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Found 2,335 results
  1. News Article
    Nearly one in five items of personal protective equipment (PPE) the government bought during the pandemic are not fit for purpose and cannot be used by the NHS, it has been revealed – including 1.2 billion items that cannot be used at all. As of December, almost 7 billion items of personal protective equipment bought for frontline services – 19.1% of the 36.4 billion items bought since February 2020 – had been marked “do not supply” to the NHS by the Department of Health and Social Care. The number is more than three times the figure quoted last September, when health minister Lord Bethell admitted 1.9 billion items worth £2.8bn were in the “do not supply” category – 6.2% of the PPE bought up to that point. The not-fit-for-purpose stock includes 1.2 billion units of PPE that cannot be used in any setting. This "wastage" – which accounts for 3.3% of pandemic PPE – includes around 800m aprons that DHSC is now looking to recycle, permanent secretary Sir Chris Wormald said in a letter to the Public Accounts Committee. The revelation comes as a consultation opens on the terms of reference for the public inquiry into the government's response to Covid. The inquiry will look at pandemic preparedness and the healthcare response, among other things. Read full story Source: Civil Service World, 11 March 2022
  2. News Article
    A leading figure in the World Health Organisation Foundation has criticised the UK’s move to dismantle its Covid testing programme as the disease surges in other parts of the world. Mr Anil Soni, chief executive of the WHO Foundation, said in an interview with The Independent that maintaining surveillance over Covid-19 was “incredibly important” and the “dismantling of the testing infrastructure here strikes me as very worrying.” The WHO Foundation chief warned people were “looking the other way” from counties where there is low vaccine coverage to maintain the hope that Covid is over. He warned low vaccine coverage is a “petri dish” for future variants to breed and that the acute phase of the pandemic could not be over until this is addressed. When asked about the UK’s plans to end its NHS Test and Trace programme Mr Soni said: “I’m very concerned about it. “What we’ve seen is, it’s incredibly important to maintain surveillance, and countries in southern Africa should be applauded for detecting Omicron as quickly as they did. Those surveillance systems need to be in place around the world. “We also want to make sure that testing is widely available so that people, when they become infectious, can be aware of their status and keep others safe. For testing not to be available and for us to be moving too quickly to normalcy creates risk.” Mr Soni said the world’s position with Covid was “precarious” and highlighted the surge being seen in Hong Kong, where “health centres are at the verge of collapse, because of how many people are sick”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 March 2022
  3. News Article
    The draft terms of reference for the UK public inquiry into the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic have been published. The inquiry, due to start in the spring, will play a key role in "learning lessons" from the pandemic and for the future, it said. The terms of reference were published after a consultation with inquiry chairwoman and former High Court judge Baroness Hallett, and with ministers in the devolved nations. The Scottish government has already published the terms of reference for its own Covid-19 inquiry, to be led by Judge Lady Poole. The UK-wide inquiry proposes examining a broad range of issues including: the UK's preparedness for the pandemic the use of lockdowns and other 'non-pharmaceutical' interventions such as social distancing and the use of face coverings the management of the pandemic in hospitals and care homes the procurement and provision of equipment like personal protective equipment and ventilators support for businesses and jobs, including the furlough scheme, as well as benefits and sick pay. The inquiry aims to produce "a factual, narrative account" covering decision-making at all levels of government and the response of the health and care sector as well as identifying the "lessons to be learned". Becky Kummer, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said the publication was a "huge step forward" and the organisation looked forward to contributing to the consultation on the terms. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said there was much the NHS did well during the pandemic but: "It is right the inquiry looks at areas where there were major challenges - such as infection prevention and control, access to PPE, testing, and robust epidemiological modelling." Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 March 2022
  4. News Article
    Deepa Singh, 30, of Louisville, USA, has been seriously ill for two years, racked with extreme fatigue, racing heartbeat and memory problems from Long covid that she says prevent her from working. Adding to her distress, she says, has been a grueling — and so far unsuccessful — battle for disability payments. Singh, who worked as a project manager, is among a cohort of Long Covid patients who have been denied disability benefits, either by private insurance companies, which operate benefit plans offered by employers, or by the Social Security Administration, which manages government disability benefits. Tasked with sorting legitimate health claims from fraudulent or marginal ones, these gatekeepers now face a novel challenge as the coronavirus pandemic drags on: a flood of claims citing a post-infection syndrome that is poorly understood by the medical community and difficult to measure. Patients cite a litany of symptoms that defy verification through basic medical tests. They become exhausted at the merest exertion. They can’t remember simple words. Their hearts feel like they are fluttering. Yet neurological exams, ECGs and chest X-rays come back clean. Doctors said in interviews they are treating Long Covid patients who are clearly too sick to work but who have difficulty meeting the evidence threshold insurers demand: objective medical test results showing an inability to perform work. Specialized tests can measure a few Long Covid-related problems, such as a central nervous system disorder called dysautonomia, which affects the body’s ability to regulate itself. But there are months-long waiting lists for the tests, doctors and patients said. The challenges are similar to those faced for years by people claiming disabilities based on chronic fatigue syndrome. But the pandemic has given rise to such claims on a far greater scale. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 8 March 2022
  5. News Article
    Catching Covid may cause changes to the brain, a study suggests. Scientists found significant differences in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans before and after infection. Even after a mild infection, the overall size of the brain had shrunk slightly, with less grey matter in the parts related to smell and memory. The researchers do not know whether the changes are permanent but stressed the brain could heal. Lead author Prof Gwenaelle Douaud, from the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, at the University of Oxford, said: "We were looking at essentially mild infection, so to see that we could really see some differences in their brain and how much their brain had changed compared with those who had not been infected was quite a surprise." But the researchers do not know whether the changes are reversible or truly matter for health and wellbeing. "We need to bear in mind that the brain is really plastic - by that we mean it can heal itself - so there is a really good chance that, over time, the harmful effects of infection will ease," Prof Douaud said. The most significant loss of grey matter was in the olfactory areas - but it is unclear whether the virus directly attacks this region or cells simply die off through lack of use after people with Covid lose their sense of smell. UK Biobank chief scientist Prof Naomi Allen said: "It opens up all sorts of questions that other researchers can follow up about the effect of coronavirus infection on cognitive function, on brain fog and on other areas of the brain - and to really focus research on how best to mitigate that." Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 March 2022
  6. News Article
    Sasha Mallett, Sue Taylor and Kimberly Cooley all have immune deficiencies that make them especially vulnerable to Covid-19, and all have tried to get the same thing: a new treatment that can prevent the disease in people who either cannot produce antibodies after receiving a coronavirus vaccine or cannot get vaccinated at all. Ms. Cooley, a liver transplant recipient in Duck Hill, Mississippi, got the antibody drug, called Evusheld, from her transplant team at the University of Mississippi Medical Center with no trouble. But Ms. Taylor, of Cincinnati, was denied the treatment by two hospitals near her home. And Dr. Mallett, a physician in Portland, Ore., had to drive five hours to a hospital willing to give her a dose. As much of the USA unmasks amid plummeting caseloads and fresh hope that the pandemic is fading, the Biden administration has insisted it will continue protecting the more than seven million Americans with weakened immune systems who remain vulnerable to Covid. Evusheld, which was developed by AstraZeneca with financial support from the federal government, is essential to its strategy. But there is so much confusion about the drug among healthcare providers that roughly 80% of the available doses are sitting unused in warehouses and on pharmacy and hospital shelves. Interviews with doctors, patients and government officials suggest the reasons the drug is going unused are varied. Some patients and doctors do not know Evusheld exists. Some do not know where to get it. Government guidelines on who should be prioritised for the drug are scant. In some hospitals and medical centres, supplies are being reserved for patients at the highest risk, such as recent transplant recipients and cancer patients, while doses in other areas of the country are being given out through a lottery or on a first-come, first-served basis. Hesitance is also an issue. Some doctors and other providers do not know how to use Evusheld and are thus loath to prescribe it. Read full story (paywalled) Source: New York Times, 6 March 2022
  7. News Article
    Tens of thousands of new mothers have been left feeling “hopeless” and “isolated” during the pandemic, with the NHS seeing record numbers of referrals to mental health services. Requests for help from new, expectant and bereaved mothers jumped by 40% in 2021 compared with 2019, analysis by The Independent has revealed. NHS data shows mental health referrals hit an all-time high of 23,673 in November last year, with average monthly referrals for the whole of 2021 running 21% higher than the year before, jumping from 17,226 to 21,990. Among those affected when support systems were “suddenly” removed in March 2020 was Leanne, a woman who had her second child just before the pandemic and experienced a mental health crisis. She told The Independent how she had struggled following the first lockdown. “I just thought, Oh God, my recovery is going to stop, how am I going to get better now because I’ve got no support – I’m on my own with it,” she said. “I was [also] anticipating the lockdown … in addition to the nursery closing, and I was getting quite anxious about that, and feeling quite hopeless. The pressure piled on me was enormous, and I had no one who could see me or support me." Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, the shadow minister for mental health, said the figures uncovered by The Independent were “extremely concerning” and that pregnant women had been “forgotten about through the pandemic”. The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead for perinatal mental health services, Dr Joanne Black, said the NHS pandemic recovery plan had lost sight of women in pregnancy and children under two years old, who have been “disproportionately affected”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 February 2022
  8. News Article
    Up-to-date registers of clinically vulnerable patients must be created to ensure that those who are most at risk during Covid-19 and any future pandemics are protected and can access the support they need, a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics has recommended. The report considered vulnerable people’s experiences during the pandemic and makes 16 recommendations on what the government and the health service can do better to plan and prioritise extremely vulnerable patients during further Covid-19 outbreaks and future pandemics. These tackle the format and content of information and guidance; access to medical services such as mental health support to help people deal with anxiety, fear, and isolation; provision of practical support such as food and finance when isolating; and the need for more research into how medical conditions make people more vulnerable to a threat and vaccines less protective. At the launch of the report representatives of charities and patient groups described how the pandemic had left clinically vulnerable people feeling anxious, afraid, lonely, trapped, and desperate. They also described the “not on the list” scenario many had had to contend with, meaning they could not access priority services such as testing or support to isolate. There were still patients whose doctors recognised that they should be on the list fighting to get their condition recognised, said Susan Walsh, chief executive of Immunodeficiency UK. This means that, under the government’s Living with Covid plans, they will no longer be able to access free testing. Lord Mendelsohn, co-chair of the APPG on Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics, said, “We should be more willing to allow the medical practitioners responsible for these patients to be able to overhaul computerised systems and find ways to make that happen.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 28 February 2022
  9. News Article
    "We don't know the long-term side effects of Covid vaccines." That's a claim that's still common to see shared online. But a year is actually considered relatively "long term" when it comes to vaccine safety. This week marks the anniversary of the first delivery of Covid-19 vaccines under the Covax scheme - as well as being more than 14 months since the first dose was given. And scientists explain that's enough time for all but the rarest side effects to have emerged. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 February 2022
  10. News Article
    Senior doctors say the government’s “Living with Covid” plan will hamper the ability of the NHS to provide care. Michelle Drage, chief executive of the Londonwide Local Medical Committee, which represents the majority of practices in the city, has said the government’s changes may discourage vulnerable patients to seek care when they need it, while David Nicholl, a neurologist and spokesperson for Doctors’ Association UK, said it could exacerbate health inequalities. It comes as the legal requirement to isolate after testing positive is lifted from Thursday, while free Covid testing ends on 1 April. NHS England sent a letter to all healthcare providers confirming workers would have to continue with current rules and not come into work after testing positive. Staff were told they should continue to carrying out regular testing, and access this through national routes until 31 March, but were not given guidance on testing requirements beyond this. Dr Drage said the changes in isolation and testing rules could put off vulnerable patients. “We may well see people not being able to access the services they need to because they’re afraid to attend,” she said. “Then to make people pay for those tests for what looks like a fiver a pop, when the people that can least afford it and the people who can least afford to take time off... suggests to me we’re increasing the risk of inappropriate transmission.” “It’s a perfect storm that could be brewing that will have a further impact on the ability of patients to be properly cared for… It feels like, yet again, the government gambling with people’s health to sustain the economy.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 February 2022
  11. News Article
    The NHS has been accused by a major charity of failing to address the emerging gap in Covid booster vaccine coverage for racialised communities. Blood Cancer UK has told The Independent it has “serious concerns” over what it claims is a “shocking” lack of urgency from the NHS in addressing the gap in booster vaccine doses for immunocompromised people from black and minority ethnic communities. The charity has said NHS England has failed to set out any “concrete” plans since it revealed 84% of immunocompromised people from a white British background had three vaccine doses by mid-December, compared to just 43% of immunocompromised people from a Pakistani background. The news comes after the government announced people over 75 and immunocompromised children would be eligible to receive a fourth Covid vaccine by Spring. According to an analysis published by Open Safely, a team of data scientists at Oxford University, of those who are part of the shielding population, as of the 22 February just 72% of Black people have had their booster does, and 73% of south Asian people. This compares to 89% of white people. NHS England has highlighted a number of actions it is taking to address the situation such as using pop-up sites within communities and providing free transport. Speaking with The Independent chief executive of Blood Cancer UK Gemma Peters, said: “We have serious concerns about how the poor roll-out of third doses for the immunocompromised has left people from some communities much less well-protected than people from a white British background. But while it is deeply troubling that a racial disparity in access to third vaccine doses has been allowed to develop, just as shocking has been NHS England’s apparent lack of urgency in addressing it." Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 February 2022
  12. News Article
    Breast cancer screening uptake fell to its lowest point ever during the pandemic, as the numbers of women seen dropped by more than one third. Just 1.19 million women aged 45 and over were screened for breast cancer in 2020-21, while the numbers of women who actually took up their invitation for screening dropped to 61%. Analysis by Breast Cancer Now, of the new NHS figures published on Thursday, found that uptake during the first year of the pandemic was the lowest it had been since records began. The number of women who had cancer detected through screening decreased by almost 40 per cent, although rates when calculated per 1,000 women were up by 8.4%. The news comes after NHS figures revealed that half of patients in October waited more than two weeks following an urgent breast cancer referral. According to analysis from the Labour Party in January, breast cancer patients faced the longest waits when compared to all other cancer referrals. Breast Cancer Now chief executive Baroness Delyth Morgan said: “Screening uptake has hit its lowest point in history, with less than 62% of women invited being screened, despite NHS staff working tirelessly, in the toughest of circumstances, to restart and continue breast screening services after they needed to be paused in March 2020. “The human cost behind these figures is stark, with an estimated 8,870 women in the UK living with undetected breast cancer as a result of the pandemic – a significant number of which would have been detected at routine screening. Tragically, research suggests that up to an additional 680 women could die from breast cancer in the next decade due to impacts of the pandemic on screening.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 24 February 2022
  13. News Article
    A Covid report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has highlighted some ‘tragic individual cases’ over the past months. The report analyses cases over the first 18 months of the pandemic which for the majority reveal that councils and care providers weathered the unprecedented pressures they were under fire. However, the report also reveals the ‘serious impact on people’s lives’ when things go wrong. Cases include a woman who died from COVID-19 at a care home with poor infection control procedures which was then compounded by staff trying to cover up the facts. The Ombudsman’s report focuses on the lessons that can be learned from the complaints it has received about the pandemic and welcomes that, in many cases, councils and care providers are already using their experiences from the pandemic to consider how they can make improvements to services. Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “We have investigated some tragic individual cases over the past months. Each represents poor personal experiences where councils and care providers did not get things right. “Our investigations have shown that, while the system did not collapse under the extreme pressures placed on it, Covid-19 has magnified stresses and weaknesses present before the pandemic affecting some councils and providers. “We have always advocated how crucial good complaint handling is in any setting, so I am particularly saddened that, in some authorities, dealing with public concerns and complaints itself became a casualty of the crisis. At a time when listening to public problems was more important than ever, we saw some overstretched and under-resourced complaints teams struggle to cope. “If evidence was needed, this report proves that managing complaints should be considered a frontline service.” Read full story Source: Care Home Professional, 24 February 2022
  14. News Article
    Five months after being infected with the coronavirus, Nicole Murphy’s pulse rate is going berserk. Normally in the 70s, which is ideal, it has been jumping to 160, 170 and sometimes 210 beats per minute even when she is at rest — putting her at risk of a heart attack, heart failure or stroke. No one seems to be able to pinpoint why. She’s only 44, never had heart issues, and when a cardiologist near her hometown of Wellsville, Ohio, USA, ran all of the standard tests, “he literally threw up his hands when he saw the results,” she recalled. Her blood pressure was perfect, there were no signs of clogged arteries, and her heart was expanding and contracting well. Murphy’s boomeranging heart rate is one of a number of mysterious conditions afflicting Americans weeks or months after coronavirus infections that suggest the potential of a looming cardiac crisis. A pivotal study that looked at health records of more than 153,000 U.S. veterans published this month in Nature Medicine found that their risk of cardiovascular disease of all types increased substantially in the year following infection, even when they had mild cases. The population studied was mostly White and male, but the patterns held even when the researchers analyzed women and people of color separately. When experts factor in the heart damage probably suffered by people who put off medical care, more sedentary lifestyles and eating changes, not to mention the stress of the pandemic, they estimate there may be millions of new onset cardiac cases related to the virus, plus a worsening of disease for many already affected. “We are expecting a tidal wave of cardiovascular events in the coming years from direct and indirect causes of covid,” said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, president of the American Heart Association. Read full story (paywalled) Source: Washington Post, 21 February 2022
  15. News Article
    Patient care may suffer as a result of cuts to the NHS budget to fund the continuing costs of Covid, NHS leaders and Labour have said, after Sajid Javid refused to say where the axe would fall. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is trying to make savings from its budget to fund free lateral flow tests for elderly people, Covid surveillance studies and genomic sequencing, after the Treasury refused its request for £5bn in extra funding. Although the government announced an end to most free mass testing and contract tracing on Monday, remaining Covid measures are expected to cost more than £1bn. The Treasury and the DHSC refused to say exactly how much cash would be needed or which services would have to be cut back, prompting fears that the NHS could have to find savings at a time of a huge waiting list backlog. It is understood that DHSC officials are working on identifying savings in the department’s £178.5bn budget for 2022-23, to fund the measures agreed on Monday, including maintaining a “baseline” testing capability that can be scaled up if necessary. They have ruled out hitting Javid’s plan for tackling waiting lists, but a government source would not rule out any other areas being affected, saying a “significant amount of money” would have to be found by “reprioritising”. Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, warned the government against abandoning its commitment to give the NHS “whatever it needs” to tackle Covid and called for transparency about “where the impact of these extra costs will fall”. “Trust leaders are understandably anxious over reports that the ongoing and significant costs of living with Covid will be met by ‘reprioritising’ the NHS’s existing budget,” she said. “There is a very real risk of trade-offs affecting the quality of patient care – something no one wants to see.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 February 2022
  16. News Article
    Despite a backlog of routine operations, NHS hospitals are being advised to delay elective surgical procedures by at least seven weeks if a patient has just had Omicron. UK experts say it is a precaution since the first couple of months following infection is a riskier period, linked to poorer post-operative recovery. In some circumstances the surgery may be urgent enough to go ahead, however. Patients should ideally have had all of their Covid vaccines too. The advice has been issued by surgery and anaesthesia experts, including two Royal Colleges representing those professions. The experts who drew up the recommendations say the desire to tackle waiting lists and backlogs must be balanced with delivering the safest care possible. The latest expert guidance on routine operations recommends: Elective surgery should not take place within 10 days of a confirmed Covid infection, mainly because the patient may be infectious which is a risk to staff and other patients. Operations that happen in the six-week period after an infection - even an asymptomatic one - carry a higher risk of serious complications for the patient, experience suggests. Dr Mike Nathanson, president of the Association of Anaesthetists, said: "The frustration felt by patients is immense and we - the healthcare professionals - want to do our jobs and provide these services when it is safe to do so and with the risks clear to all involved." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 February 2022
  17. News Article
    The government of Mexico City handed out nearly 200 000 “ivermectin based kits” last year to people who had tested positive for Covid-19, without telling them they were subjects in an experiment on the drug’s effectiveness. The results of that experiment were then written up by public officials in an article placed on popular US preprint server SocArXiv. It became one of site’s most viewed articles, claiming that ivermectin had reduced hospital admissions by 52-76%. But those officials have been under fire at home since SocArXiv withdrew the paper earlier this month, calling it “either very poor quality or else deliberately false and misleading.” Opposition deputies in Mexico City’s Congress demanded hearings and said they would bring legal action against the paper’s lead author, José Merino, head of the city’s Digital Agency for Public Innovation. Explaining the decision to withdraw the article—the first to be taken down by SocArXiv—the site’s steering committee wrote that it had responded “to a community groundswell beseeching us to act” in order “to prevent the paper from causing additional harm.” The committee wrote, “The paper is spreading misinformation, promoting an unproved medical treatment in the midst of a global pandemic. The paper is part of, and justification for, a government programme that unethically dispenses (or did dispense) unproven medication apparently without proper consent or appropriate ethical protections.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 22 February 2022
  18. News Article
    Medically vulnerable people say the decision to end Covid restrictions means their freedoms being eroded. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that legal requirements, including the need to self-isolate if you test positive, will end on Thursday. Two clinically vulnerable women in the West say not knowing who is infected means it is now more dangerous for them to leave their homes. "It doesn't feel safe," said Chloe Ball-Hopkins, from Gloucestershire. "My friends and family will continue to try and keep me safe, my partner will keep me safe, they'll continue to test before they meet me," said the 25-year-old from Wotton-under-Edge. Miss Ball-Hopkins has already had her fourth vaccine dose as she is considered extremely clinically vulnerable. She has a rare form of muscular dystrophy called nemaline myopathy which affects her respiratory system, and contracted sepsis in 2019 which undermined her immune system further. Miss Ball-Hopkins said that while the easing of restrictions would feel like freedom to much of the population, it meant the opposite for her. "I'm supposed to go out and live my life normally yet now I won't know if someone next to me in a supermarket is literally breathing Covid down on me, as I'm in a wheelchair. "I was actually probably safer in January when everyone was wearing masks than I will be in a week's time. That makes no sense," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 February 2022
  19. News Article
    Abolishing free Covid tests for those who look after the vulnerable will amount to a “tax on caring” that would cost them more than £500 a year, ministers have been warned. All remaining domestic Covid regulations that restrict public freedoms are ending, with Boris Johnson announing a move away from government intervention to “personal responsibility”. However, the scale of free testing to be retained is still being thrashed out within government. Current data suggests that nearly 4 million people take regular Covid tests, including those who visit and help vulnerable relatives. That number also includes vulnerable people who work in settings that could put them at greater risk, where they have face-to-face contact with others. Research based on the average cost of tests internationally, compiled by the Liberal Democrats, suggests that people who take two tests a week face an average bill of £534 a year. It comes after the government’s own scientific advisers have warned that removing free testing will “increase anxiety” and limit the “social participation outside the home” of those who are clinically vulnerable or who live with someone in that position. “Charging people for the tests they need to safely see vulnerable loved ones is a tax on caring that risks leaving millions of people in lockdown by stealth,” said Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader. “It means vulnerable people will see fewer loved ones and will be able to enjoy less of their lives. It is unfair and unjust. Ministers need to scrap these plans to stop a ‘cost of living with Covid’ crisis. Throughout the pandemic, people have been trying hard to do the right thing and keep others safe. The government should not be making that harder.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 February 2022
  20. News Article
    Today the Government is expected to announce the end to all Covid restrictions, including ending self-isolation and free testing in the country. However, in an open letter to the UK's Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, the UK science and medical communities say this is a "HUGE mistake". The open letter expresses concern about the Government plans to end testing, surveillance surveys and legal isolation of Covid-19 cases and asks the Government to clarify the scientific advice underpinning these policy decisions as they do not believe there is a solid scientific basis for the policy. "It is almost certain to increase the circulation of the virus and remove the visibility of emerging variants of concern." "The emergence of new variants and a resultant wave of infections can occur very quickly, potentially within just several weeks. The ability to rapidly detect and characterise new variants and to scale up necessary responses (such as TTI and vaccinations) quickly will be very important. Considerations for future response preparedness and surveillance infrastructure should take this into account." "We believe humanity is in a race against the virus." The letter goes on to say that some form of surveillance must be continued to ensure the situation is well understood and new variants of concern identified. Lack of testing is not only detrimental to controlling the spread of SARSCoV2 and detecting new variants, it also puts people who develop Long Covid at a great disadvantage by not having a confirmation of their infection, which is integral to the diagnosis, support and care they need to receive. For the 1 in 4 people in the UK who are clinically vulnerable, the current approach appears a perilous and politicised pandemic response. The authors of the letter are asking members of the UK science and medical communities to sign the open letter. Read the letter in full and sign here
  21. News Article
    Having Covid-19 puts people at a significantly increased chance of developing new mental health conditions, potentially adding to existing crises of suicide and overdoses, according to new research looking at millions of health records in the US over the course of a year. The long-term effects of having Covid are still being discovered, and among them is an increased chance of being diagnosed with mental health disorders. They include depression, anxiety, stress and an increased risk of substance use disorders, cognitive decline, and sleep problems – a marked difference from others who also endured the stress of the pandemic but weren’t diagnosed with the virus. “This is basically telling us that millions and millions of people in the US infected with Covid are developing mental health problems,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the VA St Louis Healthcare System and senior author of the paper. “That makes us a nation in distress.” The higher risk of mental health disorders, including suicidal ideation and opioid use, is particularly concerning, he said. “This is really almost a perfect storm that is brewing in front of our eyes – for another opioid epidemic two or three years down the road, for another suicide crisis two or three years down the road,” Al-Aly added. These unfolding crises are “quite a big concern”, said James Jackson, director of behavioural health at Vanderbilt University’s ICU Recovery Center, who was not involved with this study. He is also seeing patients whose previous conditions, including anxiety, depression and opioid use disorder, worsened during the pandemic. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 February 2022
  22. News Article
    When the coronavirus pandemic began, Emily Landon thought about her own risk only in rare quiet moments. An infectious-disease doctor at the University of Chicago Medicine, she was cramming months of work into days, preparing her institution for the virus’s arrival in the United States. But Landon had also recently developed rheumatoid arthritis—a disease in which a person’s immune system attacks their own joints—and was taking two drugs that, by suppressing said immune system, made her more vulnerable to pathogens. Normally, she’d be confident about avoiding infections, even in a hospital setting. This felt different. “We didn’t have enough tests, it was probably around us everywhere, and I’m walking around every day with insufficient antibodies and hamstrung T-cells,” she said. Two years later, Covid-19 is still all around us, everywhere, and millions of people like Landon are walking around with a compromised immune system. A significant proportion of them don’t respond to Covid vaccines, so despite being vaccinated, many are still unsure whether they’re actually protected—and some know that they aren’t. Much of the United States dropped COVID restrictions long ago; many more cities and states are now following. That means policies that protected Landon and other immunocompromised people, including mask mandates and vaccination requirements, are disappearing, while accommodations that benefited them, such as flexible working options, are being rolled back. This isn’t a small group. Close to 3% of US adults take immunosuppressive drugs, either to treat cancers or autoimmune disorders or to stop their body from rejecting transplanted organs or stem cells. That makes at least 7 million immunocompromised people. In the past, immunocompromised people lived with their higher risk of infection, but COVID represents a new threat that, for many, has further jeopardised their ability to be part of the world. From the very start of the pandemic, some commentators have floated the idea “that we can protect the vulnerable and everyone else can go on with their lives.” Seth Trueger, who is on immunosuppressants for an autoimmune complication of cancer, said. “How’s that supposed to work?” He is an emergency doctor at Northwestern Medicine; he can neither work from home nor protect himself by avoiding public spaces. “How am I supposed to provide for my family or live my life if there’s a pandemic raging?” he said. Read full story Source: The Atlantic, 16 February 2022 Further reading Read further Covid-19 blogs and stories from staff on the frontline
  23. News Article
    A coroner has criticised an NHS trust over the deaths of two new mothers with herpes. Kimberley Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died in 2018 after having caesarean sections six weeks apart by the same surgeon at hospitals in Kent. Their families have been waiting five years for answers on how they came to be infected with the virus, which can cause sores around the mouth or genitals. Catherine Wood, Mid Kent and Medway coroner, said Sampson could have been given an anti-viral treatment sooner. Wood added that in Mulcahy’s case “suspicion should have been raised” given the knowledge among staff from Sampson’s earlier death. The coroner ruled out human culpability of any of the medical staff involved in the case and said it was “unlikely” for the surgeon to be the cause of the herpes infection found in both women. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 July 2023
  24. News Article
    Doctors have warned the decision to remove face mask guidance in healthcare settings is "playing Russian roulette" with staff and patients' welfare. It was withdrawn in May in hospitals, dentists and GP surgeries having been in place since June 2020. Doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland condemned the decision at the time. Now, the Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition has written to ministers to highlight the "very serious flaws" in changing the guidance. The group is made up of Scottish healthcare workers who worked throughout the pandemic and are now living with long Covid or another chronic post-viral illness or disability. In the letter, the coalition states the updated guidance is not based on the science of coronavirus transmission and "represents a flawed and dangerous decision which will result in more infection in health and social care settings". Dr Shaun Peter Qureshi, of the Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition, said: "At-risk patients have entirely legitimate concerns that they may endanger their health by visiting their GP or hospital. "With at least 4% of NHS staff now living with chronic post-Covid complications, the Scottish government must follow the evidence and improve protections from the airborne spread (of the virus) in healthcare settings, not reduce them." Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 July 2023
  25. News Article
    A "significant" number of doctors are still suffering with the "debilitating effects" of Long Covid, according to a new report. Many are left in financial limbo as they have been forced to quit work or reduce their hours, the British Medical Association (BMA) report warns. Some 600 doctors with long COVID were quizzed about the impact on their day-to-day lives. One in five told the BMA and the Long COVID Doctors for Action group they had been forced to stop work or significantly cut back on their hours. Carrying out essential daily activities such as getting dressed, household activities, and childcare have become difficult or not possible for 60% of the medics who took part in the survey. Nearly half (49%) said they have experienced loss of earnings as a result of Long Covid symptoms of which include: fatigue, headaches, muscular pain, nerve damage, joint pain, ongoing respiratory problems. The BMA has made a series of calls to support doctors with Long Covid, including: Financial support for doctors and other health workers with Long Covid. Long Covid to be recognised as an "occupational disease". Better access to physical and mental health services for those affected after the report said that access to NHS long COVID clinics is "patchy". Greater "workplace protection" for staff. More support to help healthcare workers return to work "safely". Read full story Source: Medscape, 3 July 2023
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