may be more vulnerable to coronavirus so women with darker skin or those who always cover their skin when outside may be at particular risk of vitamin D insufficiency and should consider taking a daily supplement of vitamin D all year. Ensuring all providers record on maternity information systems the ethnicity of every woman, as well as other risk factors, such as living in a deprived area (postcode), co-morbidities, BMI and aged 35 years or over, to identify those most at risk of poor outcomes. Read full story Source: NHE, 29 June 2020
  5. News Article
    Some hospitals have sought to water down PPE requirements in order to “accelerate” the return of planned surgery, senior doctors have said, as they issued new guidance aiming to inform the decision. The Royal College of Anaesthetists, along with partners including the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, released a document to members to tackle “marked uncertainty amongst operating theatre team members as to which infection prevention and control precautions should be taken when treating screened patients in planned surgical pathways”. The document provides recommendations for teams on how to adjust PPE usage, which the college said was “supportive and consistent” with current Public Health England guidance. Professor William Harrop-Griffiths, consultant anaesthetist and council member of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, told HSJ some hospitals wanted to decrease the amount of PPE used as it might enable them to “accelerate and increase the workload”. However, the college has argued that there is currently “no clear guidance on when you might consider making that change”. “You have to balance that to the risk to the staff,” Professor Harrop-Griffiths stressed. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 June 2020
  6. News Article
    London’s Nightingale hospital recorded 144 patient safety incidents during its 29 days treating 54 patients, it has emerged. There were two serious incidents at the field hospital, a doctor told a Royal Society of Medicine webinar. Dr Andrew Wragg, consultant cardiologist and director of quality and safety at Barts Health NHS Trust, said a study of the long-term outcomes of the 54 patients was ongoing, as 20 of those treated at the ExCel conference centre site were still recovering in hospitals across London. Johanna Cade, a nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS trust and who worked at the Nightingale, said: “We had quite high incident reporting at 144 incidents reported and I think that demonstrates that Nightingale really did well at building a no blame safety culture for resolution and learning. This system manifested itself and staff were really striving to make things better continually. We knew who to report to and how to escalate things.” She showed data revealing the largest number of safety incidents involved medical devices. There were 25 incidents that included the ventilators used to keep patients alive. Staffing issues and medication, as well as pressure ulcer and communication incidents, were also among the highest numbers. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 June 2020
  7. News Article
    People who were seriously ill in hospital with coronavirus need to be urgently screened for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leading doctors say. The Covid Trauma Response Working Group, led by University College London and involving experts from south-east England, said those who had been in intensive care were most at risk. The experts said regular check ups should last at least a year. More than 100,000 people have been treated in hospital for the virus. The experts say tens of thousands of these would have been seriously ill enough to be at risk of PTSD. The working group highlighted research which showed 30% of patients who had suffered severe illnesses in infectious disease outbreaks in the past had gone on to develop PTSD, while depression and anxiety problems were also common. Tracy is just one of many people who has been left with psychological scars from her coronavirus experience. She was admitted to Whittington Hospital in north London in March and spent more than three weeks there - one of which was in intensive care. "It was like being in hell. I saw people dying, people with the life being sucked from them. The staff all have masks on and all you saw was eyes - it was so lonely and frightening." Since being discharged in April the 59-year-old has been struggling to sleep because of the thought she will die and she has constantly suffered flashbacks. She is now receiving counselling. Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 June 2020
  8. News Article
    Brain complications, including stroke and psychosis, have been linked to COVID-19 in a study that raises concerns about the potentially extensive impact of the disease in some patients. The study, published in Lancet Psychiatry, is small and based on doctors’ observations, so cannot provide a clear overall picture about the rate of such complications. However, medical experts say the findings highlight the need to investigate the possible effects of COVID-19 in the brain and studies to explore potential treatments. “There have been growing reports of an association between COVID-19 infection and possible neurological or psychiatric complications, but until now these have typically been limited to studies of 10 patients or fewer,” said Benedict Michael, the lead author of the study, from the University of Liverpool. “Ours is the first nationwide study of neurological complications associated with Covid-19, but it is important to note that it is focused on cases that are severe enough to require hospitalisation.” Scientists said the findings were an important snapshot of potential complications, but should be treated with caution as it is not possible to draw any conclusions from the data about the prevalence of such complications. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 June 2020
  9. Content Article
    The COVID-19 Recovery Collective is a small team of collaborators that wanted to do something constructive to help those that are in recovery from the COVID-19 virus. The impact of the virus across the globe has been rapid and far reaching. Many are struggling to keep pace with developments, from the recovery process of the infection itself, to the economic consequences of the virus and also the sociological impact of lockdown.The collaboration started as a token action towards helping those that are in recovery from COVID-19, in the hope that by encouraging people to share their own experiences of recovery they can instil some reassurance in others of potential expectations. Through this sharing of experiences, we might see some similar patterns of recovery and also provide an opportunity to share any knowledge or actions that might have helped others to deal with the personal impact of the infection on their health.
  10. News Article
    A dramatic collapse in standards at a care home where a dozen people died from COVID-19 has been revealed by inspectors who discovered hungry and thirsty residents living with infected wounds in filthy conditions. Infection control was inadequate, residents with dementia were left only partially dressed and one family complained of finding their loved one smeared in dried faeces at Temple Court care home in Kettering, which is operated by Amicura, a branch of Minster Care which runs more than 70 homes in the UK. Amicura said the home had been “completely overwhelmed” by COVID-19 infections which it said arrived with 15 patients discharged from hospitals in the second half of March. They were overrun,” one relative told the inspectors. “They were short-staffed and then with the influx of people, they couldn’t cope.” Residents’ wounds had become necrotic and infected, requiring hospital treatment and several people had experienced falls, some of which resulted in injuries needing hospital treatment, the inspectors found. The conditions discovered by the Care Quality Commission on 12-13 May were so poor that surviving residents were moved out immediately. The CQC report into the service, published on Friday, found multiple breaches of the health and social care act. Northamptonshire police have launched an investigation to identify whether any offences may have been committed. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 June 2020
  11. 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
  12. News Article
    More than two-thirds of black, Asian and minority ethnic pharmacists have not had workplace risk assessments for coronavirus, a survey suggests. Of the 380 hospital and community-based pharmacists surveyed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the UK Black Pharmacists Association, 236 were from a BAME background. Of those, 166 (70%) said they had not been approached by their employer to have a risk assessment. The RPS called the results "shocking". It has called on employers to take urgent action to ensure ethnic minority pharmacists are risk assessed. Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 June 2020
  13. Content Article
    A framework designed by Dr Jane McCarthy, Human Factors and Patient Safety Consultant, for the measurement and monitoring of safety in the COVID-19 second wave.
  14. Content Article
    COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis which has had a profound impact on health and care services across the UK and will continue to have an impact for the months and years to come. To guide the restoration of services, 25 cancer charities have come together and developed this document to set out a ‘12-point plan’, supported by available data and intelligence, for what they believe the health service in England will need to do to enable cancer services to recover from the pandemic.
  15. Content Article
    One of many legal, ethical, and patient safety issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic across the NHS is that expectant mothers are considering freebirthing more after home births are cancelled. The charity AIMS (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services) states that while there is no specific definition of freebirthing, “…broadly speaking, a woman freebirths when she intentionally gives birth to her baby without a midwife or doctor present. Some women prefer to use the term ‘unassisted childbirth’ or UC to describe this.” This may carry major health risks. For example, if complications occur during a freebirth, professional clinical help will not be at hand to help. John Tingle explores this further in his blog for the Bill of Health. John Tingle is a regular contributor to the Bill of Health blog and is a Lecturer in Law at Birmingham Law School in the UK and a Visiting Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago, School of Law.
  16. Content Article
    Health care law is evolving particularly rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, families in England who have lost loved ones to the virus are considering filing clinical negligence claims. Perhaps in part due to the general, heightened public awareness of rights to sue for clinical negligence, people in the UK are now considering taking legal action against the National Health Service (NHS) for improper, negligent COVID-19 treatment. In cases of clinical negligence during COVID-19, a key issue centers around whether medical practitioners followed relevant clinical guidelines. John Tingle explores this further in his blog for the Bill of Health. John Tingle is a regular contributor to the Bill of Health blog and is a Lecturer in Law at Birmingham Law School in the UK and a Visiting Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago, School of Law.
  17. 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
  18. Content Article
    Now that hospitals are resuming elective surgery, what should surgeons tell patients about the perioperative risks of COVID-19? Many surgeons are now resuming elective work, yet some make no mention of the additional covid-related risks. Although the British Association of Spine Surgeons and some private hospitals have produced information sheets for patients undergoing surgery during the pandemic, to our knowledge no formal guidance has been issued by the General Medical Council or the Royal College of Surgeons on obtaining consent in such circumstances. The surgical community remains unclear as to what to tell patients about to undergo elective surgery. In this BMJ Opinion article, Daniel Sokol  and Rupen Dattani argue that patients who undergo elective surgery should be told that, despite measures to limit the risk of infection, there remains a risk of contracting covid-19 in hospital, whether before, during or after the operation. 
  19. News Article
    Commenting on the newly-released Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, the Health Foundation’s Chief Executive, Dr Jennifer Dixon, has expressed concerns that people are still avoiding visiting hospitals over fear of catching COVID-19. Hospital admissions have plummeted in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak as people look to avoid exposure to the virus, but as we begin to emerge out of the other side of the pandemic and begin the restoration of services there has been a need to rebuild that faith in patients. Dr Dixon said: “Today’s data show that deaths from COVID-19, and overall excess deaths, are decreasing. But while deaths in hospital are now below normal levels, deaths at home – just over 900 excess deaths in the week ending 12 June – remain higher than usual for this time of year. “As COVID-19 now recedes from hospitals, a key question is whether enough has been done to reassure people of their safety when accessing care, balanced against the risks of not seeking care.” Read full story Source: National Health Executive, 24 June 2020
  20. News Article
    Almost half a million people are waiting at least six weeks for tests which could diagnose cancer – up from just 30,000 before lockdown, new analysis shows. Ministers have been urged to urgently bring forward plans to tackle the backlog of patients waiting for care, with calls for weekly testing of staff to keep coronavirus infections off the wards. Cancer charities fear there will be an extra 18,000 deaths a year because those with symptoms are not receiving prompt diagnosis and treatment. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 23 June 2020
  21. News Article
    Tens of thousands of people will need to be recalled to hospital after a serious OVID-19 infection to check if they have been left with permanent lung damage, doctors have told the BBC. Experts are concerned a significant proportion could be left with lung scarring, known as pulmonary fibrosis. The condition is irreversible and symptoms can include severe shortness of breath, coughing and fatigue. Research into the prevalence of lung damage caused by COVID-19 is still at a very early stage. It's thought those with a mild form of the disease are unlikely to suffer permanent damage. But those in hospital, and particularly those in intensive care or with a severe infection, are more vulnerable to complications. In a study from China, published in March, 66 of 70 patients still had some level of lung damage after being discharged from hospital. Radiologists in the UK say, based on the early results of follow-up scans, they are concerned about the long term-effects of a serious infection. Prof Gisli Jenkins, of the National Institute for Health Research, is running assessment clinics for those discharged from hospital with COVID-19. He said: "My real concern is that never before in our lifetime have so many people been subject to the same lung injury at the same time." NHS England has said it is planning to open a number of specialist COVID-19 rehabilitation centres to help patients recover from long-term effects, including possible lung damage. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 June 2020
  22. News Article
    An independent provider’s NHS contract has been suspended, and a harm review is to be carried out on patients who have faced a long wait. Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group suspended DMC Healthcare’s contract to provide dermatology services in north Kent “to ensure patient safety” on Friday. It said it had showing some patients had been on waiting lists longer than they should have been. It is unable to say how many patients are likely to be involved in the harm review, but it is expected to focus on those who have waited longer than they should or where harm is suspected. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 June 2020
  23. News Article
    Health leaders are calling for an urgent review to determine whether the UK is properly prepared for the "real risk" of a second wave of coronavirus. In an open letter published in the BMJ, ministers were warned that urgent action would be needed to prevent further loss of life. The presidents of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons, Nursing, Physicians, and GPs all signed the letter. It comes after Boris Johnson announced sweeping changes to England's lockdown. Following the prime minister's announcement, health leaders called for a "rapid and forward-looking assessment" of how prepared the UK would be for a new outbreak of the virus. "While the future shape of the pandemic in the UK is hard to predict, the available evidence indicates that local flare-ups are increasingly likely and a second wave a real risk," they wrote in the letter. "Many elements of the infrastructure needed to contain the virus are beginning to be put in place, but substantial challenges remain." The authors of the letter, also signed by the chair of the British Medical Association, urged ministers to set up a cross-party group with a "constructive, non-partisan, four nations approach", tasked with developing practical recommendations. "The review should not be about looking back or attributing blame," they said, and instead should focus on "areas of weakness where action is needed urgently to prevent further loss of life and restore the economy as fully and as quickly as possible". Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 June 2020
  24. Content Article
    There is an increasing amount of evidence that co-producing change and improvement in health care leads to new approaches that are more likely to succeed and be sustained.  This blog, by the US-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement, asks: 'As health care systems grapple with planning for an uncertain future during the COVID-19 pandemic, how do we ensure that people with lived experience are real partners in what comes next?'
  25. Content Article
    'Implications of COVID-19 for the safe management of general dental practice: a practical guide' supports dental professionals to take a risk-based and evidence-based approach to providing safe general dental care, whatever the national threat level. 
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